American Jewish Rescue Groups
American Jewish Conference
The American Jewish Conference was a Jewish umbrella organization that tried to rescue Jews from Europe. It functioned between 1943 and 1949. It included the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the Synagogue Council of America, B’nai B’rith, and the Jewish Labor Committee. Rabbi Stephen Wise was its chief advocate.
[American Jewish Conference Proceedings 1943, 1944; Final Report of the Commission on Rescue; Feingold, 1970, pp. 189, 218-220, 233, 236-239; Finger, 1984; Kohanski, 1944; Lookstein, 1984]
Henry Monsky, founder (president, B’nai B’rith)
Abba Hillel Silver
American Jewish Congress
The American Jewish Congress was founded in 1917. Its goal was to protect Jewish civil rights worldwide. The Congress was the principal agency for the founding of the World Jewish Congress in August 1936. Bernard Deutsch was president, 1929-1935; Stephen S. Wise, 1925-1929 and 1935-1945.
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) was one of the principal financial agencies involved in the rescue of Jews in World War II. Between 1933 and 1940, it provided millions of dollars in financial aid to Jews in Eastern Europe. The JDC also funded the American Jewish Joint Agricultural Corporation (Agro-Joint). JDC representatives sent money into Jewish communities in numerous illicit or illegal operations to save Jews. The Joint maintained offices in New York City, in neutral Lisbon, Portugal, and Switzerland, and local offices throughout Nazi occupied Europe. It supplied money to Jewish self-help rescue and relief operations, including funds to provide relief activities and supported Jewish armed resistance.
Specifically, the JDC supplied funds to French Jewish organizations throughout France. It also was active in supporting the activities of Gisi Fleischmann and Rabbi Dov Weissmandel in Slovakia. Funds to aid Romanian Jewry through Wilhelm Filderman were sent to save and support Jews deported from Bessarabia and Bukovina who were expelled from Transnistria in 1941. Most of Raoul Wallenberg’s and Carl Lutz’s rescue activity in Budapest was funded by the JDC. The JDC raised and spent $70,235,876 for rescue and relief of Jews, 1933-1945.
The Transmigration Bureau was a subgroup of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
[American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Archives, File 368. American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Aiding Jews Overseas: Reports of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1939-1942. American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, The Rescue of Stricken Jews in a World at War, December 1943. Bauer, Yehuda. My Brother’s Keeper: A History of the American Joint Distribution Committee. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1974). Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981). Tartekower, 1944. Friedman, 1973, pp. 110, 193, 207.]
Alexander Kahn, a JDC founder 1914, vice-chairman 1937-1961
Edward M. M. Warburg, vice chairman 1938-1939, co-chairman 1940, chairman 1941-1943, 1946-1965, hon. chairman 1966-
Felix Warburg, chairman 1914-1932, hon. chairman 1932-1937, ASJFS hon. pres.
Mrs. Felix M. Warburg, hon. chairman
Paul Baerwald, hon. chairman 1932-1941, 1943-1945, hon. chair 1941-1943, treasurer 1920-1931, 1946-1947, 1946-1961
James N. Rosenberg, hon. chairman, exec. comm. vice chairman 1923-1939
Cyrus Adler, JDC founder 1914, chairman cult. comm. 1920-1940
James L. Becker, chairman National Council
Bernhard Kahn, JDC founding managing director 1924-1939, vice chairman 1950-1955
Herbert Katzki, exec. staff 1936-1979; Eurexco secretary 1939-1944; asst. dir. gen. 1951-1964; deputy dir. gen., 1965-1967; asst. & assoc. exec. vice chairman 1968-1979
Noel Aronovichi, founding secretary general 1928-1940, vice managing director 1939-1940
Albert H. Lieberman, vice-chairman National Council
Joseph C. Hyman, executive vice chairman 1940-1946, JDC secretary 1925-1939, JDC vice chairman 1947-1949
Herbert H. Lehman, vice-chairman
George Backer, vice-chairman
David M. Bressler, vice-chairman 1937-1942, chairman budget and scope committee 1933-1940
Alfred Jaretzki, Jr., vice-chairman 1941-1942, 1944-1946, chairman S. American Comm. 1939-1942
Harold F. Linder, vice-chairman 1941-1942, 1944-1946, chairman finance, budget & scope committees 1939-1942
Solomon Lowenstein, vice-chairman 1939-1941, exec. comm. 1919-1941
William Rosenwald, vice-chairman
William J. Shroder, vice-chairman
M. C. Sloss, vice-chairman
Jonah B. Wise, JDC/UJA campaigns national chairman 1931-1950, vice-chairman 1937-1959, exec. comm. 1931-1959
Alexqander A. Landesco, treasurer 1942-1944, personnel comm. chairman 1941-1942
I. Edwin Goldwasser, treasurer
Marco F. Hellman, treasurer
Abner Bregman, associate treasurer
Charles J. Liebman, rec. chairman 1934-1945, Europe rep. 1933-1934
Evelyn M. Morrissey, exec. staff 1915-1961, assistant treasurer 1939-1970
Mrs. H. B. L. Goldstein, comptroller
Isidor Coons, director of fund raising 1930-1949; exec. vice chairman UJA 1939-1949
Moses A. Levitt, secretary 1940-1946, 1948-1965, exec. staff 1929-1933, 1940-1946
Aron Teitelbaum, exec. comm. 1921-1932; board of directors 1931-1944
Henry Ittelson, exec. comm. 1940-1942, board of directors 1939-1942
Harold Trobe, exec. staff 1944-1956, 1966-1977; JDC Lisbon 1944-1945
B. Charney Vladeck, exec. comm. 1920-1922, 1926-1938
Peter Wiernik, exec. comm. 1921-1935, board of directors 1931-1935
James Marshal, exec. comm. 1929-1944, board of directors 1931-1944, ASJFS subscriber
Leo Jung, chairman cult. and relig. comm., 1943-1978
JDC Board of Directors (alphabetically):
Henry Ittelson, exec. comm. 1940-1942, board of directors 1939-1942
James Marshal, exec. comm. 1929-1944, board of directors 1931-1944, ASJFS subscriber
Dudley D. Sicher 1934-1938
Aron Teitelbaum, exec. comm. 1921-1932; board of directors 1931-1944
Peter Wiernik, exec. comm. 1921-1935, board of directors 1931-1935
European Executive Council (Eurexco):
Dr. Bernhard Kahn, vice chairman 1922-1924; chairman 1924-1938; hon. chairman; JDC founding managing director 1924-1939; JDC vice chairman 1950-1955
Morris C. Troper, chairman European Executive Council 1938-1942
Joseph J. Schwartz, vice-chairman 1940-1941, chairman 1942-1949, European Executive Council
Nathan Katz, secretary-general 1937-1939
Herbert Katzki, Eurexco secretary 1939-1944
William Bein 1921-1940
Isaac Giterman, JDC Poland staff member 1919-1943, director JDC Poland 1939-1943
David K. Schweitzer, vice chairman 1926-1939; overseas staff 1920-1942; JDC Recon. Found., vice managing director 1928-1940; DORSA manager 1941-1942
Solomon Trone, Sousa Project, Eurexco, DORSA 1939-1940
Herbert Katzki, exec. staff 1936-1979; Eurexco secretary 1939-1944; asst. dir. gen. 1951-1964; deputy dir. gen., 1965-1967; asst. & assoc. exec. vice chairman 1968-1979
Isaac (Yitzhak) Gitterman*, head, Central Committee
New York, USA – Headquarters Staff:
Morris Troper, Director of European Affairs 1938-1942
Nathan C. Belth, JDC publicity 1935-1940
Harry D. Biele, staff member 1944-1947; comm. secretary, Latin America, 1944-1945; Agro Joint, 1944-1945; deputy director Germany, 1945-1947
Frederick W. Borchardt, JDC representative who conducted refugee fact-finding missions to S. America, 1936-1940
Henriette K. Buchman, staff member 1934-1962, comm. secretary Cult. and Relig., 1937-1962, Poland and Eastern Europe 1941-1943
Philip Skorneck, exec. staff 1944-1949
Lillian Cantor, staff member 1921-1971
Seymour S. Cohen, JDC publicity director 1944-1945
Nathan Weisman, staff member 1941-1944
Bernice Kandel, publicity dept. 1944
Bertrand S. Jacobson, staff 1936-1938, 1940-1942, 1945-1947
J. B. Lightman, exec. staff 1933-1936
Ben L. Simon 1931-1938
Roman Slobodin, pub. dir. 1941
Louis H. Sobel, assistant secretary 1944-1946
Dorothy L. Speiser, exec. staff 1921-1968
Alfred H. Katz, statistics dept. 1937-1938
George Natanson, NY staff 1933
Robert Pilpel, exec. asst. NY 1946-1952; exec. staff 1939-1952; Agro Joint secretary 1940-1944, 1948-1952
Louis Popkin, publicity department, 1932-1935
Herbert J. Seligman, pub. info. dept. director 1935-1938
Zelda F. Popkin, publicity director, 1943-1944
Nathan Reich, dir. research dept. 1944-1948
Ruth M. Rojek, 1938-1943
Irwin Rosen, 1939-1941, 1942-1948
Julia Rubenstein 1933-1940
Overseas staff:
Joseph J. Schwartz, overseas staff 1939-1950, JDC secretary 1940, Eurexo vice chairman 1940-1941
Noel Aronovici 1919-1956
William Bein 1921-1954
Laura Margolis Jarblum, overseas staff 1939-1956, 1958-1974; JDC rep. Cuba 1939-1941; JDC rep. Shanghai 1941-1943; JDC rep. Sweden 1944 (Oct.-Dec.); JDC rep. Belgium 1945-1946; JDC rep. France 1946-1953; staff member JDC Malben 1954-1956, 1958-1974
Moses Beckelman 1939-1942, Lithuania 1939-1941, Latin America 1939-1941
Charles H. Jordan, 1941-1943, 1945-1967; JDC rep. Caribbean 1941-1943; JDC rep. Far East 1945-1947; director general of overseas operations 1956-1967; JDC exec. vice-chairman 1966-1967
Charles J. Leibman, JDC rep. in Europe 1933-1934
Mordechai Kessler 1943-1945
Arthur D. Greenleigh, overseas staff 1944-1946
Louis J. Platt, field representative 1936-1938
Joseph A. Rosen 1921-1942
