Page Six
THE JEWISH NEWS
-Friday; -June TL TIM
The Human Story Behind the
J.D.C.'s Personal Inquiry Department
Information Pleas
ECAUSE the work of the Joint Distribution
Committee overseas engages so much of
our dramatic attention, people are sometimes
surprised to hear that the J. D. C. is doing a
related job right here at home. Of course, it is
not relief work per se; yet, in the ease of mind
it has given, it may well be considered exactly
that.
B
This special activity to which I refer is car-
ried on by the Personal Inquiry Department.
Thousands of people all over the United States
and Latin America, faced with some relief or
personal problem concerning their kinfolk
abroad, have come to know the Personal In-
quiry Department of the J. D. C. and be thank-
ful for it.
As the name suggests, the Personal
Inquiry Department is that office of
the J.D.C. which handles the multitu-
dinous requests for information, "loca-
cation service" and guidance from peo-
ple in this country who are interested
in helping a relative or a friend over-
seas, and from refugees in Europe
wishing to locate a relative in the
United States.
A REFUGEE business man in New
England writes in to say that his
son is in an internment camp in Al-
geria, and that for many months now
he hasn't heard from him. What does
the J.D.C. advise him to do? Can
J.D.C. help him?
The P.I.D. addresses a special in-
quiry concerning the son's where-
abouts to Lisbon, where the European
headquarters of the J.D.C. are located.
Lisbon gets in touch with the J.D.C.-supported
relief committee in Algeria, which soon writes
back that the son is alive and well. His letters
had somehow gone astray.
By
FRED M. BUTZEL
Member, J. D. C. Board of Directors;
Chairman Executive Committee,
Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit
the place where people get their troubles off
their chests, for often a sympathetic discussion
alone will alleviate anxiety. •
M HERE is a saying in the P.I.D. that "condi-
tions condition the inquiries." When the
P.I.D. was established as a functional
entity of the Joint Distribution Com-
mittee in August, 1939, most of the in-
quiries dealt with emigration from
Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia.
Following the fall of France, the un-
occupied zone took the spotlight. .To-
day most of the inquiries relate large-
ly to refugees in Spain- and Asiatic
Russia.
.
An important function of the P.I.D.
at present is to make- available the
lists received here of refugees in the
overseas countries. These lists come
from the Lisbon office -or from other
neutral or Allied countries. The Lis-
bon office frequently sends lists of
the refugees who have succeeded in
arriving in Spain. From other sources
the J.D.C. has received lists of refugees
now in Asiatic Russia. These lists the
J.D.C. makes available to the rela-
tives and friends in this country and in many
other parts of the world, for news of their arri-
val is published in the press. There are, also,
other lists containing the names of people de-
ported to the Nazi East.
T
HE extent to which the P. I. D. has become
identified in the minds of Jews everywhere
with such information is, I think, illustrated
by an inquiry which came in recently from a
resident of Tel Aviv. In an American Yiddish
newspaper, he wrote, there had been a list of
Baltic refugees now in Asiatic Russia which
the J.D.C. had issued. Among them, he said,
was his cousin. Would the J.D.C. send him
more information?
It so happened that this particular list had
been sent to J.D.C. by the Association of Baltic
Jews in Palestine. The office of the Association
was, in fact, near the inquirer's home. In re-
plying, the P.I.D., of course, pointed this out .
Busy as it is with the vast amount of per-
sonal inquiry work, the Joint Distribution Com-
mittee is nevertheless looking ahead to the
post-war era and the problems of individuals ,
which will undoubtedly present themselves at
that time. The indications are that immediately
after the war's end unprecedented demands
will be made upon the J.D.C. from people from
one end of the globe to the other to help locate
relatives or friends. In its Personal Inquiry
Department, the J.D.C. possesses an apparatus
whose present-day experience will serve well
the needs of tomorrow.
O
NE inquiry had romantic consequences.
That letter came from the Island of Mau-
ritius in the Indian Ocean, where some 1,700
refugees who had entered Palestine illegally
were being detained in an agricultural colony.
One of the detainees wanted to get in touch
with his relatives in New York. He did not
know their addresses, and he appended a long
list of names. The J.D.C. had the names pub-
lished in the New York Yiddish press. Most of
the people appeared; some had seen the notice,
others had been told about it.
The interesting aspect of this case was that
most of the refugees' relatives did not know
ene another or had been out of touch for many
years. One of the relatives came from an up-
state city; and in the office of the J.D.C. he
held reunion with a second cousin whom he
had not seen for two decades—since he had
left Europe. Greeting each other enthusiastic-
ally, they remembered that in the long ago
they had jokingly promised that if one had a
son and the other a daughter there would be a
shiduch. As it turned out, one of them had a
son, the other a daughter: You can guess the
rest. The families met, and as for the children—
indirectly. brought together by a letter written
to the. J.D.C. from a refugee thousands of miles
away-it was a case of love at first sight!
