Records of the Geneva office of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1933-1944

In neutral Portugal, JDC staff were well placed to purchase, receive, and send supplies to wartime Europe. The Geneva 1933-1944 collection chronicles JDC’s rescue work during this period as well as its cooperation with other organizations, such as the JDC-International Red Cross efforts to provide packages to concentration camp internees. JDC also worked with the Preparatory Commission of the International Refugee Organization (PCIRO); this contribution is documented by numerous PCIRO case files from Spain and Portugal. A significant subgroup of these transmigrants originated in the Netherlands. In Portugal, JDC, working with the Quaker organization American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), assisted thousands of Jewish refugees. Numerous AFSC case files in the Portugal record group document immigration to the United States from Portuguese ports. In North Africa, JDC provided financial assistance for the rescue and relief efforts of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) as well as those run by local Jewish individuals and organizations. In Poland, JDC cooperated with existing organizations such as TOZ (Society for Safeguarding the Health of the Jewish Population) in efforts to sustain the Jewish population. In other countries JDC staff endeavored to help individuals to emigrate, send funds to relatives, and search for missing relatives. Noteworthy items in this collection include a handwritten and signed letter from Simon Dubnow to JDC, a list of Theresienstadt inmates to whom parcels were sent, lists of children who sailed on the S.S. Serpa Pinto, a list of Jews murdered in Riga, and much material documenting Nazi confiscation of Jewish property in various countries. See other wartime collections for complementary material.

The Geneva Office records are arranged into the following four subcollections: Administration; Organizations; Subject Matter; Countries and Regions