American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) was founded in 1914 as the Joint Distribution Committee of American Funds for the Relief of Jewish War Sufferers. Its immediate goal was to provide relief to Jews in war-torn Europe and Palestine, but the focus soon shifted to giving aid and assistance to Jewish communities in general. After the war, the JDC focused on the Jewish population in Central and Eastern Europe, suffering from violence from pogroms, disease, famine … The organisation expanded its activities to Lithuania, Romania and other Eastern European countries, including the Soviet Union. Notable in this regard were its actions to help children by establishing kindergartens, summer camps, medical and dental care, etc. The efforts of the JDC for the reconstruction of the Eastern European Jewish communities included i.a. the cooperation with the Jewish Colonization Association to form the American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, the creation of cooperative credit unions (‘loan kassas’), vocational courses organised with ORT, … The aid of the JDC proved crucial after the Nazis took power in Germany. The organisation subsidized schools, medical care, welfare institutions, set up loan funds, initiated a range of training programs, … This aid was later extended to Austria and Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. The JDC also helped hundreds of thousands of Jews to emigrate by covering travel expenses, finding accommodations, helping to acquire visas etc. During the Second World War, the JDC assisted refugees to escape from occupied Europe, financed legal and illegal organisations, sent aid to Jewish prisoners, … from its headquarters in Lisbon. We also note the relief program established in Shanghai. After the war, the JDC launched a massive program to purchase and ship supplies (including cultural and religious materials) desperately needed by Shoah survivors. JDC aid was crucial for the reconstruction of the decimated Jewish communities of Europe (i.a. in Belgium), and to reinforce Jewish identity; many welfare initiatives, schools, social organisations, … were funded by the JDC. The organisation also fully supported the Bricha and Aliyah Bet (the illegal immigration to Palestine). As for Belgium, the Brussels JDC office was closed in 1950 due to budgetary issues. The Aide aux Israélites Victimes de la Guerre (AIVG) took over its activities. In the following decades, the JDC helped, in cooperation with other organisations, hundreds of thousands of Jews (from the Middle East, North Africa, later the USSR), to migrate to Israel. In Israel itself the JDC played a key role in pioneering social services for the aged, sick and disabled citizens, as well as disadvantaged migrants. The principle of non-sectarian aid was formally adopted via the JDC – International Development Program (started in 1985). Today, the JDC is active in more than 70 countries, and provides disaster relief and general development assistance both to Jewish and non-Jewish communities.