A total of 17,152 Jewish men, women and young people in 18 countries were trained or otherwise assisted along the path to new lives during the past year by ORT, it was announced today by George Backer, president of the American ORT Federation and the World ORT Union. Mr. Backer, who recently returned from a tour of Europe and an international ORT conference in Paris where he was elected World ORT head, spoke at an ORT luncheon at the Pennsylvania Hotel.
Trainees in about 100 different industrial and agricultural courses in ORT institutions and farming projects total 12,152, including 3,500 in 18 displaced persons camps in all occupied zones in Germany, Mr. Backer stated. The 5,000 other beneficiaries, he said, were helped by ORT’s various related services, including vocational guidance, apprentice and job placement, and provision of tools and other equipment on credit to permit ORT graduates, individual artisans and small groups of draftsmen to undertake private enterprises. The latter, he said, include small repair and manufacturing shops in such trades as carpentry, tailoring, dressmaking, and the like.
The tools and machines that ORT has shipped to European countries for individuals and schools since V-E day exceeded $500,000 in value, Mr. Backer reported. He declared that “the governments in the countries where ORT functions are extending earnest cooperation, including in many instances, material aid such as funds, equipment and small buildings for schools.”
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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.