Emanuel Rosen, 1939-1942, 1947-1954
David K. Schweitzer, vice chairman 1926-1939; overseas staff 1920-1942; JDC Recon. Found., vice managing director 1928-1940; DORSA manager 1941-1942
Jacob Trobe, overseas staff 1944-1948
Arthur A. Fishzohn, overseas staff 1944-1946; JDC representative Turkey 1944-1945; JDC representative Bulgaria 1946
Manuel Siegel, overseas staff 1940-1947, Cuba 1940-1941, Shanghai 1941-1945
J. B. Lightman, representative, South America 1933-1950
Solomon Trone, Sousa Project, Eurexco, DORSA 1939-1940
Reuben Resnick, 1943-1946; rep. Near East, Portugal & Italy 1944-1946
Algiers – Eli Gozlan
Argentina – S. Pereira Mendes, 1936; Jacob P. Lightman, 1943
Austria: Vienna – Josef L. Dewenherz
Belgium – Laura Margolis (Jarblum), 1945-1946
Bulgaria – Arthur A. Fishzohn
Caribbean – Charles H. Jordan, 1941-1943 (overseas staff 1941-1943, 1945-1967; JDC rep. Far East 1945-1947; director general of overseas operations 1956-1967; JDC exec. vice-chairman 1966-1967)
China: Shanghai – Laura L. Margolis (Jarblum), 1941-1943, Manuel Siegel 1941-1945, C. Brahn, chairman, J. Bitker, Abraham Levenspiel (Files 485-503)
Columbia – Lazaro Zelwer
Costa Rica – Louis Feinblat, Leon J. Obermayer (File 504)
Croatia - Klein
Cuba – Laura L. Margolis (Jarblum), 1939-1941; Jack Brandon, 1938; Alberto H. Kates; Albert Hartman; S. L. Maduro; Milton D. Goldsmith, Aug. 1939-Jan. 1940; Manuel Siegel, 1940-1941; Charles H. Jordon; Robert Pilpel, 1939-1943; Oscar Gurfinkel; Joseph Kleinman, Joint Rel. Comm. 1939-1940; Rose M. Rabinoff, Cuba Joint Relief Comm. 1941-1943, Ester Margolis 1939-1940 (Files 505-532)
Curaçao – Milton H. M. Maduro, Rabbi I. J. Cardozo (Joose Hulp-Comite; File 553)
Czechoslovakia: Prague – Dr. Franz Friedman, Erich Khon (Files 534-545)
Dominican Republic – Rebeccah M. Reyher (exec. secretary, 1940-1943), David K. Schweitzer, Dr. Walter Blum (Joint Relief Committee; JRC; Files 549-555)
Ecuador – Oscar Rocca
England: London – Donald B. Hurwitz, Harold F. Linder 1945, David H. Sulzberger 1943 (Files 557-592)
Far East: Charles H. Jordan, 1945-1947
France: Laura Margolis (Jarblum), 1946-1953
France: Paris – Herbert Katzki 1940, Dorothy Manson 1939-1940
France: Southern France – Jules Jefroykin, Maurice Brener, Joseph Croustillon, Sholomo Steinhorn
Germany: Berlin – Otto Hirsch*, Paul Meyerheim
Greece – Vittorio Velobra
Guatemala (File 690)
Haiti (Files 691-693)
Hungary: Budapest – Bertram S. Jacobson (co-director 1940-Dec. 1941), Bella Wagner, Eppler, Josef Blum (co-director 1940-1944), Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish consul, Carl Lutz, Swiss vice consul (Files 706-704)
India: Bombay (File 711)
Iran: Teheran – Harry Viteles, Charles Passman (exec. staff Near East & Palestine 1943-1958; Files 712-713)
Italy – Vittorio Valobra, Emanuel Rosen, Giuseppe Levi, Kart Peiser (JDC rep. North Africa, Italy, 1943-1944), Max Perlman (JDC rep. North Africa, Italy, 1943-1944), Reuben Resnick (overseas staff 1943-1946; rep. Near East, Portugal & Italy 1944-1946)
Jamaica (File 722)
Japan: Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama – Ernst Baerwald (Files 723-727)
Latvia: Riga (File 728)
Libya: Tripoli (File 729)
Lithuania – Moses Beckelman, Isaac (Yitzhak) Giterman*, Grodensky, Solomon Taraszansky (JDC Poland 1932-1939; JDC Lithuania 1939-1941; Files 730-741)
Luxemburg (File 742)
Mexico (Files 743-744)
Morocco (File 745)
Near East – Reuben Resnick (overseas staff 1943-1946; rep. Near East, Portugal & Italy 1944-1946), Charles Passman (exec. staff Near East & Palestine 1943-1958)
The Netherlands: Amsterdam – Gertrude van Tijn, H. Kalb
North Africa – Donald B. Hurwitz, Kurt Peiser (JDC rep. North Africa, Italy, 1943-1944), Max Perlman (JDC rep. North Africa, Italy, 1943-1944)
Palestine – Judah Leon Magnus, advisory comm. chairman 1943-1944 (Files 746-779)
Panama – Rabbi Nathan Witkin (Jewish Welfare Board; JWB; Files 780-783)
The Philippines: Manila – Laura L. Margolis (Files 784-787a)
Poland: Warsaw – Isaac (Yitzhak) Gitterman* (staff member 1919-1943, director 1939-1943), David Guzik 1920-1946, Lieb Neustadt, Emmanuel Ringelblum, Isaac Bornstein, Stephan Luxemburg 1926-1938, Solomon Taraszansky (JDC Poland 1932-1939; JDC Lithuania 1939-1941); closed December 21, 1941, see also Jewish Mutual Aid Society (ZTOS), Warsaw, Poland (Files 788-789)
Portugal: Lisbon – d’Esaguy, Daniel Sequerra, Robert Pilpel (JDC Lisbon 1944-1945), Reuben Resnick (overseas staff 1943-1946; rep. Near East, Portugal & Italy 1944-1946), Harold Trobe, 1944-1945, Herbert Katzki, Solomon Trone
Romania: Wilhelm Filderman, Bertrand S. Jacobson 1940-1942, Fred Saraga, Dr. Baruch Costiner, Samuel Singher, Wilhelm Fischer
Serbia - Spitzer
Slovakia: Gisi Fleischmann*, Josef Blum, Bertrand S. Jacobson 1940-1942, Robert K. Füredi; confidential representatives: A. Frischer, Kovasz, Krasniansky, Dr. Revecz, Dr. Rosenberg, Rosenthal K. Stein (Files 534-545)
South America – Alfred Jaretzki, 1939-1942 (JDC vice-chairman 1941-1942, 1944-1946); Noel Aronovici; F. W. Borchard, 1936-1940; M. D. Goldsmith, 1940-1941; Moses Beckelman, 1941-1942; L. H. Sobel, 1943; Jacob B. Lightman, 1943-1944; Gertrude D. Pinsky, exec. staff
Uruguay & Europe, 1944-1946; S. Pereira Mendes, 1936
Spain: Barcelona – Samuel Sequerra (posing as representative of the Portuguese Red Cross)
Spain: Madrid – Paul Block, David Blinkenstaff (non-Jew)
Sweden – Laura L. Margolis (Jarblum), Oct.-Dec. 1944, Manuel Siegal, Marcus Levine, Ragnar Gottfarb
Switzerland: Geneva – Saly Mayer
Tangier – Jacob Laredo
Turkey – Arthur A. Fishzohn
Uruguay – Gertrude Pinsky, exec. staff Uruguay & Europe, 1944-1946
Venezuela: Caracas – Lazaro Zelwer (HIAS-ICA)
American Jewish Joint Agricultural Corporation , USA, established 1924 (see Domincan Republic Settlement Association, DORSA, and Sociedad Colonizadora de Bolivia)
Joseph A. Rosen, president 1927-1938, director 1924-1942, DORSA vice president 1939-1942
Maurice B. Hexter, president, 1943-1952, chairman of board or president DORSA 1948-1982
Abner Bregman, treasurer
Jamers N. Rosenberg, chairman 1924-1942, ASJFS president 1928-1948, DORSA chairman board of directors 1941-1947, hon. chairman 1947-1970
Joseph C. Hyman, assistant treasurer
Robert Pilpel, secretary 1940-1944, 1948-1952; exec. staff 1939-1952; Latin Amer. Comm. secretary 1939-1944
Board of directors: Abner Bregman, James H. Becker, Alexander Kahn, Bernhard Kahn, Alfred Jaretzki, Jr., Joseph C. Hyman, Harold F. Linder, Joseph A. Rosen, Edward M. M. Warburg, Miss Evelyn M. Morrissey
Trustees: James N. Rosenberg, chairman; James H. Becker, vice-chairman; Paul Baerwald, treasurer; George Backer, Herbert H. Lehman, James Marshall, Lewis L. Strauss, Eeward M. M. Warburg, Jonah B. Wise, William Rosenwald, Alexander Kahn; Robert Pilpel, assistant secretary
American Joint Reconstruction Foundation (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee), France
American Joint Reconstruction Foundation (Foundation), USA, established 1924 (JDC Archives NYC Files 394-403)
Sir Leonard Cohen, president 1929-1934 (ICA president)
Sir Osmond d’Avigdor Goldsmid, president 1934-1940 (ICA president)
Leonard G. Montefiore, 1940-1944 (ICA president)
Bernard Flexner, vice president 1932-1938
A. A. Landesco 1938-1944
Bernard Kahn (JDC), co-managing director 1934-1939
David J. Schweitzer, co-managing director 1939-1941
Louis Oungre (ICA), co-managing director 1924-1941
Noel Arondvici, secretary general 1924-1941
American members – David M. Bressler, Meyer Gillis, Alexander Kahn, Alexender A. Landesco (governor), Herbert H. Lehman, Felix M. Warburg, Joseph C. Hyman (secretary to American members)
ICA members, Great Britain – Dr. Julius Blau, Sir Osmond d’Avigdor Golsmid, Dr. Alfred Klee, Leonard G. Montefiore, Emil Oettinger, Marquess of Reding
Eastern Euorpean members – Dr. Leon Bramson, Dr. Isaac Joffe, Dr. Albert Sondheimer, Mr. Rafal Szereszowski, Senator Jacob Trockenheimer, Mr. Isaac Ussoskin
Committee on Refugee Aid in Europe, established February 1939
E. M. M. Warburg, chairman
Herbert Katzki, secretary
Committee on Refugee Aid in Central and South America—Latin American Committee, established February 1944
Alfred Jaretski, Jr., chairman, 1939-1942
Isaac H. Levy, chairman, 1942-1944
Robert Pilpel, secretary, 1939-1944
Harry Biel, secretary, 1944
Emergency Committee on Jewish Refugees, 1935-1938
Joint Relief Committee (JRC), Cuba
Alberto H. Kates
S. L. Maduro
Albert Hartman
Jack Brandon
Junior Division of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
Officers: Pauline Baerwald Falk, hon. chairman; Lois Hollander Cole, national chairman; Tracy H. Ferguson, national vice-chairman; Milton S. Pratiner, national secretary
Transmigration Bureau (TB), New York and Lisbon, Portugal (JDC Annual Reports and Yearbooks, JDC Archives NYC File 368)
Canadian Emigration Project, Iberian Penninsula (JDC Archives NYC File 454)
American Palestine Campaign (APC)
The American Palestine Campaign was founded in 1931. It was the fundraising group for the Jewish Agency for Palestine in the United States in 1934 and 1935. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the APC jointly formed the United Jewish Appeal (UJA). The APC then became part of the UJA.
