American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
From JudaismWiki
AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE. The JDC, or “Joint” as it is universally known, was founded on November 27, 1914, to serve as the overall distribution agency for funds collected by different American Jewish groups for overseas relief. By 1917, it was conducting its own centralized fundraising campaign. From 1939 on, it received the bulk of its funds from the United Jewish Appeal.
Since 1914, the JDC has spent more than $1.2 billion for the relief of Jews everywhere in the world. In 1979, the Committee aided more than 435,000 Jews in more than 25 countries, mainly in North Africa, the Middle East, Israel, and Europe. The first half century of its existence may be divided into six periods: World War I, when the Jewish refugees’ status required urgent help in many parts of Europe; the postwar emergency period of 1918-1920, when food and clothing had to be distributed in huge quantities; the reconstruction period from 1921-1932, when JDC aided Jewish communities throughout the world to help themselves; the Nazi period, 1933-1945, when Jews had to be saved from death, moved to new countries, and fed and clothed until they were self-sufficient; and the emergency period after World War II, when the JDC bore its greatest burdens. Tens of thousands of Jewish displaced persons (DP’s) had to be helped to rebuild their lives. DP camps in Europe needed food, clothing, teachers, social workers, medical personnel—every possible kind of help. Throughout 1947, the Committee served 224,000 rations daily in the DP camps. As thousands of Jews moved to Israel, they had to be rehabilitated, taught new trades, and settled in their new home. Later, emergencies developed in Iraq, Yemen, North Africa, and elsewhere. In each case, JDC was needed to help Jews emigrate when possible, to supply relief on the spot when necessary. Between 1945 and 1953, the JDC aided 621,206 Jewish emigrants, of whom 504,208 settled in Israel. In 1948, at the peak of DP period, JDC had hundreds of workers in Europe and the Middle East, supplying relief on a previously unheard-of scale. In 1960, the JDC’s aid was required by some 250,000 men, women, and children in 25 countries of Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. In Israel, JDC-Malben provided medical, welfare, and other care for aged, ill, and handicapped newcomers. In Moslem countries, the agency gave medical, feeding, relief, cultural, and religious assistance to some 100,000 Jews. The emphasis in Europe was on technical and reconstruction assistance to the local population, as well as to aid migrants and refugees. During the 1990’s, the JDC developed a new intensive program in Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union as well as Eastern Europe.
