The World Jewish Congress New York office records. Series B (Political Department)

The World Jewish Congress (WJC) is an international organization founded by resolution of the First World jewish Congress, which took place in August 1936 in Geneva. The organization goal is to defend the political, social, and economic rights of Jews throughout the world. Its governing bodies were elected at the First World Jewish Congress: the executive committee headed by Stephen Wise (also the organization’s chairman), an administrative committee, headed by Nahum Goldman, and a central council headed by Louis Lipsky. At the first session of the executive committee, Sept. 6, 1936, it was decided to establish regional offices of the WJC in Geneva, New York, and London, and a central bureau in Paris. The central bureau coordinated the WJC’s work, collected information on the situation of Jews in various countries, published materials, and also lobbied at the League of Nations. In 1940, with the Second World War under way, the central bureau was transferred to New York, and a European office was established in London.

American Jewish Archives

Files of the Political Department (Series B) of the WJC in New York City. Originally established in 1936 under Nahum Goldmann and Marc Jarblum in Paris, the Political Department was charged with the protection of the basic rights and freedoms of Jews in the political and diplomatic fields. Conditions resulting from the rise of Hitler, however, created for the Department the additional task of obtaining political relief for refugees. Following the move of the WJC's main office to New York in 1940, Maurice L. Perlzweig was named director of the Political Department. In 1947, Perlzweig became permanent representative from the WJC to the United Nations and Robert S. Marcus took over as political director. Following Marcus' death in 1951, Perlzweig resumed direction of the newly renamed Department of International Affairs and United Nations (New York Branch) and continued in that capacity until his retirement in 1974. The New York branch of the Department of International Affairs concentrated on the western hemisphere, while the London branch (directed by Alexander L. Easterman) covered the eastern hemisphere.The World Jewish Congress records was donated to the American Jewish Archives by the World Jewish Congress in 1982. All materials donated prior to 2002 have been arranged and described in the American Jewish Archives inventory. Series B (Political Department) of the collection was microfilmed and sent to the United States Holocaust Museum in 2006. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum International Archives Project transferred the collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives in Apr.2006.