American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee , also known as Joint or JDC , is a Jewish relief organization based in New York City . Since 1914 the organisation has supported Jewish people living in Israel and throughout the world. The organization is active in more than 70 countries.
79-446: JDC can refer to: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee , a worldwide relief organization Jeju Free International City Development Center John Deere Classic , a PGA Tour golf tournament John Dickson Carr (1906–1977), American mystery writer Juvenile detention center JDC Welfare Organization JDC MotorSports , an American auto racing team Topics referred to by
158-495: A Jewish future for their youth and youth to come. In Israel , JDC responds to crisis-related needs while helping to improve services to the elderly, children and youth, new immigrants, the disabled, and other vulnerable populations. In the spirit of tikkun olam , a Hebrew phrase referring to the moral responsibility to repair the world and alleviate suffering, the JDC has contributed funding and expertise in humanitarian crises such as
237-595: A cabinet-level position, but the new president had other plans for him. Like other prominent Jewish Americans ( Oscar Straus and Solomon Hirsch before him), Morgenthau was appointed as ambassador to the Ottoman Empire . Wilson's assumption that Jews somehow represented a bridge between Muslim Turks and Christian Armenians rankled Morgenthau; in reply, Wilson assured him that the Porte in Constantinople "was
316-451: A dear family friend of Henry's, in the purchase of Longacre Square in 1902. The site became Times Square with a new building there for the newspaper (1903-05). A second highlight is Robert Simon's purchase of Carnegie Hall from Louise Whitfield Carnegie in 1925. Ownership was retained until Lincoln Center's Philharmonic /Avery Fisher/ now David Geffen Hall construction was agreed upon and soon opened. Coupled with those changes, were
395-466: A few years. The JDC and Israel organized Operation Magic Carpet , the June 1948 airlift of 50,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel. In all, more than 300,000 Jews left North Africa for Israel. Thousands more Iraqi and Kurdish Jews were transported through Operation Ezra , also funded by JDC. The influx was so massive—and the capacity of the newborn nation to provide for its burgeoning citizenry so limited—that
474-562: A field organization that covered Europe and later North Africa and designing a more proactive operational strategy. Supplementing the relief supplied by the army, by UNRRA, and by UNRRA's successor agency—the International Refugee Organization —JDC distributed emergency aid, but also fed the educational and cultural needs of the displaced, providing typewriters , books, Torah scrolls, ritual articles, and holiday provisions. JDC funds were directed at restoring
553-708: A fund to assist troubled students at the school, which still operates. In Pound Ridge, NY she co-founded the town's library and gave it an additional reading room, and then at her death, she donated the Henry Morgenthau Preserve, Pound Ridge, NY, in her father's memory. A nephew of Henry's, Robert E. Simon, (1877-1935) [1] worked directly with Morgenthau, prior to and in his real estate business [Henry Morgenthau & Co] for fourteen years (1905-1919). But his work in real estate, with Henry & others, continued until his early death. Highlights include when Henry & Robert advised and assisted Adolph Ochs,
632-637: A fundraiser for Jewish houses of worship. Henry attended City College of New York , where he received his BA , and later Columbia Law School . Morgenthau initially built a successful career as a lawyer. During his life he served as a leader of the Reform Jewish community in New York. He began his career as a lawyer, but he made a substantial fortune in real estate investments. In 1898, he acquired 41 lots on New York's Lower East Side from William Waldorf Astor for $ 850,000. A few years later, he led
711-588: A historian who won the Pulitzer Prize for her book The Guns of August . Morgenthau was born the ninth of 11 living children, in Mannheim , Baden (present-day Baden-Württemberg , Germany ), in 1856 into an Ashkenazi Jewish family. He was the son of Lazarus and Babette (Guggenheim) Morgenthau. His father was a successful cigar manufacturer who had cigar factories at Mannheim , Lorsch , and Heppenheim , employing as many as 1,000 people (Mannheim had
790-400: A noted garden writer who broadcast on radio & television and lectured on horticulture - married Mortimer J. Fox an architect, banker and landscape artist. His daughter Alma - an art collector and patron of the arts & music - married investment banker, art collector and philanthropist Maurice Wertheim . His daughter Ruth married banker and philanthropist George Washington Naumburg She
