J.D.C. Mourns Death of Its Representatives; Warburg Lauds Their Devotion

Emphasizing that the sudden deaths of David Guzik and Gertrude D. Pinsky is a great loss not only to the Joint Distribution Committee, but also to the hundreds of thousands of distressed Jews to whom they were bringing aid and comfort, Edward M.M. Warburg, chairman of the J.D.C., today issued the following statement in behalf of the organization:

“In the deaths of both Miss Pinsky and Mr. Guzik, the J.D.C. has lost two of its most valued and devoted representatives. Their loss will come as a personal grief to hundreds of thousands of distressed Jews who benefited by their skilled and understanding efforts. Both died in action, as it were, on missions of mercy for the surviving Jews of Europe. Miss Pinsky was flying to Prague to extend further help to the surviving Jews in Czechoslovakia. Mr. Guzik was returning to Poland after conferences in Paris with Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, J.D.C. European chairman, in which new plans were worked out to aid Poland’s surviving Jews.

“David Guzik’s name was already a legend in the work of aiding distressed and suffering peoples before death ended his twenty-six-year career with the J.D.C. When the Nazis occupied Poland, he refused to leave his people. He went underground and by Heroic service found the ways and means to extend help to Polish Jewry as they passed through the secret trial that over beset any people,” the statement said.