Endowments; Civilian war relief; Jews--Charities; United States; American Jewish Relief Committee for Sufferers from the War
Format
correspondence
Genre
Business correspondence
Date
[between 1901 and 1919?]
Physical Description
microfilm, 16 mm, b&w
Note (Reel no.)
Reel 81
Note
PDF may contain multiple grant documents.
When World War I began in the summer of 1914, close to three-quarters of the world's Jews lived in Europe and the Middle East. As the fighting spread across the globe and the Ottoman Empire cut off Palestine from the outside world, Jews in Eastern Eur ope and the Yishuv, who had already been suffering from poverty and discrimination, faced increased risks of starvation and disease. On October 4, 1914, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, chiefly Eastern European-born Jews, created the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering through the War, or, the Central Relief Committee (CRC), to aid Jews caught in the fighting. Soon after, on October 25, 1914, the American Jewish Committee, mostly Reform Jews of German background, formed the American Jewish Relief Committee for Sufferers from the War (AJRC). Representatives of the two organizations formed the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) on November 27, 1914 in order to coordinate the distribution of funds to local groups, governments, and relief organizations overseas." [SOURCE: Harrison, Rachel S. "Historical Note." Guide to the People's Relief Committee for Jewish War Sufferers Records, 1915-1924. Boston, MA and New York, NY, American Jewish Historical Society, Feb. 2016, http://findingaids.cjh.org/?pID=365402. Accessed 1 Oct. 2018.]