869-679: A population of 21,000 during this period). His business suffered a severe financial setback during the American Civil War , due to an 1862 tobacco tariff on imports, which closed German tobacco exports to the US for good. The Morgenthau family immigrated to New York in 1866. There, despite considerable savings, his father was not able to re-establish himself in business. His development and marketing of various inventions, as well as his investments in other enterprises, failed. Lazarus Morgenthau staved off failure and stabilized his income by becoming
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#1732772915745948-580: A relief program for 15,000 refugees from Central and Eastern Europe. In Europe, JDC directed funds to support 7,000 Jewish children in hiding. The Joint also worked with Œuvre de secours aux enfants (OSE) to support and rescue children. For instance, it helped more than 1,000 children emigrate to Switzerland and Spain . Other children fled to America, with help from the Joint and other organizations, such as HIAS . Many of those children who were able to make it to America came without parents, making them part of
1027-576: A sense of community and normalcy in the camps with new medical facilities, schools, synagogues , and cultural activities. Over the next two years, the influx of refugees from all over Central and Eastern Europe would more than triple the number of Jews in the DP camps. Their number included Polish Jews who had returned from their wartime refuge in the Soviet Union only to flee once again (westward, this time) from renewed anti-Semitism and pogroms . During
1106-682: A syndicate that bought a swath of undeveloped land in Washington Heights around 181st Street, anticipating the construction of the first subway through the area. In 1899 he left his law practice and became president of the Central Realty, Bond & Trust Company . He was president of the Henry Morgenthau Company from 1905 to 1913. Morgenthau married Josephine Sykes in 1882 and they had four children: Helen , Alma , Henry Jr. and Ruth. His daughter Helen -
1185-571: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee The JDC offers aid to Jewish populations in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in the Middle East through a network of social and community assistance programs. In addition, the JDC contributes millions of dollars in disaster relief and development assistance to non-Jewish communities. The JDC
1264-751: The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami , the Myanmar cyclone of 2008, the genocide in Darfur , the escalating violence in Georgia and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami . In the 1920s, the Soviet government wanted to control the JDC and how it was working with the Jews living in the Soviet Union. The JDC had agreed to work with an organization known as the Jewish Public Committee, which was controlled by
1343-562: The Society for Settling Toiling Jews on the Land , or OZET , was established in the Soviet Union for this purpose; it functioned from 1925 to 1938. There was also a special government committee set up, called Komzet . Its function was to contribute and distribute the land for the Jewish collective farms, and to work jointly with OZET. The United States delivered updated agricultural equipment to
1422-511: The capital from kassa loans help revitalize villages and towns throughout Eastern Europe. With the support of the Soviet government, JDC pushed forward with this bold initiative to settle so-called “nonproductive” Jews as farmers on vast agricultural settlements in Ukraine , Belarus , and Crimea , as well as an attempt to grant Soviet Jews autonomy in Crimea . A special public organization,
1501-555: The " One Thousand Children " (OTC). On May 13, 1939, the ocean liner MS St. Louis left Germany and headed to Havana, Cuba. On the ship, there were 937 passengers, most of which were Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied Germany. Nearly all the Jewish passengers had applied for U.S. visas and planned to stay in Cuba only until they obtained their visas. However, the Cuban government "revoked" the Cuban visas, and only granted entry to Cuba to 28 of
1580-558: The "turning point in Morgenthau's political career". His role in American politics grew more pronounced in later months. Although he did not gain the chairmanship of Wilson's campaign finance committee, Morgenthau was offered the position of ambassador to the Ottoman Empire . He had hoped for a cabinet post as well, but was not successful in gaining one. As an early Wilson supporter, Morgenthau assumed that Wilson would appoint him to
