A greater number of Jews overseas, many of them refugees, required assistance in 1962 than in any year since 1950, the Joint Distribution Committee reported today. The JDC’s 17th annual statistical abstract listed aid last year to 277,385 men, women and children in 26 countries of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, including Israel. This figure compares with 252,000 who required aid in the preceding year, an increase of 25,500.
The abstract reported that, in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Iran and other Moslem countries, more than 98,000 of the Jewish population of 258,400 received some form of JDC aid. This included cash relief, medical care, feeding and other welfare and rehabilitation programs. In Israel, 84,000 were aided through Malben, the JDC welfare program for aged, ill and handicapped immigrants, the JDC cultural and religious program and vocational training. This represents an increase of more than 6,000 over the previous year.
In addition to needy Jews assisted in North Africa and Israel, JDC aid went to close to 90,000 needy Jews in 13 countries of continental Europe, about 13 per cent of the remaining Jewish population of over 683,000 residing outside the Soviet Union.
In a foreword to the abstract, Moses A. Leavitt, JDC executive vice-chairman, noted that Jewish migration had ebbed in 1959 and 1960, began to rise again in 1961, and reached the 200,000 mark in 1962. “As a result,” he said, “the very structure of the Jewish communities in North Africa and France underwent a radical change. Within a two-year period, France became the fourth largest Jewish community in the world, exceeded only by the United States, Russia and Israel. The Jewish community in Algeria almost disintegrated, and the number of Jews in Morocco and Tunisia decreased considerably.”
The Jewish population of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia decreased from 380,000 to 178,400, Mr. Leavitt reported. At the same time, he added, the Jewish population in France increased from 350,000 to 500,000. The bulk of them, particularly those from Algeria, found asylum in France, be said, and their plight over-shadowed all other problems faced by JDC in 1962.
“This plight gained urgency with the approach of the summer of 1963, when French citizens repatriated from Algeria will have exhausted their monthly allowances provided by the French legislation for a period of one year,” Mr. Leavitt said.
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