A report on the first three months of activities of the ORT in Poland training Jewish repatriates from the Soviet Union in new professions was issued here today by the American ORT Federation. It reveals that the organization is operating 62 training units of various types in 12 cities, with an enrollment of 1, 313 repatriates.
“The largest programs art in Wroclaw, Lignice and Walbrych–all in the new settlement areas of Silesia–and in Lodz, which in pre-war days was one of the great centers of Jewish industry and labor with a Jewish population of 250, 000 and which has 6, 000 today,” the report says. “In most instances the government has placed workshops in the regular Polish trade schools at ORT’s disposal. ORT instructors and students move in after day-school hours and often continue until 11 at night. In some localities, ORT has established its own facilities.”
The report observed that the ORT student body in other countries usually has a ratio of two males to one female. The figures for Poland are exactly the reverse. Among the 1,313 enrolled were 472 males to 841 females. “The desperate economic situation apparently requires two breadwinners to make family ends meet. “the report said. Women students are concentrated in garment skills. Male preference, however, is for more technical fields such as auto-mechanics, electrical installation, cabinet-making. The largest number are in machine shop and other branches of metal work.
The length of the training period varies between four and twelve months, depending on the skill. This brevity is compensated for by intensity. Thus a leather work course in Wroclaw lasts but six months, but has 208 class hours scheduled monthly. A machine shop course in Szezecin runs 184 hours a month. Training programs are directed toward trades that will be useful in Israel where most of the repatriates wish to go, and at the same time enable them to earn a living in Poland so long as they are not permitted to leave. Half the students are in the 26 to 40 age bracket.
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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.