1659-669: The 1960s with the founding of Israel's first Child Development and Assessment Center, which put into practice the then-emerging idea that early detection and treatment optimize outcomes for children with disabilities. A success, Child Development Centers soon spread across the country. JDC during this period also worked closely with Israeli voluntary agencies that served children with physical and mental disabilities, helping them set up therapy programs, kindergartens, day centers, counseling services for parents, and summer camps . It also advised these organizations on fundraising strategies to help them become financially independent. In 1969, JDC and
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#17327729157451738-561: The 937 passengers. Furthermore, the U.S. refused to provide entry visas to America. Once this news reached Europe and the United States, an attorney, Lawrence Berenson, who worked with the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee decided to intervene on behalf of the passengers being denied entry to Cuba. During this time, the JDC was striving to help Jewish immigrants find a home, so the goal of Berenson
1817-694: The Agro-Joint initiative would turn tragic just two years later. Joseph Stalin 's government had grown increasingly hostile to foreign organizations. Agro-Joint worker soon became targets for Stalinist purges under the National Operations of the NKVD . Operational Order No. 00439, entitled “On the Arrest of German Subjects Suspected of Espionage against the USSR” was issued on July 25, 1937, and mandated
1896-667: The Allies' interests in Constantinople , since they had withdrawn their diplomatic missions after the beginning of hostilities. As Ottoman authorities began the Armenian genocide in 1914–1915, the American consuls residing in different parts of the Empire flooded Morgenthau's desk with reports nearly every hour, documenting the massacres and deportation marches taking place. Faced with the accumulating evidence, he officially informed
1975-717: The American Jewish Joint Agricultural Corporation (Agro-Joint), in 1924. JDC appointed a New York lawyer, James N. Rosenberg , to head its European Executive Council and oversee Agro-Joint operations. He was later named President of the American Society for Jewish Farm Settlements in Russia, Inc. One innovation was the establishment of loan kassas , cooperative credit institutions that issued low interest loans to Jewish craftsmen and small business owners. From 1924 until 1938,
2054-614: The Arab world. North Africa became an especially dangerous place for Jews following World War II. Jews in Libya suffered a devastating pogrom in 1945. The 1948 Arab–Israeli War in Palestine set off a wave of nationalist fervor in the region, leading to anti-Jewish riots in Aden , Morocco , and Tripoli . Nearly the entire Jewish population of Libya, 31,000 persons, immigrated to Israel within
2133-512: The Bolsheviks. By agreeing to do this, the JDC was able to assist Jews, while being supervised by the Bolsheviks, which appeased the Soviet Union. World War I plunged Eastern Europe into chaos and subjected Jewish communities across the region to intense poverty, famine, and inflamed anti-Semitism. The Russian Revolution and other subsequent conflicts fanned the flames further, and pleas for JDC's humanitarian intervention increased. Therefore,
2212-567: The Committee was one of only two organizations left in America sending aid to combat the famine . JDC fulfills its mission on four fronts: The organisation was led by Moses A. Leavitt until his death in 1965; Leavitt was then succeeded by Charles H. Jordan . Jordan died in Prague in 1967. His death was declared suicide by Czechoslovak government, in the context of communist denouncements of
2291-753: The Conference. Morgenthau served as an advisor regarding Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and later worked with war-related charitable bodies, including the Relief Committee for the Middle East, the Greek Refugee Settlement Commission and the American Red Cross . In 1919, he headed the United States government fact-finding mission to Poland, which produced the Morgenthau Report . In 1933, he
2370-835: The Holocaust. Due to the JDC active efforts and connections, JDC was able to save most of the Jewish passengers aboard the St. Louis . During the Holocaust , the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee was the main financial benefactor towards Jewish emigration from Europe and rescue attempts of Jews from Nazi-controlled territories. From the outbreak of World War II through 1944, JDC made it possible for more than 81,000 Jews to emigrate out of Nazi-occupied Europe to safety. JDC also smuggled aid to Jewish prisoners in labor camps and helped finance
