The Joint Distribution Committee announced today that it has ceased operations in Bulgaria and closed its office in Sofia. Moses A. Leavitt, J.D.C. executive vice-chairman, reported that less than 4,000 Jews remain in Bulgaria at present out of a postwar population of 43,000, while all but 1,000 of these still remaining in the country plan to leave.
“By next year the Jewish community of Bulgaria,” Leavitt declared, “which has existed for some 500 years, will have practically ceased to exist. Bulgaria is the first country in Eastern Europe where the J.D.C. has been able to end operations because the problem is solved,” he added. The J.D.C. paid for the emigration of all the 41,000 Jews who left Bulgaria since last year, Leavitt revealed.
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