Rehabilitation of 1,000,000 declassed Jews in Russia and aid for 50,000 Jewish artisans in Poland whose livelihood is endangered by the recent Polish statute were among the problems discussed at the annual conference of the American Ort yesterday at the Hotel Pennsylvania. Dr. Henry Moskowitz, chairman of the executive committee, presided.
Dr. Moskowitz and Dr. Chaim Shitlowsky gave accounts of Ort work in Russia and Poland. Dr. Moskowitz reported on the tentative contract drawn up with the Soviet Government providing for the importation of tools, agricultural machinery, live stock and raw materials for Russian Jews on the soil and in industrial centers. Louis B. Boudin discussed the plan for the formation of the Ort Credit Corporation, to be organized under New York State banking laws, to engage in lending the necessary funds for the purchase of machinery, livestock or tools for Jews abroad whenever American friends or relatives will advance 25 percent of the cost in cash and give endorsed notes for the remainder, to be paid in installments over a year’s period.
“Colonization alone, important as it is, cannot solve the Jewish reconstruction problem in Russia,” Dr. Moskowitz declared. “For aid is necessary for 200,000 artisans who make a living for 1,000,000 souls and to do this, it is necessary to aid the Jewish Artisan Cooperatives.
“There are 2,650,000 Jews in Russia. Of the productive elements there are 200,000 artisan families constituting 1,000,000 people; there are 35,000 farming families numbering 200,000 souls; there are 300,000 to 400,000 members of trades unions and professional organizations. This leaves 1,000,000 known as the declassed elements 600,000 of whom are registered.
“These declassed Jews have no civil rights in Russia, for under the Soviet system, the rights and privileges of citizens are accorded only to the productive elements of the country. These declassed elements are chiefly ex-traders, and, in addition to being denied citizenship, they are also denied the privileges of citizens, such as education for their children, the use of governmental medical institutions and other substantial privileges which the citizens enjoy.”
“There is a veritable hunger for raw materials and for machines needed to meet the demand of manufactured goods. The kassas are the instruments for furnishing these, for it must be borne in mind that these are the Jewish artisans whose machines were destroyed during the pogroms and the civil wars. Many of them are primitive and they are handicapped because they do not own the modern machines which are available to artisans in Western countries.
“Concerning the 1,000,000 declassed, we have made a tentative contract with the Soviet Government which would obligate us to import within five years machines, tools, raw materials, etc., for the sum of 3,000,000 rubles, or $1,500,000,” Dr. Moskowitz declared. “Machines for artisans can be distributed to such people as need social help or aim to improve and advance their workshops. All machines, instruments and other materials of production which are to be imported into Russia are free of duty and other taxes.
“The conclusions to be drawn can be summarized in the following program for Jewish reconstruction in Russia:
1. “Colonization. Existing Jewish colonies must be strengthened, and new colonies established according to the available capital offered either by the Government or by Jewish foreign organizations or both.
2. “Aid to Artisan: The financial possibilities of Jewish Artisan Cooperative Kassa. The Joint Distribution Committee and the Ort should work together to provide machines and raw materials to the individual artisans and also to the members of the cooperatives.
3. “Jews should be drawn into industrialization processes now going on in Russia and more and more of them should be trained to become factory workers,” he concluded.
COMMUNITY CENTER SECRETARIES TO MEET MAY 9 TO 13
The National Association of Jewish Community Center Secretaries will hold its annual conference at the Hotel Sinton, in Cincinnati, from May 9 to May 13, it was announced by Harold H. Levin of New York City, secretary-treasurer of the association. The association, which is affiliated with the Jewish Welfare Board, includes representatives of centers, settlements, Y.M. and Y.W.H.A.’s in forty-one states and Canada.
Alfred M. Cohen of Cincinnati, president of the Independent Order B’nai Brith and member of the National Executive Council of the Jewish Welfare Board, will preside at the opening session. The program includes a symposium on educational programs with Abram S. Magida, executive secretary of the Young Men’s-Young Women’s Hebrew Association of Kansas City, Missouri, as director. A symposium on educational courses in the Jewish Center will be held, led by Philip Seman, superintendent of the Jewish People’s Institute of Chicago,
Joint sessions of the community center secretaries and the National Conference of Jewish Social Service, which is meeting simultaneously in Cincinnati, will be held.
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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.