2449-637: The Israeli government and private agencies to identify, evaluate, and address unmet needs in Israeli society. As its record of accomplishment in Israel makes clear, JDC helped Israel develop social welfare methods and policy, with many of its programs having served as models for government and non-governmental agencies around the world. In the 1950s, institutional care for the aged was replaced whenever practicable with JDC initiatives that enabled older people to live at home in their communities. The Ministry of Health
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2528-403: The JDC a priority. JDC provided emergency aid for stranded refugees; covered travel expenses and landing fees; and secured travel accommodations and all-important visas for countries of refuge. Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 and World War II was declared by England and France two days later. This immediately increased the need for help for Jewish emigration. During the period 1933 to
2607-896: The JDC at the time, The New York Times reported his death as mysterious. In 1974, Czechoslovak defector Josef Frolik advised the Central Intelligence Agency in 1974 that Jordan had been abducted by Arab agents and died during interrogation by Palestinians at the Egyptian embassy in Prague. The Joint Distribution Committee finances programs to assist impoverished Jews in the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe , providing food, medicine, home care, and other critical aid to elderly Jews and children in need. The JDC also enables small Jewish populations in Latin American , African , and Asian countries to maintain essential social services and help ensure
2686-582: The JDC focused its efforts on the Jews who remained in Germany. In addition to their financial difficulties, Nazis pillaged the JDC European headquarters, which caused them to move their headquarters from Berlin to Paris. Despite the continuing depression in America, American Jews began to donate more money to the JDC as they became more aware of the grave situation and danger that their fellow Jews were in. During these seven years, 1933–1939, in which America
2765-626: The JDC had set nearly $ 5,000,000 to assist the Jews in Poland. Between 1919 and 1920, during the emergency relief period, the JDC had disbursed over $ 22,000,000 to help in restoration and relief across Europe. By 1914, approximately 59,000 Jews were living in Palestine under Ottoman rule. The settlement—the Yishuv —was largely made up of Jews that had emigrated from Europe and were largely dependent on sources outside of Palestine for their income. The outbreak of World War I destroyed those channels, leaving
2844-579: The JDC. Several wealthy, Reform Jews founded the American Jewish Relief Committee on October 25, 1914. Jacob Schiff was one of these men, along with Louis Marshall, the president of the committee, and Felix M. Warburg. The Central Relief Committee, founded on October 4, 1914, also helped provide funds to the JDC. Eastern European, Orthodox Jews, such as Leon Kamaiky , founded this organization. Almost one year later, in August 1915,
2923-493: The Jewish colonies in the USSR. The JDC also had agronomists teach the Jewish colonists how to do agricultural work. This helped over 150,00 Jews and improved over 250 settlements. The number of Jewish peasants was greatly reduced because unemployment was down and the colonies were more successful. Agro-Joint was also active, during these years, in helping with the resettlement of refugee Jewish doctors from Germany. The success of
3002-420: The Jewish community for the forthcoming Paris Peace Conference , by groups both supportive and opposed to the concept of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. In March 1919, as President Woodrow Wilson was leaving for the Conference, Morgenthau was among 31 prominent Jewish Americans to sign an anti-Zionist petition presented by U.S. Congressman Julius Kahn ; he and many other prominent Jewish representatives attended
3081-442: The Jewish refugee population for new lives in Palestine, soon to be the Jewish state of Israel. Vocational training and hachsharot (agricultural training) centers were established for this purpose. The goal of resettlement carried its own hurdles. Since before the war, Palestine had been under control of Great Britain , which severely restricted the immigration of Europe's Jewish refugees. Clandestine immigration went on in spite of
3160-533: The NY Philharmonic's transferred location to the new hall (1962). So, Robert E. Simon Jr. then sold Carnegie Hall in 1960. He substantially reduced the price of the Carnegie Hall sale, [by $ 500,000] to help Issac Stern's committee and NYC purchase and save the building. Simon then used the funds yielded to buy and construct Reston, VA - [name came from / Robert E. Simon's town] Reston pioneered