[JDC Archives NYC File 214]
J. C. Hyman, incorporator, board member
Committee to Save the Jews of Europe (Bergson Group)
The Committee to Save the Jews of Europe (the Bergson Group), originally called the Committee for an Army of Stateless Palestinian Jews, was organized by Peter H. Bergson (Hillel Kook), in June 1943. It was headquartered in the United States. It was one of the leading rescue advocacy organizations in the world. Bergson called for the creation of a Jewish army of stateless and Palestinian Jews. Bergson organized numerous rallies throughout the United States to raise awareness of the murder of Jews in Europe. Bergson was a leading advocate for the adoption of the Biltmore Resolution in May 1942, which separated the issue of rescuing Jews from the establishing of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Bergson’s activities were disparaged and criticized by mainstream American Jewish organizations. The Bergson Group was the major catalyst for the creation of the War Refugee Board under the US Treasury Department.
Senator Edwin Johnson of Colorado was nominal chairman. Other members included Pierre van Daassen and Congressman Will Rogers, Jr.
Some of the prominent Jewish members were Samuel Merlin, executive director, Ben Hecht, co-chair, Ira Hirschman, Max Lerner, Emil Lengyel and Louis Bromfield. These were known as “Bergson’s Boys.”
Peter Bergson (Hillel Kook), head, founder
Samuel Merlin, executive director
Congressman Will Rogers, Jr., co-chair (non-Jew)
Ben Hecht, co-chair, writer
Ira Hirschman, 1943, WRB representative, Turkey, 1944-1945
Max Lerner
Leo Danenberg, Turkey
Pierre van Passen
Emil Lengyel
Louis Bromfield
Senator Edward Johnson, Colorado (non-Jew)
[Friedman, Saul S. No Haven for the Oppressed. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1973). Penkower, M. N. “In Dramatic Dissent: The Bergson Boys.” American Jewish History, 70/3 (March 1981), 281-309. Wyman, David S. The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941-1945. (New York: Pantheon, 1984). Wyman, David S. and Rafael Medoff. A Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust. (New York: The New Press, 2002).]
Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
The Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) was established in New York in 1885 and was reorganized in 1901. It was created to help Jewish refugees enter the United States and other countries, including Latin and South America and Canada.
[Avni, Haim. Spain, the Jews and Franco. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1982). Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981). Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Report on Activities in the United States and Overseas, 1940. Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Rescue Through Immigration, Annual Report and Messages, 1941. Wischnitzer, 1956. Tartakower, 1944. Ginzberg, 1942.]
HICEM - the United Committee for Jewish Immigration (HIAS-ICA-EMIGDIRECT)
The United Committee for Jewish Immigration (HIAS-ICA-EMIGDIRECT; HICEM) was founded in New York City in 1927 with the merger of three refugee and relief societies. HICEM facilitated the rescue and emigration of tens of thousands of Jews throughout Nazi occupied Europe. It arranged for emigrants to receive life-saving visas. It also arranged for the shipping and transportation of Jews to the United States, Palestine, South America, Latin America and Australia. HICEM members often broke the law and used illegal methods for helping Jews leave the Nazi orbit.
Local Jews in Portugal, including Professor Moses B. Amzalak and Dr. Augusto d’Essaguy, helped organize escape for Jews throughout Europe.
[Historic archives are held by the YIVO Institute, New York City. Avni, Haim. Spain, the Jews and Franco. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1982). Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981). Ginzberg, 1942. Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Report on Activities in the United States and Overseas, 1940. Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Rescue Through Immigration, Annual Report and Messages, 1941. Tartakower, 1944. Wischnitzer, 1956.]
John L. Bernstein, chairman 1934, executive committee
Samuel A. Telsey, director 1933
Abraham Herman, director 1939
Dr. Abraham Coralnik (died 1937)
HIAS Board Members, 1933-1939:
Edward M. Benton
Rabbi Aaron D. Burack (Yeshiva University)
Solomon Dingol, HIAS Board 1934, editor
Harry Epstein
Herman J. Greenhut
Murray I. Gurfein (lawyer)
Reubin Guskin (Pres. Workingman’s Circle)
Harry G. Herman
Harry Lang (journalist)
Dr. David Linetsky
Honorable Adolph Stern (Independent Order Brith Abraham)
New York – Board of Directors, 1942:
Max Gottschalk, president
Louis Oungre, treasurer
Dr. James Bernstein, managing director, European Director, Paris, London
John L. Bernstein, chairman, administrative committee
Abraham Herman, secretary
Samuel A. Telsey
Solomon Dingol
Edouard Oungre, managing director
Ilja Dijour, executive secretary
USA:
Bernard Kornbluth (New York, Pier Service)
Murray Levine, executive director, Philadelphia
Paris-Marseilles:
Edouard Oungre
Vladimir Shah
Marie Kotowicz*
Nathan Kramarz*
Suzanne Lotterman*
Marcel Meyer*
M. Parascou*
I. Rosengarten*
Raphael Spanien
Alexander Trocki
Marguite Dreyfus*
M. Frangeort*
Izerliss*
Jean Jacob*
Joskite Jacob*
S. Sambor*
R. Volteger*
Algiers:
René Meyer (later Priemier of France)
Bernard Mélamede
Edoard Goslen
Belgium: Brussels – Vladimir Shah
Casablanca – Raphael Spanien (JDC)
China – Shanghai:
Isaiah Rozowsky (Kovno HIAS-ICA)
Lazar Epstein (JEAS Warsaw)
Italy: Rome, Naples, Bari, Milan (November 1944) – Raphael Spanien
Latin America: Buenos Aires – Edouard Oungre
Lithuania:
Kovno (Kaunas) – Moshe Schalit*
Vilna – I. Valk*
Yehoshua Razovsky
Poland - Warsaw (JEAS):
Leon Alter, executive director
Israel Bernstein
Portugal:
Dr. James Bernstein (Lisbon)
Abraham Amram (Lisbon)
Professor Moses B. Amzalak
Dr. Augusto d’Essaguy
Ilja Dijour (Lisbon)
Romania – Bucharest:
Lazar Grousman* and family*
Dr. Mauriciu Singher (after liberation, September 1944)
S. Bertrand Jacobson (1945)
Turkey – Istanbul:
S. Bertrand Jacobson (near east representative)
David J. Schweitzer (winter 1944)
Delegates:
Abraham Herman
Samuel A. Telsey
Isaac L. Asofsky
Dr. James Bernstein, European director, Lisbon, Portugal
Professor Moses B. Amzalak
Dr. Augusto d’Esaguy
Jewish Colonization Association (ICA)
The Jewish Colonization Association (ICA) was founded in 1891 by Baron Maurice de Hirsch.
[Tartakower, pp. 489-491.]
Baron Maurice de Hirsch, founder
Sir Leonard Cohen, president 1929-1934
Sir Osmond d’Avigdor Goldsmid, president 1934-1940
Leonard Montefiore, president 1940-1944
Louis Oungre, general manager
World Jewish Congress (WJC)
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) was founded in Geneva in 1936. Headquarters moved to New York after the outbreak of World War II.
[Tartakower, pp. 436-438.]
Rabbi Stephan (Samuel) Wise (1884-1949), chairman and president
Nahum Goldman (1895-1982, chairman, administrative committee
Louis Lipsky, chairman, administrative council
Geneva, Switzerland – Dr. Gerhart Riegner, Isidor Koppelmann, Benjamin Sagalowitz
Sweden – Norbert Masur
Lisbon, Portugal – Manuel Alvez, Isaac Weissman
US Jewish Legislators
Congressman Sol Bloom, New York
[Sol Bloom Papers, New York Public Library. Morse, 1967, pp. 51, 55-56.]
Congressman Emanuel Cellar, New York
[Emanuel Cellar Papers, US Library of Congress; Morse, 1967, pp. 90, 136, 174, 206-207, 334-335.]
