Friday, April 12, 1946
THE
The Polish Picture
Tour Reveals Effectiveness
Of JDC Aid, Spikes Criticism
By H. M. CAISERMAN
General Secretary of the
Canadian Jewish Congress
Editor's Note: Mr. Caiserman, whose or-
ganization cooperates closely with the
Joint Distribution Committee through
the United Jewish Refugee and War
Relief Agencies of Canada, recently re-
turned from an eight-week inspection
of relief activities in Poland, wifich he
undertook at the invitation of the Pol-
ish governnlent. He are excerpts
from the report on his findings which
Mr. Caiserman delivereu ku,,en,iy to tne
JDC Committee on Poland.
On the basis of -my inspection
of conditions in Poland, 1: must
tell you that the Jews of America
and Canada have not yet done
everything which needs to be
done for qews in Poland. This we
must admit. I must add, how-
ever, that the only outside relief
effort worth mentioning is the
work of the JDC. Such is the
pride of Polish Jewry that, even
when our help is good and fairly
distributed, the Jews who receive
it are ps,ycnOlogically upset. Their,
outcry • is in reality the folk in-
stinct which has given thein the
streng to to live tnrough the ter-
ror, retaining their self-respect
and meriting the sympathy of the
rest of the world.
The problems of Polish Jewry
are difficult and require our best
efforts. I would say that 65,000 is
a fair estimate of the number of
Jews . in Poland today, to which
we must add some luu,000 repat-
riates who will have returned
from the -U.S.S.R. by the end of
August.
Children With Medals
How aid the Jews in Poland
save themselves? i3y living in
deep bunkers and by hiding in
the fields or in the woods; in
heroic partisan bands; in sewers,
or by passing themselves off as
Aryans. Resistance groups of
Polish "Jews were among the
fighting partisans, and many Jews
wear medals for neroism and dis-
tinctive service. .I was deeply
touched at the sight of little chil-
dren in Jewish . institutions wear-
ing their medals; not even the
children were too young to resist
the Nazis. The suffering which all
these survivors endured needs no
description here.
Residual anti-Semitism ex-
isting among large sections of the
population is one- of the major
problems in Poland today. You
will remember that, betore the
war, anti-Semitisin was the offi-
cial policy of two Polish. govern-
ments. You must appreciate too
the after-effects of six years of
Nazi rule. Hundreds of thou-
sands of POles were subjected to
constant anti-Semitic propagan-
da; thousands were used by the
Nazis in carrying out the mass
murder of Jews.
In gratifying contrast, however,
the present government of Poland
is pursuing a strenuous policy of
combating anti-Semitism. It has
adopted a law carrying the death
penalty for attacks on Jews—a
law which is being enforced. The
Trade Union Congress of Poland
I. has adopted a resolution against
race-hatred st r o n g e r, to my
knowledge, than any similar res-
olution. While I was in Poland,
the Prime Minister denounced
anti-Semitism in a public address.
The Supreme Commander of the
Polish Army took a similar stand.
Thus, the Polish government is
fighting anti-Semitism in a vari-
ety of effective ways.
Poland Enormous Problem
Equally demanding is the prob-
lem of relief in Poland. To give
you an idea of the enormity of
this problem, may I offer a com-
parison. In Canada, 42 1/2% of the
. entire population supports itself.
For the sake of comparison, let us
say that this same percentage ex-
ists . in Poland-42 1/2 % work. The
employed earn between 2,000 and
3,500 zlotys a month. But this is
not enough to provide a living.
Without the help of the govern-
ment and private relief organiza-
tions, these people could not exist.
This situation has no parallel any-
where else in the world.