3239-667: The Nazi horrors had crowded into hastily set up displaced person camps throughout Germany, Austria, and Italy . Conditions were abominable. Earl Harrison , dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School , asked Joseph Schwartz, JDC's European director, to accompany him on his official tour of the camps. His landmark report called for separate Jewish camps and for United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) participation in administering them—with JDC's help. In response, Schwartz virtually re-created JDC, putting together
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3318-640: The Ottoman Empire in 1913, he served in this position until 1916. Although the safety of American citizens in the Ottoman Empire, mostly Christian missionaries and Jews, loomed large early in his ambassadorship, Morgenthau said that he was most preoccupied by the Armenian Question . After the outbreak of war in 1914, the U.S. remained neutral, so the American Embassy – and by extension Morgenthau – additionally represented many of
3397-729: The Ottoman Interior Minister Talaat Pasha , stating: "Our people will never forget these massacres." As the massacres continued unabated, Morgenthau and several other Americans decided to form a public fund-raising committee to assist the Armenians – the Committee on Armenian Atrocities (later renamed the Near East Relief ) – raising over $ 100 million in aid, the equivalent of $ 1 billion today. Through his friendship with Adolph Ochs , publisher of The New York Times , Morgenthau also ensured that
3476-782: The Polish Jewish underground in preparations for the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto revolt. In addition, JDC was a major channel keeping American Jewish leaders informed—often in detail—about the holocaust. Allied victory offered no guarantee that the tens of thousands of newly liberated Jews ( Sh'erit ha-Pletah ) would survive to enjoy the fruits of freedom. To stave off mass starvation, JDC marshaled its resources, instituting an ambitious purchasing and shipping program to provide urgent necessities for Holocaust survivors facing critical local shortages. More than 227 million pounds of food, medicine, clothing, and other supplies were shipped to Europe from U.S. ports. By late 1945, 75,000 Jewish survivors of
3555-719: The Soviet Union allowed the JDC to work with the American Relief Aid (ARA), instead of the Jewish Public Committee, in order to help those living in famine. This went on from 1921 to 1923, and during this time the JDC and ARA were able to use nearly $ 4 million to feed 2 million people in both Belorussia and Ukraine. The JDC went further to improve conditions for the Jews living in Ukraine by bringing 86 tractors from America to Ukraine. They used these tractors to help reconstruct Jewish agricultural colonies. Many of these colonies in which Jews were living had been destroyed during
3634-572: The U.S. government of the activities of the Ottoman government and asked Washington to intervene. The American government however, not wanting to get dragged into disputes, remained a neutral power in the conflict at the time and voiced little official reaction. Morgenthau held high-level meetings with the leaders of the Ottoman Empire to help alleviate the position of the Armenians, but the Turks waived and ignored his protestations. He famously admonished
3713-556: The War, and People's Relief Committee. In 1915, a greater crisis arose when the Jewish communities of the Pale of Settlement in Russia became caught up in the fighting along the World War I Eastern Front . Under the leadership of Judah Magnes the Committee was able to raise another five million dollars by the end of the year. In 1921, following the post-revolutionary civil war of Russia,
3792-594: The Western Union cablegram read, in part: The plea found concerned ears in the U.S. In a month, $ 50,000 (the equivalent of $ 1 million in the year 2000) was raised through the efforts of what was intended to be an ad hoc and temporary collective of three existing religious and secular Jewish organizations: the American Jewish Relief Committee, the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering Through
3871-453: The arrest of current and former German citizens who had taken up Soviet citizenship. Later in the year, the order was expanded to include others suspected of collaborating or spying for Germany. Agro-Joint workers, and the doctors it had helped to resettle, became targets. Many of those who assisted in Agro-Joint - including its 17 staff - were arrested, were accused of espionage and counterrevolutionary activities, and were killed. By 1941, all
