Edward M. M, Warburg, chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee and honorary chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, today hailed the “re-establishment, after an eight-year lapse, of the traditional lifeline of aid from the American Jewish community to needy Jews in Poland.”
Mr. Warburg reported that between V-E Day, 1945 and December 31, 1949, when JDC was asked to suspend its operations in Poland, the overseas welfare agency spent some $20,000,000 on behalf of Poland’s needy Jewish population. He noted that when JDC was forced to close its offices at the end of 1949 “it was the first time in 35 years that there was no JDC office in Poland.
Mr. Warburg noted that there are an estimated 40,000-50,000 Jews living in Poland today, including the 9,000-10,000 repatriates. He indicated that for a number of months JDC had been seeking a means of aiding Jews in Poland. “We are therefore extremely happy that new circumstances and events have now made it possible for the Joint Distribution Committee to resume its humanitarian efforts on behalf of Polish Jewry. We are doing so, I might add, with the full knowledge and agreement of the United States Government.
“JDC has embarked on this program with the complete assurance of the Polish authorities that we will be able to supervise the entire operation in the fullest detail, and that we will be able to carry out our mission of mercy without interference. In this new effort we know that we can count upon the enthusiastic support of the American Jewish community now again, as in the past.”
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