The Joint Distribution Committee paid tribute today to Paul Baerwald, who has served the agency for 34 years and celebrates his 80th birthday tomorrow. At a luncheon here today, officers and directors of the overseas welfare agency presented a resolution to their honorary chairman hailing him as “a truly great man who has for 34 years rendered devoted and inspired service to the cause of distressed Jews throughout the world.” The resolution stressed the “rare self-effacement and keen vision (with which) he carried forward the arduous and complicated tasks of rescuing Jews from areas of danger, or relieving the suffering of the stricken.”
Mr. Baerwald, who joined the JDC in 1917 as associate treasurer and was its chairman from 1932 to 1945, told his associates in reply that “I am not in the mood to reminisce. To me the important thing is looking forward. Today, it continues to be a great privilege for me to work with JDC. I would like to emphasize my conviction that the continued activities of the Joint are needed for years to come, that the benefits which the Joint should and can confer are without measure, and that the Joint still needs the full understanding of its hundreds of thousands of friends and contributors who have so willingly and loyally supported it over the years.”
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.