3950-486: The blockades, largely because of the work of Bricha and Aliyah Bet , two organized movements partially financed and supplied by JDC. When the British began interning illegal Jewish immigrants in detention camps on Cyprus , JDC furnished medical, educational, and social services for the detainees. Britain's eventual withdrawal from Palestine set the stage for the May 15, 1948, birth of the State of Israel, which quickly drew waves of Jews not only from Europe, but from across
4029-467: The blood of nearly a million human beings." He published his conversations with Ottoman leaders and his account of the Armenian genocide in Ambassador Morgenthau's Story , which appeared in the end of 1918. In June 1917 Felix Frankfurter accompanied Morgenthau, as a representative of the War Department, on a secret mission to persuade the Ottoman Empire to abandon the Central Powers in the war effort. The mission had as its stated purpose to "ameliorate
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#17327729157454108-554: The colony. Falk Jr and his wife Katherine were very active in the association, including sponsoring some of the trips, arranging grants from the Falk Foundation and visiting the colony several times. By 1940, JDC was still able to help refugees in transit in more than 40 countries. The Joint opened shelters and soup kitchens for thousands of Jewish refugees in Poland , aiding some 600,000 in 1940. It also subsidized hospitals, child care centers, and educational and cultural programs. Even Passover supplies were shipped in. The goal of this
4187-446: The community isolated and destitute. With disaster looming, the Yishuv ’s leaders appealed to Henry Morgenthau, Sr. , then the U.S. ambassador to Turkey. Morgenthau was moved and appalled by the misery he witnessed. Soon after seeing what he did, Morgenthau sent an urgent cable to New York-based Jewish philanthropist Jacob Schiff , requesting $ 50,000 of aid to keep the Jews of Palestine from starvation and death. Dated August 31, 1914,
4266-400: The condition of the Jewish communities in Palestine". In 1918 Morgenthau gave public speeches in the United States warning that the Greeks and Assyrians were being subjected to the "same methods" of deportation and "wholesale massacre" as the Armenians, and that two million Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians had already perished. Following the war, there was much interest and preparation within
4345-480: The conference, willing to increase their immigration limits. The Dominican Republic Settlement Association, or DORSA, a project of the JDC, was initiated to resettle Jewish refugees from Europe into an agricultural settlement in Sosua , in the Dominican Republic. Leon Falk Jr. served as president of the association from 1941-1942. The first group of refugees arrived at the 26,000 acre colony in Sosua Bay on May 11, 1940. By January 1941, 300 refugees had immigrated to
4424-444: The disadvantaged, enabling them to contribute to the building of the new country. At the same time, Israel's local and national government agencies were building capacity. With the need for emergency aid receding, by the end of the decade, JDC developed more long-term community-based programs aimed at Israel's most vulnerable citizens. In the coming years, JDC would become a social catalyst by encouraging and guiding collaborations between
4503-415: The dream of statehood could have died before it had taken root. Among the new arrivals were 100,000 veterans of Europe's DP camps, less than half able-bodied adults. The remainder included the aged, sick, or disabled survivors of concentration camps. Tuberculosis was rampant. The Israeli government in late 1949 invited JDC to join with the Jewish Agency for Israel to confront these challenges. The outcome
4582-401: The end of 1939, JDC-supported organizations had helped some 110,000 Jews emigrate from Germany; in 1939 alone it helped some 30,000. The Evian Conference was organized in 1938 to find solutions to the growing Jewish refugee crisis in Nazi Germany. The Dominican Republic and its dictatorial leader Rafael Trujillo agreed to accept 100,000 refugees, the only country, of 32 countries attending
4661-432: The government of Israel inaugurated ESHEL—the Association for the Planning and Development of Services for the Aged—to extend a network of coordinated local, regional, and national services to underserved elderly. Still active today, ESHEL is credited with improving the quality of life of Israel's seniors. Henry Morgenthau, Sr. Henry Morgenthau ( / ˈ m ɔːr ɡ ən t aʊ / ; April 26, 1856 – November 25, 1946)
