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The Response of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to the Crisis of Soviet Jewish Émigré Dropouts (Noshrim) in the 1970s

100%

Lazin F.

Polish Political Science Yearbook

2018

vol. 2 (47)

355–367

The JDC is an American Jewish organization that assists overseas Jewish communities in distress. It is responsible to “American Jewry” and those organizations that fund it. Bauer (1974, 19) argued that the JDC has been guided by its founding “pledge of impartiality – it steers clear of political involvements” and takes pride in being “probably the only really non-partisan organization in Jewish life.” This paper examines the role of the JDC in caring for Soviet émigrés who left on visas for Israel but chose to resettle elsewhere. They were known as “dropouts” (Noshrim in Hebrew). It also deals with the JDC policy toward recently settled Russian Jews who left Israel to resettle elsewhere. In its work with Soviet Jewish emigres did the JDC serve the interests of the Israeli government, its donors and or the emigres? Did the JDC abide by its pledge of impartiality? Did the JDC try to force them to resettle in Israel against their wishes? The paper focuses on the spring of 1976 when the number of dropouts outnumbered those resettling in Israel. This led to a joint committee of Israelis and American Jews to coordinate a response. The ‘freedom of choice’ debate ensued; should Soviet Jews resettle in Israel or have the freedom to choose where to resettle? The findings here are based on archival records in the JDC, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the CJF (Jewish federations) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC). The author also conducted interviews and reviewed secondary sources. The paper should contribute to a better understanding of the JDC and its past ties to Israel and the American Jewish community.

Letters to the JDC as Autobiographical Sources of Jewish Holocaust Survivors

80%

Śliwa J.

Autobiografia. Literatura. Kultura. Media

2020

vol. 14

issue 1

35-46

After the Holocaust, Jewish survivors in Poland relied on external help, including that of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (the Joint, JDC). They wrote letters to JDC both to request and to thank the American-based Jewish organization for i.a. food, clothes, medicine, and assistance with emigration from Poland. Many of those letters also contain autobiographical information about the authors, themselves Holocaust survivors and their families. The descriptions of wartime experiences and survival strategies as well as of immediate postwar life (1945–1949) entail details and snippets of historical and genealogical value. Therefore, the letters examined in this article offer both individual histories and a collective portrait of the Jewish population in postwar Poland. The epistolary material also captures JDC’s activities and their importance for reviving and sustaining Jewish life after the Holocaust.

Żydzi, którzy ocaleli z Zagłady, polegali na pomocy spoza Polski, w tym od Amerykańsko-Żydowskiego Wspólnego Komitetu Rozdzielczego, znanego w Polsce jako Joint. Pisali do niego listy zarówno, by prosić o wsparcie, jak i w podziękowaniu dla tej mieszczącej się w Stanach Zjednoczonych organizacji żydowskiej za produkty żywnościowe, ubrania, leki oraz za pomoc w opuszczeniu Polski. Wiele z tych listów zawiera również dane autobiograficzne o ocalałych z Zagłady i ich rodzinach. Opisy ich wojennych przeżyć i strategii przetrwania, a także powojennego życia w latach 1945–1949 zawierają szczegóły o wartości historycznej i genealogicznej. Dlatego też korespondencja, która jest głównym źródłem tego artykułu, ukazuje osobiste historie ludzi, jak też zbiorczy portret ludności żydowskiej w powojennej Polsce. Ten materiał korespondencyjny pokazuje również zakres działalności Jointu oraz jak ważne były te starania dla odbudowy i utrzymania życia żydowskiego po Zagładzie.

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1 Autobiografia. Literatura. Kultura. Media

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The Response of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to the Crisis of Soviet Jewish Émigré Dropouts (Noshrim) in the 1970s

Letters to the JDC as Autobiographical Sources of Jewish Holocaust Survivors