Indebtedness of Jewish agricultural collectives in the Ukraine, Crimea and other parts of Russia amounting to 11,000,000 rubles (about $6,000,000) has been written off by a Soviet government decree, according to information received here yesterday by James N. Rosenberg, chairman of the American Jewish Joint Agricultural corporation, and Joseph A, Rosen, its president.
The decree provides that all agricultural collectives in Soviet Russia are to be released from all obligations to repay their indebtednesses, amounting to 435,000,000 rubles. The Jewish collectives thus will benefit automatically to the extent of the 11,000,000 rubles mentioned above. The sum covers loans extended them by the Soviet government up to January 1, 1935.
“There is every reason to anticipate that additional loans, made to Jewish agricultural collectives since January 1, 1933, will also be written off shortly,” Mr. Rosenberg stated yesterday.
The purpose in wiping out the indebtedness of the collectives was to strengthen their financial position, Dr. Rosen explained.
The 11,000,000 rubles, he added, represents advances originally made to the Jewish farming settlements by the Agro-Joint and other organizations, including the Comzet, the Soviet government’s department for settling Jews on the land. These advances have been paid back to these organizations in the past few years by the Soviet government to enable them to extend their agricultural settlement and social welfare work in Russia.
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.