4740-659: The immediate post-war period, the JDC also worked closely with organizations focused on Jewish cultural property (much of it heirless), such as the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction and the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization . At the same time, JDC was helping sustain tens of thousands of Jews who remained in Eastern Europe, as well as thousands of others living in the West outside the DP camps in Jewish communities also receiving reconstruction assistance from JDC. In 1946, an estimated 120,000 Jews in Hungary , 65,000 in Poland , and more than half of Romania 's 380,000 Jews, depended on JDC for food and other basic needs. By 1947, JDC
4819-433: The inventive use of shared open space, and it explored a breaking of the mold and formulaic approach for suburban development, up to that time. Morgenthau's career enabled him to contribute handsomely to President Woodrow Wilson 's election campaign in 1912. He had first met Wilson in 1911 at a dinner celebrating the fourth anniversary of the founding of the Free Synagogue society and the two "seem to have bonded", marking
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#17327729157454898-532: The massacres continued to receive prominent coverage. The New York Times published 145 articles in 1915 alone. Exasperated with his relationship with the Ottoman government, he resigned from the ambassadorship in 1916. Looking back on that decision in his memoir Ambassador Morgenthau's Story , he wrote he had come to see the Ottoman Empire as "a place of horror. I had reached the end of my resources. I found intolerable my further daily association with men, however gracious and accommodating…who were still reeking with
4977-505: The passengers. Morris C. Troper as well as other individuals of the JDC appealed to European governments to secure entry visas for those with nowhere to go. Due to the efforts of the JDC, 288 passengers were admitted to Great Britain, 181 to the Netherlands, 214 to Belgium, and 224 to France. When the Nazis overran the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France, those passengers who had been admitted by those countries were at risk. A total of 254 of these St. Louis passengers were killed in
5056-501: The point at which the interest of American Jews in the welfare of the Jews of Palestine is focused, and it is almost indispensable that I have a Jew in that post". Though no Zionist himself, Morgenthau cared "fervidly" about the plight of his co-religionists. He initially rejected the position, but following a trip to Europe, and with the encouragement of his pro-Zionist friend Rabbi Stephen Wise , he reconsidered his decision and accepted Wilson's offer. Appointed as U.S. Ambassador to
5135-403: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title JDC . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=JDC&oldid=1167387422 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
5214-422: The settlers who had not already fled were killed by the Nazis . The JDC during The Great Depression During October 1929, the Great Depression began in America, and most American citizens began to face a financial hardship. Shortly after, the JDC felt the effect of the Great Depression. Their funding began to dwindle, as people had a hard time donating money to the organization. Due to their lessened resources,
5293-424: The socialist People's Relief Committee, headed by Meyer London, joined in to provide funds to the JDC. After a few years, the JDC and the organizations assisting it had raised significant funds and were able to make a noteworthy impact. By the end of 1917, the JDC had transferred $ 76,000 to Romania , $ 1,532,300 to Galicia , $ 2,5532,000 to Russia , and $ 3,000,000 to a German-occupied Poland and Lithuania . By 1920,
5372-411: The survival of the Jews. Channeling funds through local Jewish relief organizations, JDC subsidized medical care, schools, vocational training, welfare programs, and early emigration efforts. JDC support would eventually be extended to Jewish communities in Nazi-annexed Austria and occupied Czechoslovakia . It was not long before the escalation of Hitler's persecution of the Jews made emigration aid from
5451-412: The war, and were not of optimal living conditions. Furthermore, Dr Joseph Rosen , the director of the Russian branch of the JDC, devised a plan to further assist Jews living in shtetls , Jewish towns where the majority of the population speaks Yiddish. The communist leadership outlawed businesses upon which Jews were largely dependent, forcing families into poverty. All of these acts lead the creation of
