“In 1965 there were as many Jews in need of Joint Distribution Committee assistance as in 1964,” Charles H. Jordan, JDC executive vice-chairman and director-general, stated in the agency’s annual report issued today. “But,” he stressed, “in 1965 JDC had lost $7,000,000–nearly a quarter of its 1964 income.”
This loss represented reparations money which the JDC had been receiving annually since 1954 through the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. The grants, which averaged around $7,000,000 annually, ended in 1964 and despite increased efforts by American Jewish communities through the United Jewish Appeal, only a fraction of that sum was made up in 1965, Mr. Jordan reported.
As a result, he said, JDC was forced to curtail its programs in many countries. Even so, JDC aided nearly 413,000 needy Jews in 1965, compared with 430,000 assisted the year before. Among the cutbacks he noted were curtailment of clothing distribution to children in Morocco, Tunisia and Iran; tightening of eligibility requirements for admission to the old age homes of Malben, the JDC welfare program in Israel; and a cut of more than $1,000,000 in JDC subvention to the French Jewish community despite the presence of thousands of needy Jewish refugees, particularly from North Africa.
“In every one of the thirty countries in which JDC operates, there have been cutbacks,” Mr. Jordan stated. “We tried to cut without causing suffering. But in the process people were hurt, people did suffer.”
97,000 AIDED IN ISRAEL; 79,000 IN EUROPE; 56,500 IN MOSLEM LANDS
Of the 413,000 aided in 1965, 97,000 were assisted in Israel, over 79,000 in Europe, and more than 56,500 in the Moslem countries. Another 5,000 received aid in other countries. In addition, approximately 175,000 were aided by the JDC relief-in-transit program which cuts across national boundaries. Expenditures for the year totaled $22,077,000, Mr. Jordan reported. Expenditures in 1964 were close to $29,400,000. JDC receives the bulk of its funds from the campaigns of the United Jewish Appeal.
In an introductory message to the report, Louis Broido, newly-elected JDC chairman, paid tribute to Edward M. M. Warburg for his outstanding work during the 25 years he served as chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee. Mr. Broido, who is Commissioner of the New York City Department of Commerce and Industrial Development, said: “During most of that quarter century, I was a member of the Administration Committee of the JDC and I had the opportunity to observe at close range what he did and what was done by Moses A. Leavitt, our long-time executive vice-chairman whom we so unfortunately lost in 1965. We are all deeply grateful to both of them.”
The drastic cut in JDC income imposes a special responsibility on members of the National Council, Sal Satinsky, JDC National Council chairman declared in a message in the annual report. He stressed the importance of keeping the communities informed of JDC’s stringent financial situation and the effect on needy Jews overseas. He lauded the agency’s Community Information Program which brings JDC country directors and other overseas personnel to Jewish communities to report on the developing situation overseas.
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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.