Congressman Adolph Sabath, Illinois
[Morse, 1967, p. 207.]
State Senator Alfred M. Cohen, Ohio
National leader of B’Nai Brith; AJA Cincinnati.
Other Jewish Groups
Advisory Council on European Jewish Affairs of the World Jewish Congress, New York, NY, established 1942 (AJC Yearbook, 1943; Finger, 1984; Wise, 1949)
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, chairman
Nahum Goldman, head, Dept. Europe
Leon Kubowitzki, Jewish Affairs
Agricultural Committee, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, England, 1939-1940, see American Joint Distribution Committee (JDC Archives NYC File 577)
Agro-Joint, see American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
Agudas Israel of America, Inc., New York, NY, established 1921, members: 29,300, publication: Jewish Voice (AJC Yearbook, 1941-1943)
Eliezer Silver, president
S. Eichenstein, executive director (1943)
Officers:
Solomon Friedman, vice president
Solomon Hyman
Shlomo Travis
Benjamin W. Hendles, executive director (1941)
O. Baumel, charman, executive board
Agudat (Agudas) Israel World Organization (Hebrew Union of Israel), Poland, later Geneva, established 1912 (subsidiary group Poale Agudas Israel, established 1922), worked with Hilfsverein für Jüdische Flüchtling (HIJEFS; Relief Organization for Jewish Refugees Abroad) and Rescue Committee of the Orthodox Rabbi in the United States (Va’ad Ha Hatsalah; Agudat Archives, London, England; JDC Archives NYC File 828a; Kranzler, 1987, 1991; Penkower, 1985, pp. 68, 123-124, 126, 145, 164, 171, 248, 249, 255-256; Wein, 1990)
Jacob Rosenheim, president - USA
Chaim Yisroel Eiss, leader
Moritz Pappenheim
Julius Steinfeld
Nathan Schwalb
Henny Bornstein
Mr. Aronson
Matthew Muller (papers, USHMM Archives)
Dr. Isaac Lewin – USA
Meir Shenkolewski – USA
Alliance American Lithuanian Jews, USA (JDC Archives NYC File 268.2)
Alliance Israélite Universelle of America, Central Committee, Philadelphia, PA, established 1940, 3 branches (AJC Yearbook, 1941-1943)
Samuel Edelman, chairman
Frank Hahn, Jr.
American Committee for Hungarian War Refugees, USA (JDC Archives NYC File 268.3)
American Committee for the Aid of Jews in Galicia, USA (JDC Archives NYC File 338)
American Committee for the Relief and Resettlement of Yemenite Jews, New York, NY, Palestine, in cooperation with United Yemenite Community of Palestine and Federation of Yemenite Jews in America (JDC Archives NYC File 751-753; AJC Yearbook, 1941-1943)
Moses I. Feuerstein, chairman, 1943
Zacharia Gluska, executive director
Mortimer J. Propp, chairman, 1941
Arthur Sherr, vice chairman, 1941
Abraham Mazer, treasurer, 1941
American Committee for the Relief of Jews in Poland, USA (JDC Archives NYC File 225)
American Committee of OSE, Inc., New York, NY, USA, affiliated with TOZ, Jewish Health Protection Society of Poland (JDC Archives NYC; AJC Yearbook, 1941-1943, p. 542)
Albert Einstein, honorary chair
Israel Wechler, chairman, board of directors
A. J. Rongy, M.D., chairman, executive committee
Dr. Eng. B. Pregel, co-chairman
J. J. Golub, M.D., chairman, 1933-1937
D. Jedabnik, M.D., vice chairman
Dr. Eng. Charles Breyner, treasurer
L. Wulman, M.D., secretary
J. Bruztkus, M.D., council, honorary committee
L. Lazarowitz, M.D., council
Emanuel Libman, honorary committee
Milton J. Rosenau, honorary committee
Pierre Dreyfus
Mrs. Pierre de Gunzbourg
L. Rosenthal, M.D.
M. Sudarski, M.D.
Mr. E. Weil
Publication: American OSE Review
American Council for Warsaw Jews, USA, 1942
American Council of Jews from Austria, USA, established 1942
American Council of Voluntary Agencies for Foreign Service, USA, established 1944; HIAS-ICA co-founder (HIAS-HICEM Archives YIVO NYC)
American Economic Committee for Palestine, New York, NY, established 1932 (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 452)
Edward A. Norman
American Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs (ECZA), New York, NY, established 1939; became American Zionist Emergency Council in 1942; Constituent bodies: Zionist Organization of America; Hadassah; Mizrachi; Poale Zion, members: 29 (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 452)
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, chairman 1939-1942
Louis E. Levinthal, chairman, office committee
Arthur Lourie, executive secretary
American Federation for Lithuanian Jews, Inc., New York, NY, USA, established 1937 (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 452)
Elias Fife, president
I. Rozovsky, executive director
Frank Epstein, secretary
American Federation for Polish Jews, New York, NY, USA, established 1940, see Federation of Polish Jews in America, New York, NY, USA, established 1908, affiliated with the World Federation of Polish Jews, members: 65,000, publication: Polish Jews (JDC Archives NYC Files 225-232; AJC Yearbook, 1941-1943, p. 452)
Benjamin Winter, national chairman, president, 1923-1943
Z. Tygel, executive director, 1923-1940
Joseph Tannenbaum, president, 1923-1940
Jacob Brown, vice president
Abraham Goldberg, vice president
Mrs. A. P. Kaplan, vice president
S. Margoshes, vice president
H. J. Rubenstein, vice president
Abraham Werman, vice president
Nathan Korn, district vice president
Sol Ferleger, district vice president
I. Finkelstein, district vice president
Henry Szoszkies
Morris Blumenstock, director
Women’s Division, members: 200:
Mrs. A. P. Kaplan, president
Mrs. J. Brown, vice president
Mrs. H. Glanz, vice president
Mrs. Esther Rosen, vice president
Mrs. H. Mechutan, vice president
Clara Raphael, treasurer
Mrs. Ray Cohen, secretary
Mrs. B. Tykulsker, financial secretary
American Federation of Jews from Central Europe, New York, NY, USA, established 1941 (JDC Archives NYC File 204; AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 453)
Rudolf Callman, president
Ernst Fraenkel, executive secretary
American Friends of a Jewish Palestine, New York, NY, USA, established 1939, see also Bergson Group, members: 1,000, publication: The Answer (AJC Yearbook, 1941-1943, p. 453)
William G. Stanton, chairman, national executive board
William B. Ziff, honorary chairman
Louis Germain, treasurer
Gabriel Wechsler, secretary
American Friends of Polish Jews, New York, NY, USA, established 1941, members: 500, publication: bulletins (AJC Yearbook, 1941-1943, p. 433)
George M. Geigin, president
Z. Tygel, executive vice president
American Jewish Committee (AJC), New York, NY, USA, established 1906, later part of Joint Emergency Committee for European Jewish Affairs, members, corporate: 327, publication: Contemporary Jewish Record (JDC Archives NYC; Annual Report of the Executive Committee, American Jewish Yearbooks 1938-1945; Cohen, 1972; Lazin, 1979, pp. 283-304, cited in Cholawsky, 1998; Morse, 1967, pp. 109, 122, 129, 147, 203; Feingold, 1970, pp. 9-13, 42, 174, 184, 219; Wyman, 1984, pp. 24, 67, 93-94, 102, 166-169, 198, 204, 346)
Cyrus Adler (d. 1940), president
Solomon Marcuse Strook, president, 1940
Maurice Wertheim, president, 1941-1943
Joseph M. Proskauer (1877-1971), president, 1943-
Mrs. Jacobson
Dr. Max Gottschalk
Morris D. Waldheim, executive vice president
Harry Schneiderman, assistant secretary
Abram I. Elkus, honorary vice president
Irving Lehman
Lessing J. Rosenwald, vice president
Carl J. Austrian
Samuel D. Leidsdorf, treasurer
Louis E. Kirsten, chairman
Sidney Wallach, associate secretary
American Jewish Congress (AJC), affiliated with the World Jewish Congress, New York, NY, established 1917, reconstituted 1922, reorganized 1938, see also Women’s Division, American Jewish Congress (AJC Archives NYC; Morse, 1967, pp. 45, 122; Urofsky, 1982; Wyman, 1984, pp. 24, 77-82, 87-89, 90-93, 168-169, 204, 322)
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, leader, chairman 1917-1949, president 1925-1929 and 1935-1945
Bernard Deutsch, president1929-1935
Lillie Shultz, administrative secretary
Nathan D. Perlman, vice president
Louis Lipsky, chairman, governing council
Carl Sherman, chairman, administrative committee
Max F. Wolf, chairman, council of organizations
Jacob Leichtman, treasurer
Publication: Congress Weekly
American Jewish Relief Committee (AJRC), USA, 1933-1944 (JDC Archives NYC Files 89-43, 35)
American Joint Recontruction Foundation, see American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, France
American Leagues for a Free Palestine
American League for the Defense of Jewish Rights, USA (Gottleib, 1972, 1973)
Abraham Coralnik, founder
Samuel Untermyer
American National Committee of the World Union for Preserving Health of Jews (OSE), USA, established 1929 (JDC Archives NYC Files)
Dr. J. J. Golub, chairman 1933-1937
Dr. A. J. Rongy, 1937
Albert Einstein, honorary chairman
American Organization for Rehabilitation and Training (ORT) Federation, New York, NY, USA, established 1922 (JDC Archives NYC Files 317-324; AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 455; Feingold, 1970, p. 198)
George Backer, national president
Aaron B. Tart, executive vice chairman
Philip Block, executive director
Louis B. Boudin, chairman, board of directors
Edgar Salinger, chairman, national plan and scope committee
Joseph Weinberg, treasurer
Publication: ORT Economic Review
