Records of the Czechoslovakia Offices of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1945-1950

Identifier
CZ 45-50
Language of Description
English
Dates
1 Jan 1945 - 31 Dec 1950
Level of Description
Collection
Languages
  • Czech
  • English
  • German
  • Slovak
Scripts
  • Latin
Source
EHRI

Archival History

The original documents were confiscated by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia after JDC was forced to leave the country in January 1950. The material was held in the Czech Ministry of Interior, Archive of Security Forces, where it formed the bulk of a collection on Jewish organizations. After the opening in Prague of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (https://www.ustrcr.cz/en/the-institute-for-the-study-of-totalitarian-regimes/) in 2008, the records were officially transferred to the institute from the Ministry of the Interior. The JDC Archives received a set of digital files of the collection in 2019 via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives with the permission of the institute.

Scope and Content

The files of the JDC offices in Czechoslovakia, located in Prague and Bratislava, constitute the record of JDC’s activity in that country from the end of World War II until the Czech government ordered JDC to leave the country in 1950. During this postwar period, JDC sustained Jewish survivors by providing financial assistance, distributing relief parcels, maintaining soup kitchens, and supporting orphanages, homes for the elderly, and Jewish education. Especially noteworthy is the work of the JDC Emigration Service, which assisted thousands of Jews to leave for countries in North and South America, Australia, and elsewhere, as documented in 191 boxes of case files within the collection. Other files document the Bricha, a JDC-supported clandestine movement that saw thousands of mostly Polish Jews cross through the Czech border on their way to the American Zone of occupied Germany. JDC provided food, lodging, and transport to the refugees en route. Many other files contain financial and other records of the Accounting Departments in Prague and Bratislava, including monthly reports to JDC’s European headquarters in Paris, travel costs for emigration assistance, and social assistance to the sick and needy. Shipping Department records document the transport, receipt, and transshipment of clothing, food, and other relief supplies from the United States. Other record groups detail communication with other Jewish organizations and local communities and reconstruction efforts through support for cooperatives and loan kassas.

System of Arrangement

The Czech collection records are arranged in two subcollections:

Bratislava Office Records Prague Office Records

Boxes 1-191, containing the JDC Emigration Service case files, have been indexed separately and may be accessed via the JDC Archives Names Index (https://names.archives.jdc.org/). A pdf of the complete index may be found at https://archives.jdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/AJDC-Prague-Emigration-Case-File-Index.pdf

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open to researchers with the exception of files that are restricted due to the nature of their contents. Restricted files can include legal files, personnel files, case files, and personal medical diagnoses, etc. Case files can be requested by family members only.

Finding Aids

  • The current arrangement of this collection is based on the existing order of the numbered boxes according to the inventory of the Czech Ministry of Interior, Archive of Security Forces, prior to transfer to the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. English-language file titles based on the original Czech titles and file titles for the contents of boxes without folders were created by Jeffrey Edelstein, with database record creation by Misha Mitsel. This finding aid was produced by Jeffrey Edelstein in 2022.

Existence and Location of Originals

Existence and Location of Copies

  • A set of the digital files is also held by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC.

Rules and Conventions

EHRI Guidelines for Description v.1.0