Two major organizations, both
government recognized, represent
Polish Jewry today, and engage
in broad scale relief and recon-
struction activities. Both are re-
ceiving considerable support from
the JDC. The first of these is the
Central Jewish Committee, or-
ganized on the same basis as the
present Polish government and
representing all existing Polish
parties. Work of the Central
Committee includes child protec-
tion and education, statistics, de-
partments for youth, culture and
propaganda, a central Jewish His-
torical Committee and a National
Library and Museum. The Com-
mittee also operates a chain of
children's homes, schools, asy-
H. M. CAISERMAN
lurns, arnbulatories, cooperatives,
shops and other institutions.
One of the reasons 1 was sent
to Poland was to ascertain wheth-
er there was basis for criticism in
certain newspapers and groups in
Canada and the United States,
which charged that relief was not
being administered fairly. I went
to Poland as an impartial observ-
er to see for myself whether ship-
ments of supplies had arrived and
whether they had been properly
distributed.
When I reached Poland, one of
my first acts was to visit the late
David Guzik, resident director for
the JDC, whose office was in
Warsaw. When I explained my
JEWISH NEWS
assignment, Mr. Gusik offered his
full cooperation.
I visited about 20, communities
throughout Poland, accompanied
by representatives of the Central
Jewish Committee. The people in
charge of many of the institutions
I inspected told me, on question-
ing, of having received relief sup-
plies from the "Joint." In some
instances, they thought that these
supplies had come from UNRRA,
but I was able to confirm that
they had been sent by the JDC.
I was able, also, to identify in use
relief supplies. sent from Canada.
Relief from America was sent
in the form of supplies because,
until the end of 1945, difficulties
in transmission made it impossi,
ble for the JDC to send cash.
When banking communications
were again possible, however, the
JDC assigned the Central Com-
mittee 50,000,000 zlotys. The JDC
has since allocated an additional
50,000,000 zlotys to the Central
Committee, bringing 1946 grants
to 100,000,000 zlotys.
I proceeded to study the situa-
tion in the JDC's Warsaw office
which was directed by the late
David Guzik.
JDC Supplies Received
I learned thA very .large
amounts of supplies had been re-
ceived from the JDC, which has
sent food, clothing and industrial
equipment from the United States,
South Africa, Australia, Sweden
and South America. In food items
alone; the JDC has sent over 600
tons of fats, 385 tons of dried milk,
nearly 40,000 pounds of choco-
late, canned goods and honey, as
well as other supplies. ,More than
872 tons of Shoes were sent to
needy Polish Jews, and over 370
Page. Seventeen
bales of wool blankets. A JDC
South African Jewish War Ap-
peal contribution of more than 76
tons of raw wool was intended to
play a significant part in the eco-
nomic rehabilitation of Polish
Jewry. So were 72 sewing and
show-making machines, 200 sets
of shoemakers' tools, 33 cases of
carpenters' tools and large quan-
tities of tailors' supplies.
To indicate the value of this
aid, I should like to quote the
words of Dr. Kohane, of the orth-
odox group. In the presence of
the officers of his organization, he
told me, "Tell the head of every
organization, tell. the newspapers
of the world—without the help of
JDC. we could not have existed
three weeks."
It is only appropriate that I say
a few words about David Guzik—'
the man who directed JDC's work
in Poland. I usually judge a man
by how accessable he is to the
people who need his help. David
Guzik's door was always open..
His only rule was that each per-
son take his turn; no one might
take precedence over another.
One of the more touching relief
problems with which Mr. Guzik
dealt personally was that of the
older generation
of intellectuals,
artists and writ-
ers, whoSe health
did not permit
them to work.
Mr. Guzik re-
ceived these peo-
ple with the
greatest tact and
unde rstanding.
;He saw each one
David Guzik p r i v a tely, lis-
tened to his problems and gave
the required aids. He conducted
these diffcult interviews with the
greatest sensitivity and sympathy.
David Guzik- *always remem-
bered that the JDC is a relief
agency, not a political organiza-
tion.
The JDC helps all Jews in need
—on the basis of their need.
This was the rule David Guzik
followed throughout his life. The
Jews of Poland will miss him
sorely in months to come.
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