American Philanthropic Fund (Rosenwald Estate; Rosenwald Family Capital Outlay Fund), USA (JDC Archives NYC Files 268.4, 283)
American Pro-Falasha Committee, New York, NY, USA, established 1922 (JDC Archives NYC File 433)
Hyman J. Reit, chairman
Joseph Zeitland, corporate secretary
Jacques Faitlovich, executive director
American Red Mogen David for Palestine, New York, NY, USA, established 1940, members: 2,000 (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 455)
Harry A. Pine, president
Herman Zvi Quitman, secretary
American Relief for France (ARF), USA, established mid-1944 (JDC Archives NYC File 603)
American Representatives of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, New York, NY, USA, established 1932, members: 115 (AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 533, 1943, p. 455)
Morris Rothenberg, chairman, administrative committee
Julian Mack, honorary chairman
Steven S. Wise, co-chairman
Horace Stern, vice chairman
Robert Szold, vice chairman
James H. Becker, administrative committee
Mrs. Rose G. Jacobs, administrative committee
Alexander Kahn, administrative committee
Albert H. Lieberman, administrative committee
Louis Lipsky, administrative committee
Solomon Lowenstein, administrative committee
Samuel Shulman, administrative committee
American Zionist Emergency Council (AZEC), USA, established 1942; formerly American Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs (ECZA), established 1939; member organizations: Zionist Organization of America; The Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization; Labor Zionists; Mizrachi (Halperin, 1961;Silverberg, 1970; Urofsky, 1975)
Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver (1893-1963), chairman
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise (1874-1949), chairman 1942-1945
Anglo HICEM, see HICEM, see also German-Jewish Emigration Council, London, England
Anti-Defamation League of B’nai Brith (ADL), Chicago, IL, USA, established 1913 (Encyclopedia Judaica, 1971; AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 456)
Richard E. Gutstadt
Publication: ADL Newsletter
Assembly of Hebrew Orthodox Rabbis of America and Canada
Association of Hungarian Jews of America, Inc., New York, NY, USA, established 1921 (AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 534)
Alexander Altman, president
Herman Quittman, chairman, board of directors
Albert Farkas, vice president
Carol Klein, vice president
Alex Klein, treasurer
G. Benes, executive director
Association of Jewish Refugees and Immigrants from Poland, New York, NY, USA, established 1940, members: 500 (JDC Archives NYC; AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 535, 1943, p. 456)
Jacob Apenszlak, chairman 1940-1945
Ariel Tartakower, chairman of the council
H. Szoszkies, vice chairman
Leon Wulman, vice chairman
L. Jedwabnik, vice chairman
F. Tauber, vice chairman
Jacob Librach, treasurer
Ch. Finkelstein, secretary
M. Jahalom
Ch. Finkelstein, secretary of the board
G. Kowalski, executive secretary
Association of Yugoslav Jews in the United States, Inc., New York, NY, USA, established 1941, members: 83 (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 456)
Otto Heinrich, president
Roman Smucker, secretary
Baron de Hirsch Fund, New York, NY, USA, established 1891, affiliated with Jewish Agricultural Society, New York, NY (AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 535, 1943, p. 457)
George W. Naumburg, president
George Bookstaver, managing director
Stanley M. Isaacs, vice president
Richard S. Goldman, treasurer
Ralph F. Colin, honorary secretary
Eugene S. Benjamin, managing director
BELHICEM (Belgique-HICEM), see HICEM
B’nai Brith, Washington, DC, USA, established 1843; members: 163,000; publications: The National Jewish Monthly, B’nai B’rith News; see also Anti-Defamation League of B’nai Brith (AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 536, 1943, p. 457; Feingold, 1970, pp. 11, 14, 174, 218, 220)
Henry Monsky, president
Maurice Bisgyer, secretary
Alfred M. Cohen, honorary president
Frank Goldman, vice president
Isidore M. Golden
A. B. Freyer
Sidney G. Kusworm, treasurer
Bulgarian American Committee (Feingold, 1970, p. 185)
Children’s Aid Rescue Society (OSE), USA; American National Committee, OSE
Dr. J. J. Golub (JDC), head 1933-1937
Dr. A. J. Rongy (JDC), head
Albert Einstein, honorary chair
Committee for an Army of Stateless and Palestinian Jews (CJA), USA, established 1939; part of Irgun Zvi Leumi, see also Bergson Group (Avriel 1982; Friedman, 1973, pp. 146-148, 156, 157, 163, 168, 182, 183)
Senator Edwin Johnson, Colorado (non-Jew)
Peter Bergson (Hillel Kook), leader
Ben Hecht
Committee on Refugee Aid in Central and South America, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), New York, NY, 1939-1944, changed name to Latin American Committee in 1944 (JDC Archives NYC Files 112-114)
Alfred Jaretski, Jr., chairman
Isaac Levy, chairman
Robert Pilpel, secretary
Harry Biele, secretary
Council for German Jewry (CFGJ), Great Britain, established January 1936, after outbreak of war, changed name to Central Council for Jewish Reugees(JDC Archives NYC Files 571-585; Bauer, 1981, pp. 151-160; Bentwich, 1956; Gutman, 1990, pp. 319-320; Tartakower, 1944, p. 447)
The Council for German Jewry did extensive relief work in Europe. It provided scholarships to Jewish students. It further provided meals and necessities of life for thousands of Jews. It also aided in emigration to Palestine, the United States, South America and Shanghai until 1941. The Council helped support HICEM activities and worked closely with the High Commissioner of the League of Nations for Refugees from Germany
British members:
Sir Herbert Samuel
Lord Bearsted
Simon Marks
Dr. Chaim Weitzman
Sir Osmond d’Avigdor Goldsmid
US members:
Felix M. Warburg (JDC)
Paul Baerwald (JDC)
Charles J. Liebman
Rabbi Stephan S. Wise (WJC)
Morris Rothenberg
Council of Federations, USA
S. Hollander, president
Council of Jewish Women, Brooklyn and New York City, USA
Czech Aid, Centre d’Aide, Czechoslovakian Relief Center, Marseilles, France, 1940-1941 (affiliated with YMCA; Ryan, 1996)
Established refugee centers at Château de la Blancherie, Lapeyre, and La Blancherie, near Marseilles, for Czech soldiers, refugees and children. Founded children’s center called Christian Home for Children, near Nice.
Donald Lowrie (non-Jew; US citizen; alias “DuPont”), head YMCA, head Nîmes Committee
Vladimir Vochoc (non-Jew; alias “Thurmond”), Czech diplomat, arrested and escaped
Czechoslovak Jewish Representative Committee, New York, affiliated with the World Jewish Congress(JDC Archives NYC Files 542-544)
Czechoslovakian Relief Center, see Czech Aid, Marseilles
Dominican Republic Settlement Association (DORSA), New York, NY, USA, established September 1939, see JDC (JDC Archives NYC; SOSUA, 1941)
James N. Rosenberg (Agro-Joint), founder
Mrs. Rebecca Hourwich Reyher
Emergency Committee in Aid of Political Refugees, USA
Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced German Scholars, USA (affiliated with NCC; JDC Archves NYC Files 275-293; Gutman, 1990, p. 1065; Zucker, 2008)
Emergency Committee in Aid to Displaced Foreign Physicians, USA (affiliated with NCC; JDC Archives NYC Files 275-293; Gutmanm, 1990, p. 1065; Zucker, 2008)
Emergency Committee for War-Torn Yeshivot (Vaad Hahatzala), USA, established December 1939, see Rescue Committee of the Orthodox Rabbis in the United States (JDC Archives NYC Files 360-362; Kranzler, 1987, 1991)
Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs, New York, NY, USA, established August 1939; members: 21; affiliates: 4 (AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 544)
Officers Presidium:
Steven S. Wise (WJC)
Louis Lipsky
Robert Szold
Solomon Goldman
Emergency Committee on Jewish Refugees, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1935-1938(JDC Archives NYC File 116)
Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe (ECJSPE), see also Bergeson Group, USA, established June 1943; Irgun Zvai Leumi, founding organization (Morse, 1967, pp. 76, 96; Wyman, 1984, pp. 147-156; Medoff)
Hillel Kook, chairman (Peter H. Bergson)
EMIGDIRECT, established 1921, see HICEM
European Jewish Children’s Aid (formerly German Jewish Children’s Aid; GJCA), New York, NY, established 1933, affiliated with National Refugee Service (NRC), USA, see also National Refugee Service, United States Committee for the Care of European Children, Inc. (JDC Archives NYC; Zucker, 2005)
Solomon Lowenstein, chairman
Blanche B. Goldman, chairman 1938
Alan M. Stroock, 1941
Herman W. Block, chairman 1943-1945
Felix Warburg, treasurer (JDC)
J. C. Hyman, secretary (JDC)
Cecilia Razovsky, executive director
Lotte Marcus, director of placements
EZRAS Torah Fund (ETF), organized 1915 by Union of Orthodox Rabbis of U.S. and Canada (JDC Archives NYC File 355)
Far Eastern Jewish Central Information Bureau for Immigrants (DALJEVCIB), Harbin and Shanghai, China, established 1918; founded by HIAS (Ginzberg, 1942, p. 164)
The Far Eastern Jewish Central Information Bureau for Emigrants was founded by HIAS in 1918. The office was headed by Meyer Birman, who was the manager from 1918 until the late 1930s. Isaiah Rozowsky (HIAS-ICA) also worked with the organization.
