Felix M. Warburg praised the rapid development of Palestine and said the Holy Land has been the salvation of Jews driven from Nazi Germany and Rabbi Jonah B. Wise described American contributions toward alleviation of the German-Jewish situation as “pitiable” in addresses before the fifth annual meeting of the national council of the Joint Distribution Committee, held Saturday night at Temple Emanu-El.
A total of $1,290,000 was expended by the JDC during the last year to aid the stricken Jews of the Third Reich and eastern Europe, it was reported. More than 100 men and women, leaders of Jewish communities throughout the United States, attended the meeting.
BAERWALD, HYMAN REPORT
Paul Baerwald, chairman, and Joseph C. Hyman, secretary, presented reports on the activities of the last twelve months and the delegates also heard Prof Norman Bentwich of the Hebrew University and William Rosenwald, son of the late Julius Rosenwald, who was elected a member of the board of directors of the organization.
Mr. Warburg, who recently returned from a “flying visit’ ‘to Palestine, painted a bright picture of Palestine, saying “I have never seen so much progress in any other country in such a short span of years.”
Rabbi Wise urged a reorganization of efforts to awaken the whole of American Jewry to the acuteness of the German Jewish crisis so that the needs may be met with something approaching adequacy.
INDICTS METHODS
“The failure to reach the masses of American Jewry is not an indictment of these people but of our methods,” he said. After reporting that the leaders of the German Jewish community feel that the problem of anti-Semitism will continue for years to come, he aserted: “We cannot forsake these people in their need.”
“The Joint Distribution Committee,” said Mr. Baerwald in his report, “has played a large part in arousing a greater sense of community responsibility among Jews throughout the United States.”
The “dramatic” appeal for relief for the Jewish people abroad, he added, “intensified and made widespread” the interest of many who up to then had not been identified with other types of philanthropic endeavor.
CONTINUED MEDICAL CARE
Despite the emergency in Germany, the Joint Distribution Committee, Mr. Hyman reported, continued the medical care, child welfare, credit aid and cultural-religious work in eastern Europe, chiefly in Poland, Rumania, Sub-Carpathia and the Baltic states which it has been carrying on for many years.
The $1,290,000 appropriated for work abroad was distributed as follows: $453,000 for aid in Germany, $516,000 to refugee groups and emigration organizations and $321,000 for work in eastern Europe and Austria.
One out of every five Jews in Germany is completely dependent on relief at the present time, Mr. Hyman disclosed, adding that one of the gravest problems is what to do with the Jews of the Reich who are not German nationals.
CITES FRENCH SITUATION
He said that in France the refugee situation is giving much anxiety.
“Labor and unemployment conditions contribute to rising prejudice against all aliens,” he explained. “Under constant pressure, unable to secure working permits, threatened with arrest and expulsion, their situation is indeed a tragic one.”
Mr. Rosenwald, speaking briefly, declared one of the main tasks of the Joint Distribution Committee must be to combat the erroneous notion that the pressure is being taken off the Jews in Germany and other unfriendly lands. The situation is in reality growing constantly worse, he said, as a reading of the news should make clear.
LAUDS JDC
Prof. Bentwich, former Attorney General for Palestine and now a close associate of James G. McDonald on the League of Nations High Commission for the Settlement of Refugees, said there were two forms of grace at the quarters of the commission—”Thank God for Palestine,” and “Thank God for the JDC.”
The professor, who holds the chair of international relations at the Hebrew University, declared it is apparent that the university must be one of the principal lifeboats to salvage Jewish genius that has been driven from the Reich.
The national officers were reelected. Mendel B. Silberberg, I, Edwin Goldwasser, Charles J. Leibman, Aaron S. Rauh, Otto A. Rosaslsky and Mr. Rosenwald were added to the board of directors.
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