Archival Descriptions

Displaying items 1 to 12 of 12
Language of Description: English
Language of Description: Russian
Holding Institution: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
  1. Saly Mayer Archives.

    This fonds contains archival material produced by Saly Mayer, who was the principal liaison between the JDC and the Jewish communities in Nazi-occupied Europe – including Belgium. Nr. 29 contains a file titled “Belgium, 1943-1945”, in which we find correspondence and reports on the activities of the Comité National de Défense des Juifs en Belgique, financed by Saly Mayer and the JDC.

  2. Photo Collection.

    The Photo Collection of the JDC contains a couple of hundred of images relevant to the history of the Jewish communities of Belgium. Searching the Photographs database on keywords such as ‘Belgium’, ‘Brussels’ and ‘Antwerp’ nets over 370 results at the time of writing. These images especially depict scenes in the children’s homes, supported by the JDC, including many portraits of children and home personnel, children’s activities, etc. Apart from daily life in the homes (at the end of the 1940s), we also note some photos of refugees, of the MS St. Louis, of the refugee camp in Merksplas, …

  3. Records of the New York office of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1945-1954.

    This fonds is of crucial importance for the history of the reconstruction of the Jewish community in Belgium after the Second World War. In Subcollection Countries & Regions, Record Group: Belgium we firstly note the files (containing correspondence, memos, reports etc.) on the financial administration of JDC aid, fundraising and the transfer of funds to Belgium; see the files nrs. 152, 153, 154, 155 and 160 for the period 1945-1954. Nr. 149 (years 1944-1954) contains general correspondence and reports on JDC aid to Belgium, the treatment and legal status of Jewish refugees in Belgium, ...

  4. Records of the New York office of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1933-1944.

    Files nr. 117 and 118 (ca. 1944-1947) contain minutes of the meetings of the Executive Committee of the JDC Advisory and Consultative Group and minutes of its Sub-committee on Reconstruction. This organ was established in early 1944, to deal with the needs of the devastated Jewish communities of Europe. Jewish leaders from twelve nations – including Belgium – were asked to organise national groups; collectively they formed the JDC group. The file “Belgium: Administration, General 1933-1940” (nr. 450) contains correspondence and various reports on the assistance to and status of Jewish refug...

  5. Istanbul Records of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee 1937-1949.

    There is a file on Belgium (1945)(folder nr. IS.210) in “Subcollection: Countries and Regions”. It contains correspondence, mostly concerning requests for information on relatives, and notifications of families and friends of persons deported from Belgium.

  6. Records of the Geneva office of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1945-1954.

    This incredibly rich archival fonds contains several hundreds of files relevant to the immediate post-war relief efforts of the JDC, and its support of Jewish organisations engaged in the reconstruction of the Belgian Jewish communities during the late 1940s - early 1950s. The fonds is divided into four main sections (‘subcollections’): Administration, Organisations, Subject Matter and Countries & Regions. Subcollection 1: Administration contains the following files, whose descriptions explicitly mention Belgium, Brussels, … and other relevant keywords: “Financial Statistical Reports” (...

  7. Records of the Istanbul Office of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee

    The Istanbul Collection testifies to JDC’s efforts from 1942-1949 (with a few earlier materials dating from 1937) to oversee the planning of rescue and relief operations from its office in Turkey, a neutral country strategically located at the crossroads of war-torn Europe and the nascent Jewish state in Palestine. These records highlight the Istanbul office’s partnership with other relief organizations--such as the Jewish Agency, the U.S. War Refugee Board, and the International Red Cross--in rescue operations and in large-scale enterprises to identify and locate survivors during and after...

  8. Records of the Geneva office of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee

    The Geneva files of 1945-1954 constitute the documentary record of JDC’s global overseas operations in the immediate post-World War II (WWII) period. These files testify to the complex and multi-faceted nature of JDC’s global rescue and relief efforts, primarily focused on: resettling Jewish refugees and Holocaust survivors around the world; facilitating the renewal of Jewish life in Europe; rebuilding Jewish communal institutions; and providing sustaining aid to the remnants of Jewish communities worldwide. The collection documents JDC’s work in over 70 countries. These records provide num...

  9. The American Joint Distribution Committee, Warsaw office, 1945-1949

    The American Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC, as it was known in Poland) was active in Poland from the time of its founding. Immediately after the end of World War I, in early 1919, AJDC sent representatives to Poland. The outbreak of war in 1939 did not stop the AJDC relief efforts in Poland. During the first years of Nazi occupation, the Joint was able to continue its activity, although much diminished compared to the prewar period. The branches of AJDC in the area of the General Government worked until December 1941. When the United States entered the war, AJDC’s work continued underg...

  10. Records of the Stockholm office of the American Joint Distribution Committee, 1941-1967

    The Stockholm Collection contains the records of JDC’s Stockholm office during the years 1941-1967. The majority of the materials focus on the Stockholm office’s activities during World War II and in the postwar period from 1944-1949. In wartime, JDC’s Stockholm office, strategically located in neutral Sweden, was well-placed to coordinate the delivery of supplies to survivors and refugees in Europe, collaborate in wartime rescue operations, and to establish contact with and coordinate searches for survivors after the war ended. These records also chronicle JDC’s collaborations with other o...

  11. Records of the Dominican Republic Settlement Association (DORSA), 1939-1977

    In 1938, President Roosevelt invited 32 governments to consult with U.S. representatives at Evian, France, on refugee problems, and the participants created an Intergovernmental Committee for Refugees (IGCR). For IGCR Reports on Refugees 1938 - 1940, and on Refugee Settlement in the Dominican Republic, see Files 45a - 45b. At the first IGCR meeting, Generalissimo Trujillo offered to admit into his country as settlers up to 100,000 refugees from Europe. Promptly, the Refugee Economic Corporation and the President's Advisory Committee on Political Refugees—under Executive Secretary George L. ...

  12. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Cyprus Operation, 1945-1949

    The Cyprus Collection of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC) offers a unique window into a pivotal period of 20th-century history by documenting the dramatic events in Cyprus against the backdrop of the birth of the State of Israel. Beginning in August 1946, the British government began deporting Jews who came to Palestine in violation of the White Paper of 1939 to the island of Cyprus. From August 1946 to February 1949, the deportees--primarily Holocaust survivors--lived behind barbed wire in 12 detention camps. During this period, approximately 53,000 Jews passed thro...