The agreements by West Germany to pay reparations to Israel and to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany is an important step toward the solution of Israel’s long-range economic problems but will not have an effect on the Jewish State’s immediate problems, Jack D. Weiler, general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York and chairman of the national U.J.A. campaign to raise $35,000,000 in cash in three months, tonight told the 13th anniversary dinner of the New York U. J. A.
Guests of honor at the dinner were some 300 chairmen of industry, professional, community and women’s divisions in the 1952 campaign. The affair marked the raising of more than 300 million dollars by the New York agency since its inception in 1939.
Mr. Weiler, who has just returned from a seven-week mission to Israel, Europe and North Africa, told the diners that “the German reparations can help Israel get out of the desperate situation in which it finds itself, but only if we keep on doing our job, the U. J. A. job,. to our fullest capacity. The dollars U. J. A. can provide are needed now to help the Israelis get along until the long-term effects of reparations, bond sales and investment programs can be felt.”
In a review of the history of the New York U. J. A. Louis Broido, president, stated that the agency was founded as a temporary method of meeting the Hitler emergency and that it has grown through the years “into a continuous effort of global proportions to save lives, to sustain others, and in recent years, to help in the up-building and resettlement of the State of Israel.” He pointed out that in 1939 the New York U. J. A. campaign netted approximately $5,000,000 and helped rescue 88,000 Jews fleeing Germany and 45,000 Jews escaping from other European countries. The job done in 1948 was ten times as great, he stressed, with the agency raising $50,000,000.
Mr. Broido declared that during the war years the U. J. A. agencies managed to sustain over a million Jews in Europe, operating behind the enemy lines on many occasions “with the knowledge and approval of our government.” Subsequently, the U. J. A. bent its efforts to rehabilitating the victims of the Nazis and in finding them homes in America and Israel. “We helped Israel’s people win their fight for independence against overwhelming odds posed by seven Arab armies. We helped them in the more prosaic but equally vital task of integrating the great multitude of new immigrants who came there to find a new, a decent life.”
Messages of congratulations were received from Gov. Thomas E. Deway, Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri, Sen, Herbert H. Lehman and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
