World Jewish Congress

The World Jewish Congress was founded in 1936 by the First Plenary Assembly in Geneva, where 280 delegates represented Jewish communities from 32 countries. Three ‘preparatory conferences’ (in 1932, 1933 and 1934) preceded the formal establishment of the WJC, as well as the experiences of the American Jewish Congress (founded in 1918) and the Comité des Délégations Juives (1919). The WJC’s immediate ambition was to mobilize against Nazism, to support the creation of a Jewish National Home in Palestine, and above all to serve as the worldwide Jewish representative body in orde to ensure the survival of the Jewish people. At the time of its establishment, WJC activities were largely focused on European Jewry i.a. in the care for refugees and war victims, Jewish rights and the battle against anti-Semitism. During the war, the WJC was active in helping Jewry in occupied Europe (cfr. its cooperation with the ICRC) and played an important role in alerting the world to the Holocaust (cfr. the ‘Riegner Telegram’, 1942). In the immediate postwar years the organisation was involved in rebuilding the Jewish communities and assisting Holocaust survivors and displaced persons. The WJC was engaged in campaigns for the punishment of Nazi war criminals and especially the question of indemnification of Jewish victims. President Nahum Goldmann founded the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (‘Claims Conference’) in 1951, which lead to the signing of the Luxembourg Agreement with West-Germany (1952). The WJC also pushed for restitution and/or compensation of ‘dormant’ Swiss bank accounts and looted art. Support for the state of Israel formed another integral part of WJC-activities in the postwar decades. The same goes for its assistance to the Jewish population in Arab countries and Soviet Jewry, relations with non-Jewish religious institutions, the struggle against anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism, … Today, the communities and organisations affiliated with the World Jewish Congress are active in more than 100 countries worldwide. The WJC is represented in several international organisations such as the United Nations, UNESCO and others.