Meyer Birman
Isaiah Rozowsky
Federated Council of Palestine Institutions, New York, NY, USA, established 1940 (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 461)
Aaron Teitelbaum, chairman
Abraham Horowitz, honorable secretary
Federation of Hungarian Jews in America, New York, NY, USA, established 1914; members: 36,000; societies: 96 (JDC Archives NYC; AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 545)
Samuel Buchler, president
Pincus Friedman, secretary
Federation of Lithuanian Jews, New York, NY, USA, established July 11, 1937 (AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 545)
Sidney Hillman, president
Elias Fife, chairman
M. Keilson, treasurer
F. Epstein, secretary
Federation of Palestine Jews, New York, NY, USA, established July 1929; members: 1,500; branches: 19 (AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 545)
J. M. Charlop, honorary president
Hirsch Manishewitz, honorary president
Aaron Teitelbaum, honorary president
Isadore Benjamin, president
Joseph Gabriel, vice president
Isaac Berman, vice president
Moses Elioch, treasurer
M. J. Schulsinger, secretary
Isaac Sharlin, executive secretary
J. M. Margolis, chairman, executive committee
J. L. Moinester, chairman, administrative committee
Vaad Haroshi, chairman
Hersch Kohn, chairman
Federation of Polish Jews in America (Federation), USA, established 1908, see American Federation of Polish Jews, established 1940 (JDC Archives NYC Files 225-232; Penkower, 1983, p. 124)
Friends of the Alliance Universelle, New York, USA
Fund for Jewish Refugee Writers, New York, USA (JDC Archives NYC File 819)
General Jewish Council, New York, New York, USA, established 1938 (AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 546; 1943, p. 462; Penkower, 1983, pp. 124-126, 324n60)
Isaiah Minkoff, executive secretary
Carl J. Austrian, treasurer
Edgar J. Kaufman, chairman
Henry Monsky, vice chairman
Adolph Held, vice chairman
German Jewish Children’s Aid, Inc. (GJCA), a project of the National Refugee Service, Inc., New York, USA, established 1934, 1934-1945, see European-Jewish Children’s Aid, 1942, organized and funded in part by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC; AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 546; JDC Archives NYC Files 233-239; Friedman, 1973, pp. 92, 237-238, 264-265; Gutman, 1990, p. 1262; Zucker, 2008)
Cooperating agencies:
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)
Child Placement Executives Group of the National Conference of Jewish Social Wrok
Jewish Labor Committee
Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
B’nai B’rith
National Council of Jewish Women
Solomon Lowenstein, chairman 1933-1938
Blanch B. Goldman, 1938-1941
Allan M. Strooch, 1941, chairman
Herman W. Block, 1943, vice chairman
Felix Warburg, treasurer (JDC)
J. C. Hyman, secretary (JDC)
Cecilia Razovsky, executive director
Max Kohler
Ethel H. Wise, secretary
German-Jewish Emmigration Council (Anglo HICEM), London, England, 1933-1934, transferred activities to Jewish Refugee Committee, London, in November 1934(JDC Archives NYC File 586)
Sir Osmond d’Avigdor Goldsmid
Mr. Otto M. Schiff
Greater New York Committee for Aid of German Refugees, USA, established October 1934 (JDC Arcvhies NYC File 240)
David Sulzberger, chairman
Eustace Seligman
Greater New York Coordinating Committee, New York, USA, established 1934; affiliated with Jewish Social Service Association, Jewish Family Welfare Society, Brooklyn, and Council of Jewish Women, New York and Brooklyn offices (JDC Arcvhies NYC; Zucker, 2008)
Hadassa, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, New York, NY, USA, established 1912; members: 100,000; publication: Hadassah Newsletter (Encyclopedia Judaica, 1971; AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 548, 1943, 462)
Mrs. David de Sola Pool, president
Juliet N. Benjamin, vice president, secretary
Rose L. Halpren (1896-1978), president
Henrietta Szold, honorary president
Mrs. Edward Jacobs, honorary vice president
Mrs. Harry Berkman
Mrs. Sundel Doniger
Mrs. I. M. Golden
Mrs. Robert Szold
Mrs. Samuel J. Rosensohn, treasurer
Mrs. A. D. Schoolman, secretary
Mrs. Emanuel Halpern, recording secretary
War Emergency Committee
Hashomer Hatzair, Zionist Youth, New York, NY, USA, established 1925; members: 3,000; branches: 26; publications: Youth and Nation, Hamenahel, Niv Haboger, Hameorer (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 463)
Secretariat:
Moshe Furmansky
Elana Margolis
Shlomoh Perla
Riuka Weinberg
Hebrew Committee for National Liberation (HCNL), established 1939; front group for Committee for a Jewish Army of Stateless Palestinian Jews (CJA), part of Irgun Zvi Leumi; in 1942, the CJA morphed into the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe (ECJSPE), also called the Bergson Group (Wyman, 1984, pp. 253-254, 328, 346)
Hechalutz, New York, NY, USA; groups: 7; members: 750; publication: Hechalutz Bulletin (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 464)
Central Committee (Mercaz)
Nachum Guttman, president
Francis Foster, executive secretary
Edward A. Norman, executive committee, national board
Isaac Imber, executive vice chairman
HIAS Immigration Bank, Rescue Through Emigration Campaign, 1940
Hon. Mitchel May, national chairman
Joseph Pulvermacher, chairman businessman council
HICEM, see Hebrew Sheltering and Immigration Aid Society (HIAS), Jewish Colonization Association (ICA) and Emmigration Board (EM)
High Commissioner for Refugees, League of Nations, headquarters – Geneva, Switzerland
Jewish members of subcommittee – Professor Selig Brodetzky, Lewis Strauss, Dr. Nahum Goldmann, Dr. Chaim Weigmann, Professor Norman Bentwich
Institute of Jewish Affairs (IJA), part of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), established 1941
Jacob Robinson, chairman 1941-1948
Jewish Council for Russian War Relief, New York, NY, USA, established 1942; affiliated with Russian War Relief; publication: For Soviet Russia (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 467; JDC Archives NYC)
Moses I. Finkelstein, executive secretary
Louis Levine, chairman
Jewish Family Welfare Society of Brooklyn, New York
Jewish Information Bureau, New York, NY, USA, established 1932; members: 350 (AJC Yearbook 1943, p. 467)
Bernard G. Richards, chairman of the board
Jewish Labor Committee (JLC), New York, NY, USA established 1933; publications: Facts and Opinions; Voice of the Unconquered (WJC; AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 557, 1943, p. 468; JDC Archives NYC Files 263-265; Finger, 1984; Friedman, 1973; Ginzberg, 1942, p. 168; Gutman, 1990, pp. 36-37, 43, 748; Wyman, 1984, pp. 24, 68, 93, 161, 162, 166, 169, 170, 329)
Charney B. Vladeck, chairman
Adolph Held, chairman
David Dubinsky, treasurer
Jacob Pat, executive secretary
Joseph Baskin, secretary
Harry Berger
Jacob Blume
Israel Feinberg
Morris Feinstone
Reuben Guskin
Julius Hochman
Louis Hollander
Eph Jeshurin
Isidore Laderman
Louis Levy
Isidore Nagler
Saul Rifkin
Joseph Schlossberg
Bezalel Sherman
Jacob Siegal
Henry Turk
Joseph Weinberg
Max Zaritsky
Jewish National Committee (ZKN; Zydowski Komitet Narodowy), Warsaw, Poland (JDC Archives NYC; Bauer, 1981, p. 195; Gutman, 1982; Dawidwicz, 1975)
The Jewish National Committee, located in Warsaw, Poland, sent numerous messages to the West regarding the persecution and murder of Jews in Poland.
Israel Chaim Vilner (Hashomer Hatzair, ZOB)
Dr. Adolf Berman (1906-1978), secretary, Zagota
Jewish People’s Council Against Fascism and Antisemitism (JPC), USA, UK, established 1936; branches: 44; members: 300,000 (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 469)
Max Perlow, acting president
Bernard J. Harkavy, national secretary
Jewish People’s Fraternal Order, USA
Jewish Social Service Association, USA, affiliated with Greater New York Coordinating Committee, established 1934
Jewish War Veterans, USA (Gottlieb, 1972, 1973)
Joint Boycott Council (JBC), established 1936, formed as part of the Jewish Labor Committee’s Boycott Committee and American Jewish Congress Joint Boycott Council (Gottlieb, 1973, 1972; Finger, 1984)
Dr. Joseph Tennenbaum, leader
“Joint” – see American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC Archives NYC)
Joint Committee for European Jewish Affairs, umbrella organization for the following: Zionist American Jewish Congress, Jewish Labor Committee, American Jewish Committee, Orthodox Agudath Israel, Union of Orthodox Rabbis Va’ad Hatsala (Morse, 1967; Wyman, 1984)
Joint Emergency Committee for European Jewish Affairs, composed of Agudat Israel, American Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs, American Jewish Congress, American Jurist Committee, B’nai B’rith, Jewish Labor Committee, Synagogue Council of America, Union of Orthodox Rabbis of America (Joint Emergency Committee for European Affairs, Program for the Rescue of Jews from Occupied Europe, April 1943; Feingold, 1970; Finger, 1984; Kranzler, 1987; Wyman, 1984)
Labor Zionist Organization of America, see American Zionist Emergency Council
Mizrachi Organization of America, New York, NY, USA, established 1911; organizations: 312; members: 27,000; publications: The Jewish Outlook; Der Mizrachi Weg (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 475)
Leon Gellman, president
Max Kirshblum, executive secretary
Mizrachi Women’s Organization of America, New York, NY, USA, established 1925; chapters: 149; members: 35,000; publications: Mizrachi Women’s New; President’s Letter
Mrs. Samuel Goldstein, president
Mrs. Ruth Rubin, executive secretary
National Budget Committee for War Appeals (NBCWA), Community Chests and Councils (CCC), USA (JDC Archives NYC Files 270-271)
National Coordinating Committee for Aid to Refugees and Emigrants Coming from Germany (NCC), USA, established 1933 (successor organization was National Refugee Service), organized and funded in part by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC; NCC Minutes of the Board of Directors, 1934-1939; JDC Archives NYC Files 275-293; Friedman, 1973, pp. 45, 47, 57, 98-99, 113, 206, 238; Tartakower, 1944; Zucker, 2008)
Dr. Livingston Farrand, chairman
Joseph B. Chamberlain, chairman
Wm. Rosenwald, vice chairman (1936-1939)
Dr. Stephan Duggan, secretary
Cecilia Razovsky, secretary and executive director
Fred M. Stein, treasurer
Paul Felix Warburg, treasurer (JDC)
The NCC worked and cooperated with the following organizations:
American Committee for Christian-German Refugees
American Friends Service Committee
American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Congress
B’nai B’rith
Committee for Catholic Refugees from Germany
Council of Jewish Federation and Welfare Funds
Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Physicians
Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars
Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America
German-Jewish Children’s Aid
HIAS
HICEM
Intercollegiate Council for Refugee Students
International Migration Service
International Student Service
Jewish Agricultural Society of America
Joint Distribution Committee
Musicians’ Emergency Fund
National Board of the YWCA
National Council of Jewish Women
Zionist Organization of Amercia
National Council of Jewish Women, New York, NY, USA, established 1893; members: 60,000; publication: The Council Woman (JDC Archives NYC Files 275-293; AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 477; Tartakower, 1944, p. 479)
Mrs. Maurice L. Goldman, president
Flora R. Rothenberg, executive director
Subgroup: Committee on German Jewish Refugee Problems, established 1935
National Labor Committee for Palestine, established 1923, New York, NY, USA; affiliated organizations: 2,000; contributors: 150,000; publications: Jewish Frontier; Histadrut Bulletin (AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 576, 1943, pp. 479-480)
Joseph Schlossberg, national chairman
Morris Feinstone, chair administrative committee
Isaac Hamlin, national secretary
Max Zaritsky, treasurer
Abraham Miller, associate treasurer
Joseph Breslau, co-chairman
Sara Feder, co-chairman
Alexander Kahn, co-chairman
Saul Metz, co-chairman
Isador Nagler, co-chairman
David Pinski, co-chairman
Alex Rose, co-chairman
Louis Segal, co-chairman
David Werthheim, co-chairman
National Refugee Service, Inc. (NRS), New York, NY, USA, established 1934 (formerly National Coordinating Committee for Aid to Refugees and Emigrants Coming from Germany), organized and funded in part by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC); publication: Community Bulletin (NRS Quarterly Report 1940-1941, Report of the Executive Director, Joseph Chamberlain, 1939; Reports of Meetings of the Board of Directors, NFS 1941-1944; JDC Archives NYC Files 275-293, 300-314; AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 577, 1943, p. 480; Ginzberg, 1942; Tartakower, 1944; Zucker, 2005)
The National Refugee Service (NRS) was founded in June 1939 to help refugees from Nazi occupied territories immigrate and adjust to the United States. It helped thousands of Jews to successfully immigrate and adjust. In 1946, it became the United Service for New Americans. It merged with HIAS in 1954.
