POST-WAR RELIEF AND REHABILITATION OF EUROPEAN JEWRY: MEMORANDUM SUBMITTED TO THE COUNCIL OF THE UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND REHABILITATION ADMINISTRATION
New York: Jewish Labor Committee, 1943. Item #42892
No Date [1943]. 1st edition. Original Olive Printed Paper Wrappers, 8vo, 16 pages; 23 cm.
The Jewish Labor Committee’s prescient proposals for the upcoming 1943 meeting to found UNRRA:
”The rehabilitation of the remnants of the Jewish people is the moral obligation of the entire civilized world. The reconstruction of Jewish life, the rehabilitation of the Jew as an individual human being, and of the Jewish community as a whole to heal the wounds of the Jewish people and to rectify the crimes committed against them by Nazi Germany- is one of the foundations upon which the future, just, postwar world will have to rise.
It is our fervent conviction that this enormous task can be accomplished constructively only if UNRRA designates a special commission to concern itself exclusively with the question of Jewish relief and rehabilitation, and to serve in an advisory capacity with all governments charged with carrying out a planned program for the relief and rehabilitation of their Jewish populations-a commission that will also serve to protect the Jews against discriminatory practices” (pages 14-15).
“UNRRA (abbreviation of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration), international organization (1943–47) [was] founded to give economic and social aid to countries that were under German occupation during World War II. UNRRA, a division of the United Nations , was actually founded before the establishment of the United Nations, by an agreement signed by the delegates of 44 countries at a White House ceremony on Nov. 9, 1943. The UNRRA Council, its governing body, was convened for the first time in Atlantic City, New Jersey the next day, and elected Herbert Lehman as its director general; he was succeeded by Fiorello La Guardia in 1946.
The United States contributed the bulk of its budget and the organization received significant support from Britain, the Soviet Union, and China, which provided 75% of its budget and formed its central committee….[One] prominent function of UNRRA was care for Displaced Persons , for which it assumed responsibility in October 1945. It was overwhelmed by the task at first – no one had prepared for the scope of the problem – but later it geared up to perform the task.
At its peak, in the summer of 1946, UNRRA cared for some 850,000 persons. During this period, it operated with a staff of about 25,000 people and was also assisted by many voluntary agencies. About one-quarter of the Displaced Persons under the care of UNRRA in the summer of 1946 were Jews. Voluntary Jewish organizations active within UNRRA and attached to it included the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee , the Jewish Agency , the Jewish Committee for Relief Abroad, Ort , and the Va'ad Hazzalah [sic]” (Chaim Yahil & Michael Berenbaum in EJ)EJ)
The Jewish Labor Committee itself became a contributor to UNRRA, for example, sending in November 1945, “$500,000 Worth of Goods to Jews in Poland….through UNRRA….[including] clothing, food, medicaments and books obtained as a result of a campaign by the Committee among…unions and other labor organizations” (JTA Daily News Bulletin, Nov 20, 1945).
Founded in 1934, the Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) originated in an effort to link the forces of Jewish unions and other labor and Jewish fraternal organizations in the fight against the Nazis and fascism.
Baruch Charney Vladeck, general manager of the Jewish Daily Forward, organized the founding meeting of the JLC on February 25, 1934 in New York City.
Efforts to aid Jews and other victims of Nazi domination, as well as to publicize their plight, were the chief activities of the JLC in its early years. To this end, the JLC joined with the American Jewish Congress to organize a boycott of Nazi goods. During the 1930s the JLC made every effort to aid victims of Nazism in Europe, through collections of money, food and clothing drives, and other forms of assistance to refugees and exiles.
Following the Allied victory, the JLC contributed to the rehabilitation of war-torn Europe by creating schools, clinics and homes for destitute children, and by providing services for Holocaust survivors in displaced persons camps.
The JLC's aim to "impress upon the Jewish masses that they must fight hand in hand with the general forces of democracy" remained the guiding principle of the JLC after the War. During the decades following the War, the JLC worked toward ensuring democratic rights for workers and minorities in the United States (Tamiment Institute).
The final page lists the JLC's 5 officers and 45 Vice-Charimen by name.
Not the far more common “Memorandum on post-war relief and rehabilitation of European Jewry, submitted to the Council of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration” issued by the World Jewish Congress.
SUBJECT(S): World War, 1939-1945 -- Civilian relief. Reconstruction (1939-1951) -- Jews. Guerre mondiale, 1939-1945 -- Secours aux civils. -- Juifs. OCLC: 39728857. OCLC-Worldccat lists 5 copies worldwide (JTSA, LBI, Tauber Holocaust Lib, Clark Univ, Intl Inst Soc Hist).
Light Toning to cover, Very Good Condition. Important (P-4-9/Holo2-162-22-XX-’+).
Price: $275.00