The work which the Joint Distribution Committee does in Poland is perhaps the only ray of light in the darkness enveloping Polish Jewry today.
A report to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency from Warsaw states that 130,000 Jewish families in Poland have received within this year small credits from the Loan Kassas, which is supported by the Joint Distribution Committee.
These figures actually mean that at least one-sixth of the entire Jewish population in Poland has been enabled, through the assistance of the Joint Distribution Committee, to carry on a meager existence. At least half a million persons have been saved by the credits granted.
Such a piece of constructive relief work certainly deserves great praise. Those who have been in Poland know how even the smallest amount of credit is of the greatest help to the economically oppressed Jews.
When the Joint Distribution Committee began its activities in stimulating the creation of Jewish credit Kassas in Poland, the number of these institutions was very small. Now there are not less than 775 Kassas in the Polish republic, and each spells constructive relief for hundreds, if not for thousands of Jewish families.
The network of Loan Kassas supported by the Joint Distribution Committee is spread over every Polish city and township. In numerous places the entire Jewish economic life centers around these Kassas. Leaders of all groups are united around them.
It is, therefore, regrettable that not many in America know about these valuable activities of the Joint Distribution Committee. Mr. J. Gitterman, the director of the Joint Distribution Committee in Poland, does his work quietly. He does it, however, extremely well.
Over nineteen million Polish zlotys has been the turnover this year of the 775 Loan Kassas now existing in Poland. This sum approximates $4,000,000. It shows that much can be done even with small sums if relief is granted along constructive lines.
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.