William Rosenwald, president, vice chairman (1936-1939)
Cecilia Razovsky, secretary and executive director
Albert Abrahamson, executive director
Dr. Livingston Farrand, chairman
Joseph B. Chamberlain, chairman
Dr. Stephan Duggan, secretary
Fred M. Stein, treasurer
Paul Felix Warburg, treasurer (JDC)
Richard P. Limburg, treasurer
Joseph E. Beck, executive director
David H. Sulzberger, chairman of the executive committee
Alfred I. Esberg, vice president
William K. Frank, vice president
Morris Wolf, vice president
Netherlands-Jewish Society, Inc., New York, NY, USA, established 1940; members: 300 (AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 577, 1943, p. 480)
David Abraham Cordozo, president
Alexander Simon Boekman, secretary
Maurits Ernst Edershein, secretary
Jacob Salomon Hartog, vice president
Mrs. R. de Jong-von Kleef, treasurer
New York Foundation, USA
Felix Warburg, founder
New Zionist Organization of America, New York, NY, USA, established 1926; publication: Zion News (AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 578, 1943, p. 480)
Morris J. Mendelsohn, president
Joseph Beder, vice president
B. Netanyahu, executive director
D. Mogilensky, secretary
Morris Rose, chairman, national council
Office of the Representation in Spain of American Relief Organization (ORSARO), established April 1943, funded largely by the JDC (JDC Archives NYC Files 913-920)
David Blinkenstaff, AFSC
Herbert Katzki, JDC
Palestine Economic Corporation (PEC), Palestine, New York, NY, USA, established 1925 (AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 579, 1943, p. 481; JDC Archives NYC Files 771-773)
Julius Simon, president
Aaron Baroway, secretary
Bernard Flexner, chairman, board of directors
Robert Szold, vice chairman
Benjamin V. Cohen, vice president
Edward M. M. Warburg, vice president
Maurice M. Bourstein, secretary
Walter E. Meyer, treasurer
Laurence H. Marks, assistant treasurer
Palestine Foundation Fund, Inc. (Karen Hayesod), New York, NY, USA, established 1922, consolidation of Karen Hayesod and American Palestine Appeal (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 482)
Bernard A. Rosenblat, president
Sarah Behrman, executive secretary
Herman L. Weisman, secretary
Herbert H. Lehman, honorary chairman
Julian W. Mack, honorary chairman
Louis Lipsky, national chairman
Leon Gellman, co-chairman
Israel Goldstein, co-chairman
Edmund I. Kaufman, co-chairman
Louis E. Levinthal, co-chairman
Henry Monsky, co-chairman
Morris Rothenberg, co-chairman
Abba Hillel Silver, co-chairman
David Wertheim, co-chairman
Steven S. Wise (WJC) , co-chairman
Charles Ress, chairman, board of directors
Jacob H. Cohen, treasurer
Abraham Liebovitz, treasurer
Robert Silverman, secretary
Samuel Caplan, associate secretary
Polish Woman’s Relief Committee, New York, USA (JDC Archives NYC File 820)
Portuguese Commission for the Assistance of Jewish Refugees (Commisao Portuguesa de Assistancia aos Judeous Refugiados), Lisbon, Portugal (JDC Archives NYC Files 896-897; Bauer, 1981, pp. 46-47, chapter 8)
The Portuguese Commission for the Assistance of Jewish Refugees was founded by members of the local Jewish community in Lisbon. Moses B. Amzalak, a community leader in Portugal, was one of the organizers of the Commission. The Commission was headed by Dr. Augusto d’Esaguy, who was ably assisted by Samuel Sequerra. The Commission was extensively funded by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC).
Members of the Commission worked closely and in cooperation with various police agencies in Portugal. D’Esaguy and Sequerra maintained relatively good relations with the Portuguese police throughout the war. The Commission also cooperated with HIAS, who arranged for visas and transportation for the refugees.
JDC and HIAS chartered the following Portuguese ships to take refugees out of Lisbon: the Nyassa, Guinee, Teneriffe, Serpapinto, Magallanes, Mouzinho and Colonial.
Moses B. Amzalak
Dr. Augusto d-Esaguy, head (JDC representative)
Samuel Sequerra (JDC representative)
President’s Advisory Committee on Political Refugees (PACPR), 1939-1949, non-sectarian private body supported by WJC and JDC (JDC Archives NYC File 3331; FDR Library and Stephan Wise Papers, Goldfarb Library, Brandeis University; Breitman; Feingold, 1970, pp. 25-26, 35, 69, 81, 86, 92-94, 98, 110, 112, 139-141, 144-145, 147-148, 155, 157; Morse, 1967, pp. 204, 295-296; Penkower, 1983, pp. 115, 248, 360n9; Wyman, 1984, pp. 37, 47, 54, 111, 125, 129, 133-134, 198, 263, 315, 411)
The President’s Advisory Committee on Political Refugees (PACPR) was established in 1938 by American refugee advocates to keep President Roosevelt informed on refugee and relief issues. From 1938-1941, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the American Jewish Congress underwrote the cost of PACPR. After 1941, they paid for the administration costs. PACPR was the only refugee rescue program run by the US established during this early period of the refugee crisis in Europe.
Rabbi Steven Wise, World Jewish Congress
James G. McDonald, chairman (non-Jew)
James M. Speers, treasurer
William E. Speers
Refugee Economic Corporation (REC) and Émigré Charitable Fund (ECF), of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Australia, United States, established 1934 (REC Annual Reports, 1939-1943, Quest for Settlement, Summaries of Selected Economic and Geographic Reports on Settlement Possibilities for European Immigrants, 1946; JDC Archives NYC Files 334-334d; AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 588; Tartakower, 1944; Zucker, 2008, pp. 109, 133, 115)
The Refugee Economic Corporation (REC) was founded in 1934 by Jewish philanthropist Felix Warburg and other Jewish leaders. It was instrumental in warning Jewish leaders about the threat of Nazism to European Jews. The REC promoted Jewish emigration to Argentina and Australia during the war. All of its directors were Jews.
Felix M. Warburg, president 1934
Charles J. Liebman, president 1937-19??
Albert D. Lasker, treasurer
Bernard Flexner, vice president
George W. Naumburg, secretary
Emery H. Komolos, assistant secretary
Rescue Committee of the Orthodox Rabbis in the United States (Va’ad Ha-Hatsala; Emergency Committee for War Torn Yeshivot), established December 1939 (Gutman, 1990, pp. 1557-1558; Kranzler, 1987, 1991; Penkower, 1982, pp. 249-251; Zuroff, 1987; Kalmanowitz)
The Rescue Committee of the United States Orthodox Rabbis was founded in November 1939. It was established by the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States, which was also known as Agudat ha-Rabbanim. The Va’ad sent relief to 2,500 Orthodox rabbis and yeshiva students who were in Lithuania. 650 rabbis and yeshiva students were able to emigrate to the United States.
The Va’ad was also actively engaged in raising awareness of the murder of Jews throughout Nazi occupied Europe. It organized a march on the White House by 600 Orthodox rabbis in October 1943. Their activities were indirectly linked to lobbying the government for the creation of the War Refugee Board. After January 1944, the Va’ad made its mission to rescue all Jews endangered in the Holocaust, regardless of their religious affiliation. Prominent members of the Va’ad were Recha and Isaac Sternbuch, in Switzerland; Wilhelm Wolbe, in Sweden; Yaakov Griffel, in Turkey; and Renee Reichman in Tangier. The Va’ad also maintained contact with the leaders of the Working Group in Slovakia. Late in the war, the Va’ad was responsible for negotiating the release and rescue of 1,200 Jews from Theresienstadt.
