JDC Participating in U.S. Grants to Assist Emigrating Soviet Jews

Samuel L. Haber, executive vice chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee, said today that the JDC will receive a substantial portion of the $500,000 being made available by the U.S. Government for the current fiscal year to care for Soviet Jewish emigrants enroute to countries other than Israel. Haber said that the JDC is presently providing care and maintenance for close to 500 transmigrants in Vienna and Rome, most of them from the USSR, while they wait to complete their journey to Western countries.

Last week, the U.S. State Department presented $31 million to the United Israel Appeal toward the resettlement of Soviet Jewish immigrants in Israel. Another half million dollars was made available to other voluntary agencies, including the JDC, the United Hias Service and the International Rescue Committee which assist migrants who are not bound for Israel.

Haber said the devaluation of the U.S. dollar has cut into the amount of services originally provided for in the JDC 1973 budget. He reported that the number of Soviet transmigrants has more than tripled since last Dec. and said he expected the JDC would have to provide an additional $300,000 to cover the costs of housing, feeding and other basic necessities for them. He said the U.S. funds “come at a very opportune time.”

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