J.D.C. Suggests Formation of Body of European Jewish Communities

A permanent organization of European Jewish community leaders for regular consultations on Jewish education, health and welfare problems was proposed today at the final session of the 14th annual overseas conference of the Joint Distribution Committee.

The proposal was made by Charles H. Jordan, JDC overseas director general, who was chairman at the session which was devoted to consideration of future needs and policies of European Jewish communities. The four-day meeting was attended by 125 religious and welfare leaders from 25 countries who reviewed JDC policies and programs. Mr. Jordan suggested the organization be called the Standing Conference of European Jewish Communities.

Henry S. Villard, United States Consul General in Geneva and resident delegate the European office of the United Nations, told a dinner session tonight, presided there by Edward M. M. Warburg, that a government by itself cannot adequately meet the into nite variety of human needs without the efforts of voluntary agencies in the fields of relief, rehabilitation, education and social welfare.

Presenting greetings to the conference on behalf of the United States Government, Mr. Villard said that governments and private organizations have complementary roles in the task of helping the less fortunate.

U. S. AND ISRAEL ENVOYS LAUD J. D. C. AID TO NEEDY JEWS

Noting that the United States Government “carries out social welfare programs of its own,” Mr. Villard added: “It has embarked on a very ambitious program overseas generally known as Point Four; its established refugee assistance program will receive almost $30,000,000 in appropriated funds this year and another $10,000,000 to $12,000,000 has been allocated to the food distribution program.”

He said there were other “large special projects” to assist in realizing the aims of World Refugee Year “but we cannot fail at the same time to lend encouragement and moral support to the work of such non-official, non-political and highly-respected agencies as the Joint Distribution Committee.”

Joseph J. Linton, Israel Ambassador to Switzerland, also paid tribute to the work of the JDC. He said that one of the facts which has kept the Jewish people in existence is their readiness to help fellow Jews in need or in peril. The envoy expressed his appreciation of such specific JDC projects in Israel as Malben, the program for the aged, ill and handicapped and extended to the JDC his wish for “every success in its great-hearted efforts.”

Dr. William Haber, University of Michigan economist and president of the World ORT Union, credited the reconstruction of Jewish communal life in Europe to the joint efforts of American Jewry and the JDC, working in partnership with the newly-emerging European Jewish leadership. He said that the partnership had made possible achievements in 15 years which otherwise might have required generations of effort. He called the new European Jewish leadership “a small but fittingly effective group of men of the highest calibre.”