Rabbi Eliezer Silver, Cincinnati, founder
Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzensky, founder – Vilna office
USA - Rabbi Abraham Kalmanowitz, Aron Kotler, Irving Bunim, Shabse Frankel, Baruch Korf, Michael Tress
Sweden – Wilhelm Wolbe
Geneva, Switzerland – Recha and Isaac Sternbuch (HIJEFS)
Switzerland – Rabbi Eliyahu Botchko, worked with Hilfsverein für Flüchtling in Shanghai (HIJEFS)
Tangier – Renée Reichmann
Turkey – Yaakov Griffel
Rosenwald Family Association, USA, associated with the National Coordinating Committee (NCC) and National Refugee Service (NRS; JDC Archives NYC File 283; Zucker, 2008)
Russian War Relief Committee (RWR), USA, established 1941
Jewish Section - James Rosenberg
Society for the Preservation of Health Among the Jews in Poland (Towarzyczywo Zdrowia Ludnosci Zydowskiej w Polse; TOZ), Warsaw, Poland, established 1921 by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC; JDC Archives NYC Files 840-841)
TOZ was a Polish welfare association that was established in 1921 by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, TOZ continued its operation, sponsored by the JDC. Throughout the war, it fed tens of thousands of Jews. One of the prominent leaders was Dr. Israel Milejkowski.
TOZ, see Society for the Preservation of Health Among the Jews in Poland (Towarcztwo Zdrowia Ludnosci Zydowskiej w Polse), Warsaw
Transmigration Bureau, see American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)
Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada (Agudath ha-Rabbonim), offices in Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, Tangiers, established 1902; established Va’ad ha Hatsala in 1939 (worked with Hebrew Committee for National Liberation; Morse, 1967; Wyman, 1984)
United Galician Jews of America, New York, NY, USA, established 1935, cooperating organization with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the UJA, Aermican Red Cross, USD, Red Mogen David for Palestine; publication: Der Galicianer (JDC; AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 489; JDC Archives NYC File 338)
Samuel Goldstein, president
Sol Low, ex-president
Louis Flashenberg, vice president
Abraham Miller, vice president
Sigmund Thau, vice president
Louis Hollander, honorary vice president
S. Margoshes, honorary vice president
Max J. Schneider, honorary vice president
Adolph Held, treasurer
Max Locker, associate treasurer
Sigmund I. Sobel, secretary
Solomon Kerstein, secretary
Louis Alster, assistant secretary
United Jewish Appeal (UJA), USA, established 1939 (Feingold, 1970, pp. 14, 33, 73-74, 110; Kranzler, 1987, 1991)
Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver
United Palestine Appeal (UPA), New York, NY, USA, established 1936; publication: UPA Report (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 489; JDC Archives NYC Files 340-341)
Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, chairman 1938-1948
Henry Montor, deputy chairman, executive director
Albert Einstein, honorary chairman
Herbert H. Lehman, honorary chairman
Julian W. Mack, honorary chairman
Henry Monsky, honorary chairman
Nathan Straus, honorary chairman
Henrietta Szold, honorary chairman
Stephen S. Wise, national co-chairman, chairman, administrative committee
Louis Lipsky, national co-chairman, chairman, executive committee
Solomon Goldman, national co-chairman
Israel Goldstein, national co-chairman
Edmund I. Kaufmann, national co-chairman
Morris Rothenberg, national co-chairman
Charles J. Rosenbloom, treasurer
Abraham L. Liebovitz, associate treasurer
Jacob Sincoff, associate treasurer
Barnett R. Brickner, vice chairman
Leon Gellman, vice chairman
James G. Heller, vice chairman
Edward L. Israel, vice chairman
Louis E. Levinthal, vice chairman
Charles Ress, vice chairman
Elihu D. Stone, vice chairman
Joe Weingarten, vice chairman
David Wertheim, vice chairman
United Romanian Jews of America, New York, NY, USA, established 1909; publication: The Record (AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 596, 1943, p. 489; JDC Archives NYC File 342)
Charles Sonnenreich, president
Sol Rosman, secretary
Leo Wolfson, honorary president
Ephraim Brownstein, vice president
Max Schonfeld, vice president
Paul Hays, vice president
Samuel Kanter, vice president
A. D. Braham, vice president
Sam Feldman, vice president
William Lando, vice president
Irving Sand, vice president
Leon A. Blum, vice president
Paul Gingold, treasurer
Charles H. Kramer, compt.
United States Committee for the Care of European Children, USA, established June 1940, non-sectarian organization affliated with American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, see also German Jewish Children’s Aid (JDC Archives NYC Files 343-345; Friedman, 1973, pp. 110, 206; Zucker, 2005, pp. 51-53)
The US Committee for the Care of European Children was a non-sectarian organization founded in 1940 in the United States as a coordinating group to help save European refugee children. Its purpose was to provide asylum for children in the United States for the duration of the war. The organization tried to obtain permission for 70,000 refugee children to emigrate from Europe. It worked closely with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which underwrote costs to save Jewish children.
United Zionist Socialist Labor Party, New York, NY, USA; Poale Zion, established 1905; Zeire Zion, established 1921, re-organized 1931, publications: Yiddisher Kemfer; Jewish Frontier (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 490)
David Wertheim, general secretary
War Refugee Board (WRB), Treasury Department, US government, established January 1944 (funded almost entirely by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee; JDC; JDC Archives NYC; Final Report of WRB, 1946; Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library [FDRL], Hyde Park, NY; Morganthau Diaries, FDRL; Hirshman, 1946, 1962; Morse, 1967; Wyman, 1984)
Jewish members:
Henry Morganthau, Secretary, U.S. Treasury
Ira Hirschman, Turkey, Romania
Herbert Katzki, JDC, Turkey
Reuben Resnik, JDC
Leonard Akerman, North Africa
Women’s American ORT, New York, NY, USA, established 1927; chapters: 50; members: 7,500; publication: Women’s ORT News (AJC Yearbook, 1941, pp. 597-598, 1943, p. 491)
Mrs. Edward B. Gresser, president
Mrs. Leon Harris, chairman of the board
Mrs. Florence R. Dolowitz, vice president
Mrs. Rose Rashmir, vice president
Mrs. Emily M. Rosenstein, vice president
Mrs. Fannie B. Shluger, vice president
Mrs. Samuel Weinberger, vice president
Mrs. Arthur Rosenberg, treasurer
Mrs. Fannie Schofield, financial secretary
Margaret Fireman, cor. sec.
Jean Goldsmith, executive secretary
Mrs. Kate Silver, executive secretary
Women’s Division of the American Federation for Polish Jews, New York, NY, USA, established 1932 (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 491)
Mrs. A. P. Kaplan, president
Mrs. Alan Friedman, executive secretary
Women’s Division of the American Jewish Congress, New York, NY, USA, established 1933; publication: Congress Weekly (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 491)
Mrs. Steven S. Wise, president
Hilda Kassel, executive secretary
Mrs. Sol. Rosenbloom, honorary president
Milly Brandt, vice president
Mrs. Samuel Cahan, vice president
Mrs. Murray Felenstein, vice president
Mrs. Ira Frank, vice president
Mrs. Carl L. Lowe, vice president
Mrs. Robert J. Samuels, vice president
Mrs. Albert J. Shapiro, vice president
Mrs. Beth Levin Siegel, vice president
Mrs. Nathan Spevakow, vice president
Honorable Ruth Warters, vice president
Mrs. Bernard S. Deutsch, treasurer
Mrs. Morris Weinfeld, financial secretary
Mrs. Milton Lapidus, rec. secretary
Mrs. Thomas Brusk, cor. secretary
Women’s League for Palestine, Inc., New York, NY, USA, established 1927; branches: 15; members: 2,000; publication: Women’s League for Palestine Bulletin (AJC Yearbook, 1943, p. 491)
Mrs. William Prince, president
Mrs. David L. Isaacs, vice president
Mrs. Richard Gottheil, honorary president
Mrs. Alex P. Kaplan, vice president
Mrs. Harry F. Fischbach, vice president
Mrs. Louis H. Garland, vice president
Mrs. Abraham Lipton, vice president
Mrs. Louis Klosk, vice president
Mrs. Harry Cahane, vice president
Mrs. Charles Hyman, chairman, executive board
Mrs. Leo Kaplan, financial secretary
Mrs. Alex Cowen, executive secretary
Mrs. Aaron Chinitz, chairman, financial committee
Mrs. Anna Tumpowsky, treasurer
Mrs. David Bloom, assistant treasurer
Zionist Emergency Council, established 1939, USA (Finger, 1984; Urofsky, 1982)
Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver (1893-1963), founder, chairman
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), Washington, DC, USA, established 1897; members: 200,000; publication: The New Palestine; Dos Yiddishe Folk (AJC Yearbook, 1941, p. 602; Friedman, 1973, pp. 45-46, 81, 129, 152, 166, 188, 238, 240; Urofsky, 1978)
Constituent organizations:
Hadassah
Order Sons of Zion
Affiliated organizations:
Young Judaea
Junior Hadassah
Masada
Avukah
Edmund I. Kaufmann, president
Julian W. Mack, honorary vice president
Harry Friedenwald, honorary vice president
Solomon Goldman, vice president
Israel Goldstein, vice president
Louis Lipsky, vice president
Morris Rothenberg, vice president
Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver (1893-1963), vice president
Robert Szold, vice president
Stephen S. Wise, vice president
Louis E. Levinthal, chairman, administrative committee
Louis Rocker, treasurer
Isadore Breslau, executive director and secretary
Irving D. Lipkowitz, chairman, financial committee
Morris Margulies, director, membership