5530-490: Was MALBEN —a Hebrew acronym for Organization for the Care of Handicapped Immigrants. Over the next few years, MALBEN rushed to convert former British Army barracks and any other available building into hundreds of hospitals, homes for the aged, TB sanitariums, sheltered workshops, and rehabilitation centers. MALBEN also funded the training of nurses and rehabilitation workers. By 1951, JDC assumed full responsibility for MALBEN. Its many rehabilitation programs opened new worlds to
5609-539: Was a German-born American lawyer and businessman, best known for his role as the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during World War I . Morgenthau was one of the most prominent Americans who spoke about the Greek genocide and the Armenian genocide of which he stated, "I am firmly convinced that this is the greatest crime of the ages." Morgenthau was the father of the politician Henry Morgenthau Jr. His grandchildren include Robert M. Morgenthau , District Attorney of Manhattan for 35 years, and Barbara W. Tuchman ,
5688-570: Was also a civic leader supporting the arts and music. Ruth founded Fountain House, a home in NYC to assist those with schizophrenia and men leaving jail. It was a residence that pioneered providing psychological counseling to people, and developed the novel concept of looking after the community's mental health. She was also a board member of the Manhattan School of Music, and there she established
5767-628: Was established in collaboration with the Psychiatric Trust Fund to develop modern, integrated mental health services and to train qualified staff. The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work, first created by JDC in France to train professionals working with refugees from many diverse cultures, was reestablished at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to professionalize social services. JDC's social work innovations continued into
5846-485: Was founded in 1914, initially to provide assistance to Jews living in Palestine in the Ottoman Empire . The JDC began its efforts to save Jews with a donation of $ 50,000 from Jacob Schiff , a wealthy Jewish entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was the main funder of the organization and helped raise funds to save and aid Jews around the world. Additionally, the American Jewish Relief Committee helped collect funds for
5925-474: Was in the Great Depression, the JDC was able to aid over 190,000 Jews in their escape from a Nazi-occupied Germany. Of the 190,000 Jews, 80,000 were able to escape Europe completely. Hitler's rise to power in 1933 was followed closely by passage of Germany's Nuremberg Laws , a set of onerous restrictions that stripped Jews of their basic human rights and livelihoods. JDC's support became critical to
6004-501: Was supporting 380 medical facilities across the continent, and some 137,000 Jewish children were receiving some form of JDC aid. Falling victim to Cold War tensions, JDC was expelled from Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria in 1949, from Czechoslovakia in 1950, and from Hungary in 1953. The time came for JDC to shift its focus in Europe from emergency relief to long-term rehabilitation. A large part of its evolving mission involved preparing
6083-685: Was the American representative at the Geneva Conference . Morgenthau died in 1946 following a cerebral hemorrhage , in New York City , and was buried in Hawthorne, New York , at the age of 90. His son Henry Morgenthau Jr. was a Secretary of the Treasury from 1934 to July 1945. His daughter, Alma Wertheim, had married banker Maurice Wertheim in 1909 and was the mother of historian Barbara Tuchman . His daughter Ruth Morgenthau
6162-490: Was to help these passengers find a home. Berenson met and negotiated with Cuban President Federico Laredo Brú ; however the negotiations were unsuccessful. On June 2, Bru demanded the St. Louis leave Cuban waters. The ship sailed close to Florida's borders, and asked President Roosevelt to grant them access into the United States. They never received a response. The ship returned to Europe and the JDC continued to negotiate on behalf of
6241-834: Was to provide refugees life-sustaining aid while trying to secure permanent refuge for them in the United States, Palestine, and Latin America. With U.S. entry into the war following Pearl Harbor in December 1941, JDC had to drastically shift gears. No longer permitted to operate legally in enemy countries, JDC representatives exploited a variety of international connections to channel aid to Jews living in desperate conditions in Nazis-controlled areas. Wartime headquarters were set up in neutral Lisbon, Portugal . From Lisbon, JDC chartered ships and funded rescue missions that successfully moved thousands of refugees out of harm's way. Some made it to Shanghai , China , where JDC sponsored
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