In view of the situation of the Jewish populations of the East European countries, which. for a number of years to come will require continued efforts in the direction of reconstructive aid, it was certain that American Jewry would respond favorably in answer to the question whether the work of the Joint Distribution Committee should be continued after its 1929 program is concluded.
This statement was made by Dr. Bernhard Kahn, European director of the Joint Distribution Committee when interviewed while on a visit here on the result of the referendum conducted by the United Jewish Campaign among its contributors in the United States. Ninety-six per cent of the replies urged that the relief work be continued after 1929.
“It is not possibel, however,” Dr. Kahn added, “to expect a new drive for funds before the autumn of 1930. It is also a difficult matter to say now whether the new drive would be successful, because meanwhile other big drives are being started, as for the Jewish Agency, the Agrojoint’s work in Russia, ect.”
Speaking of the critical position of the Jewish educational institutions in Poland, the Hebrew schools of the Tarbuth Organization, the Yiddishist schools and the Yeshiboth, owing to the stoppage of the regular grants previously made to them by the Joint Distribution Committee. Dr. Kahn said that the Joint’s grants for cultural and educational work in Poland do not come from the European office, but direct from headquarters in New York. The grants, he added, have not been totally suspended, but they have been very much cut down. There was no prospect of the old grants being renewed, especially since the entire sum being raised by the present three-year drive has already been allocated.
Turning to the position of the Jewish credit co-operative system in Poland. Dr. Kahn said that the Joint and the Joint-Ica Foundation, expect a great deal from the stabilization of the Central Bank of Co-operatives. The Foundation had recently allocated a credit of $350,000 for the Jewish co-operatives in Poland, which would certainly act as a mainstay. The present economic situation of the Jews in Poland appears to be extremely critical, Dr. Kahn concluded, but he was confident tht athe energy and the vitality of Polish Jewry would pull them through.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