,
rp HESE are cases which I have chosen at ran-
i. dom from files of the P. I. D. They indicate
the almOst institutional character of the Joint
Distribution Committee.' American Jews have
with good reason come to regard it as , the re-
ceptable of their problems relating to over-
seas kin. The P. I. D. is where people come to
find out how to extend a 'helping hand to a
relative in Spain, or to what agencies or organi-
zations they should go for technical immigra-
tion or other advice,, or how best to send mail
to certain countries, or what can be done to
help relatives in occupied countries (under ex-
isting' American war laws very little, if any-
thing,. can be done in this respect). It is also
,
,
EDITOR'S NOTE:
Mr. Butzel's article is reprinted from the I. D. C.
Digest with the permission of the American Jewish
Joint Distribution Committee, publishers of the
Digest.
Next week's issue of The Jewish News will
carry .mother series of important feature articles
dealing with outstanding issues affecting the Jew-
ish people.
The Inside Story of One of the
Foremost Radio Serials
The Goldbergs—Typical - Americans
By ETHEL LIPSKY
A New York judge recently ad-
vised the mother of a juvenile
delinquent to have the boy listen
regularly to such broadcasts as
"The Goldbergs." A recent issue
of Cornet listed Jake Gold-
berg among 5 0
famous men —
including Abra-
ham, Boaz, Wil-
liam Shakes-
peare, E ddie
Cantor, Abr a-
h a m Lincoln ,
Pierre Curie —
i'n a quiz in
which the read- :44c
er was to match glig3
up each illustri- Gertrude Berg
ous man with the correct wife.
The popularity of "The Gold-
bergs" knows no religious bar-
riers, no age litnitations, no social
or geographic' boundaries.
"Yoo-hoo, Mrs:' Bloom . . ." has
given way to `$Yoo4loo, is any-
body . , . ?" but "The Goldbergs"
remain unchanged. For 14 years
this CBS serial has been enter-
taining the American public. For
14 years a Jewish "family" play-
ed by a Jewish cast has grown
into the hearts of its varied and
countless listeners. Rosh Has-
hanah, Yom Kippur and Passover
have been celebrated with "The
Goldbergs." Jewish customs and
ceremonies have been made
known to the average Ameridan
—regardless of race,. religion 9r
creed. We have laughed at Mol-
ly's malapropisms and we have
shared her joys and her wor-
ries. We have grown up with
Rosie and. Sammy and we have
relished Jalte.
What is it that makes this pro-
gram outstanding among the in-
numerable daytime radio serials?
Why is it that the author, direct-
or and star of the show, Gertrude
Berg, can say "I receive even
more fan mail from non-Jews
than from the Jews; there's been
no anti-Semitic fan mail at all"?
How do- "The Goldbergs," whose
mannerisms and dialect might so
easily evoke adverse criticism, ef-
fect instead a better understand-
ing of the Jewish people on the
part of their fellow Americans?
The briefest answer to these
questions may well be, simply,
Mrs. Berg. This portly, charming
woman, who does not look as
though she had a son and daugh-
ter almost as old as her radio
"children," not only created "The .
Goldbergs" but also writes the
skits, auditions _and selects the
actors, directs the performances
and plays the part , of "Molly,"
the famous, 'Wife and mother of
the serial. Born in. New York
City, educated at Columbia Uni-
versity, married at the age of
20, Gertrude Goldstein Berg
blended the two surnames to
produce the Goldberg "family,"
with the char _ aCter Molly inspired
by her own 'grandmother.
Goldbergs" as a radio program
"that would convey to the child,
albeit he may be . unconscious of
the fact, lessons of morality and
good conduct . . . " because it
has "consistently, in a very en-
tertaining • and attractive pro-
gram, included lessons of kind-
ness, courtesy and helpfulness to
one's neighbors." This is so im-
portant, according to the judge,
because "the future of • America
is in the hands of the citizens of
tomorrow, who are the children
of today."
But to say that Gertrude Berg
is the reison, for the manifold
successes for her program is
merely a restatement of the phe-
nomenon, not an explanation of
it. To clarify the issue, let Mrs.
Berg speak for herself:
"It's the Golden Rule philos-
ophy that appeals to them."
This opinion is substantiated
by Justice Juvenal Marchisio,
Material at Source
As important as the lessons
it teaches is the manner in which
those lessons are taught. Right-
eous precepts are all too often
boring, impractical and lacking
in conviction. The factor which,
hand in hand with the Golden
Rule, makes -a success of "The
Goldbergs" is, to quote Mrs. Berg,
the "naturalness, the hominess"
of the program. As a result of
it, "people acquire an apprecia-
tion of what JeWish life is like.
To' them 'The Goldbergs' are 'a
family like their own. In this
way the program makes a good
impression on non-Jews, who
have come to understand Jews
better."
The author of "The Goldbergs"
tells us that the source of this
lifelike quality is "people . . .
life • itself." She has travelled
about looking for interesting
places and colorful characters,
frequently disguising her ident-
ity.. She is registered at an East
Side Woman's Club under the
name of Tillie Berger. She often
has gone to night .court in search
of material.
who advised listening to "The
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The Major Appeal