The sum of $58,350,000 will be needed by the Joint Distribution Committee to carry on its activities in 1946, and to make possible its relief work in about fifty countries throughout the world, it was announced today on the 31st annual meeting of the J.D.C., held at the Hotel Commodore, with Jewish leaders from all parts of the country in attendance.
The meeting elected Edward M.M. Warbug chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee. Paul Warburg, Mrs. Felix M.Warburg and James N. Rosenberg were elected temperrary chairman. All other officers were re-elected.
Eye-witness reports on the situation of the displaced Jews in Germany and on the needs of the Jews in other European countries were given by Dr. Joseph Schwartz, European director of the J.D.C., Edward Warburg and Rabbi Judah Nadich, chief Jewish explain in the European Theatre of Operations and former special adviser on Jewish Affairs to Gen. Eisenhower.
“The year 1945 saw the Joint Distribution Committee work in more countries, help more sufferers, and provide more relief than any other year,” Dr. Schwartz said. “The J.D.C. has spent nearly $28,000,000 overseas this year. All over the world Jews were helped back to health from starvation, helped to start life anew. But 1946 presents an even greater challenge, for it is the crucial year – the year that will determine whether these who have so far survived will live or die.”
DR. SCHWARTZ DESCRIBES FLIGHT OF JEWS FROM POLAND TO U.S. ZONE IN GERMANY
Declaring that during his recent visit to Poland he found not more than 80,000 Jews, most of whom are now fleeing from the country, Dr. Schwartz said: “Anti-Semitism in Poland, which the government is attempting to stamp out, but has been unable to do, has caused thousands of Jews to flee to the relative safety of the American zone in Germany, and the consequent overcrowding there has made conditions even more serious. In Poland, less than a month ago, I saw thousands of homeless, destitute Jews walking west, always westward, trying to reach the American zone, where they hope to find better conditions.
“Nearly $1,000,000 in relief supplies were shipped to Poland in 1945, where only 80,000 Jews are alive out of a pre-war population of 3,300,000,” he continued. “After years of persecution and systematic starvation, the health of the survivors in Poland is seriously undermined. Nearly one-third of them suffer from tuberculosis, and almost all require immediate help.”
Living conditions of Jews in Hungary, where Dr. Schwartz completed a survey last week, are “indescribably poor,” he stated. “Although there is a serious shortage of all kinds of-food, especially meats and fats, J.D.C. canteens in 278 communities in Hungary are feeding close to 90,000 people daily, while child care agencies supported by the committee are providing for 9,000 children. In Hungary, $3,700,000 was expended for relief work by the J.D.C. in 1945,” Dr. Schwartz said. “Seventy thousand Jews in Budapest alone were fed daily. Clothing and household equipment were provided for the begged and homeless.”
Major Nadich, who arrived from the continent last week, discussed the problems confronting Jewish survivors of Nazi terror who must pick up their lives again from the very beginning, faced as they are with suspicion, mistrust and, in some cases, native hate.
WARBURG REPORTS ON CONDITIONS OF DISPLACED JEWS IN GERMANY
Mr. Warburg, who visited Europe on a special J.D.C. mission, reported to the meeting on the position of the displaced Jews. He described conditions in the former concentration camps now being used as centers for displaced persons in Austria and Germany as “tragic,” adding that “today, Europe’s Jews search every event, every incident, the face of every visitor from the fabulous world across the seas for some stray sign of hope at which to grasp and support themselves a little longer.
“Jews whose homes are no more than a corner in some ruined building, or a bank in an overcrowded barrack of a concentration camp; who have no decent shoes on their feet, or coats to keep out the cold; whose faces reflect an inner tragedy that will be with them forever–these are the people who look to us for help,” he said. He Ailled for a “fresh outpouring of the spirit of giving and service which brought about the establishment of the J.D.C. in 1914.”
J.D.C. SPENT $28,000,000 FOR RELIEF IN 1945, LEAVITT REPORTS
Reporting on Joint Distribution Committee operations in 1945, Moses A. Leavitt, secretary, declared that the great bulk of J.D.C. expenditures this year, amounting to nearly $28,000,000, were used “to keep alive hundreds of thousands of Jews in need of daily bread. Eastern Europe has been the scene of most of our aid,” he said. “In Roumania, the largest Jewish community outside of Russia, the J.D.C. provided major assistance for nearly two-thirds of the 335,000 Jews living there. Nearly $4,000,000 in relief was supplied in 1945.”
Mr. Leavitt also dwelt at great length on the work of the J.D.C. during the year in Hungary, Greece, Germany, Austria, France, Italy and other countries. He emphasized that the J.D.C. also trained large numbers of prospective Palestine immigrants in various farm settlements in Europe, and defrayed the cost of transportation for more than 8,000 immigrants in 1945. In Palestine, the J.D.C. also extended relief to needy refugee rabbis and scholars and made special grants to 70 educational, religious and cultural institutions.
Dr. Joseph C. Hyman, executive vice-president of the JDC, after reviewing the present situation of the Jews in Europe, told the meeting: “When we emphasize the enormous obligation of the Jews of the western world, and notably of the United States, to make every effort to meet the minimal requirements of our brethren in war-ravaged Europe in 1946, we have no desire to underestimate the role of governments and of inter-governmental bodies in bringing about the rehabilitation of European Jewry. It is clear that the full task of the physical restoration of the life and health of the Jews of Europe is impossible without the large and sympathetic aid of governmental bodies.”
Tribute to Paul Baerwald, retiring chairman of the committee who completed over three decades of association with the JDC this month, was paid by Mrs. Warburg. She recalled Mr. Baerwald’s role as one of the founders of the J.D.C., along with Louis Marshall, Cyrus Adler and others, and praised his “long and humane activity in behalf of distressed Jews.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
