The Conference of the Joint Distribution Committee held here under the chairmanship of Felix Warburg and Col. Herbert Lehman considered the various activities of the J.D.C. in the different countries and decided on successive liquidations of their activities.
It was stressed that the Joint Distribution Committee was a temporary organization with the definite aim of providing relief for war sufferers, and could not continue its activities for an indefinite period. Work would continue so long as there were means and until everything had been successfully liquidated, and would be carried on together with those Jewish organizations with whom it had been working heretofor. Medical relief work of the J.D.C. has been completed in all countries and no new activities are being undertaken in this direction. The hospitals and sanitation institutions that have been organized will remain the charge of the local Jewish communities. One of the last pieces of work decided upon was the opening of a Nurses Training School in Warsaw.
It was further decided that the refugee relief work would be continued until the present problems had been solved. After October 1, refugee relief work will be left to those emigration organizations who had been doing this work before.
The department for the care of orphans is to be continued until the end of the year, after which time the J.D.C. has not the funds for the work. The Joint Distribution Committee undertakes no obligations in this direction but should the means be raised they will continue with the education of the children now under their care until completed.
The Reconstruction Department is to continue its work with funds, it is hoped, that will be raised by committees for self-help from amongst East-European Jewry. The funds for the support of schools and cultural institutions have been exhausted and the Jews of the various countries will have to provide for their support themselves.
The Conference gave special consideration to the relief work in Russia. At present, liquidation or diminution of the work in Russia is not to be thought of but it must be so conducted as to strengthen the social forces, it was decided. The work in Soviet Russia must be carried on on a constructive basis with special regard to Jewish agricultural efforts.
The work in Palestine will be liquidated at the same time and in the same manner as in Europe but the Joint Distribution Committee will endeavor to see to it that the existing ### institutions do not collapse.
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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.
