The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee planned today to send 800,000 kilograms of matzoh and supplies of other provisions for Passover to needy Jews in the Reich, subject to the granting of permission by the German authorities.
Morris C. Troper, European director of the committee, said 500,000 kilograms of matzoh were intended for Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland, 250,000 kilograms for Jews in the Old Reich and the remainder for Jews in Austria and Bohemia-Moravia.
The plan provides also for securing for Warsaw Jews of 5,000 kilograms of Passover goose-fat, 10,000 kilograms of vegetable fat and 5,000 kilograms of canned fat. It is planned to purchase the matzoh, fats and also meat in Hungary, Rumania and Yugoslavia and ship them into the German territories. The problem, however, is whether these countries will permit exportation of the food and whether the Reich will permit its importation.
Solution of this problem is left to the Jewish communities concerned, which will conduct the necessary negotiations. It is understood that Jewish leaders in Berlin and other communities have begun negotiations with the appropriate authorities.
The Jewish communities of Hungary, Rumania and Yugoslavia have expressed readine to donate 75,000 kilograms of matzoh for Polish Jews, in addition to the J.D.C.’s allocation. The Jewish community of Hungary will also provide Passover food to needy Jews in Upper Hungary and Carpatho-Russia, the territories recently annexed by Hungary.
In Lithuania, the cost of Passover food for refugees there, including the needy Jews in the Wilno area, is estimated at $25,000, which will be obtained locally.
While it is not yet known whether Germany will admit Passover supplies, the opinion is expressed here that the neutral countries may hesitate to transport the commodities any further than the frontier because the Nazi authorities, being short of rolling stock, have been making a practice of not returning freight cars sent in from neighboring countries. This may lead to complications in delivery which could be overcome only if the Nazis permitted the Jewish communities to meet the shipments on the Reich frontier and reload them on special trucks chartered with Jewish funds.
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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.
