A serious run on the Jewish credit cooperatives of Latvia, which are supported by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, was prevented today by the hurried dispatch of $50,000 from the Berlin headquarters of the Committee. These Jewish credit cooperatives have been undergoing serious difficulties as a result of the German financial crisis.
Yesterday two such cooperatives in Riga were suddenly besieged by depositors and the cooperatives were compelled to discontinue payments. This led to a run on other cooperatives which were stormed by depositors seeking their money. In order to meet the emergency the Jewish cooperative banks appealed to the Joint Distribution Committee in Berlin which quickly sent $50,000. The receipt of these funds enabled all depositors to be paid and ended the run.
The Joint Distribution Committee has 22 such cooperative banks or kassas in Latvia with a membership of 11,000 out of a total Jewish population of 150,000. In 1930 loans granted by these 22 institutions totalled $575,000.
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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.