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THE JEWISH NEWS
Pao Six
Histadrut Presents:
A Picture Story of Its Activities
Text by Nahum Guttman
HE saga of reviving Palestine is told afresh by
this set of photos taken during the summer of
1946 by Herbert Sonnenfeld, a free lance photog-
rapher, who made a special trip to the Holy Land,
braving curfews, road blocks and censorship to ob-
tain a comprehensive view of the Histadrut—Pales-
tine's unique federation of worker-pioneers. The
release of these pictures on the 26th anniversary of
the founding of the Histadrut (December, 1946)
points up how seriously the Jewish settlers have
taken to the task of rebuilding their National Home,
and what fine craftsmen they have been on the job.
HISTADRUT—the General Federation of Jewish
Labor in Palestine—was founded in 1920 with only
4.400 members. Today, it numbers over 166,000
workers, who with their families -total 250,000 per-
T
Photos by Herbert Soneeefeld
sons, or 40% of all the Jews in Palestine. Over 75%
of the able-bodied Jewish workers in Palestine are .
organized in this single federation.
From the first collective settlement founded in
the Jordan Valley 35 years ago, to the latest out- ,
posts in the Negev deserts, the men and women of
HISTADRUT have been the spearhead of Jewish
colonization. They have created the worker-pioneer
type of Jew, who gives the National Home a flavor
unmatched in any other part of the world. The
driving force has been the -necessity to construct a
free Jewish homeland, and the guiding spirit has
been the social ideal of cooperative endeavor. Dur-
ing the past quarter century, HISTADRUT has
implemented its program with a vast network of
cooperatives—many of which are illustrated here.
YOUNG WOMEN do their share—besides
looking pretty. This one (above) is piling
high the sections of wooden boxes manufac-
tured at the collective settlement Afikim.
KUPAT HOLIM (Sick Fund) of the Hista-
drut is Palestine's largest medical system,
treating 270,000 Jews and Arabs. Its budget
last year ($7,200,000) was three times as large
as the government grant for Jewish and Arab
programs combined; 45 per cent of Jewish
babies are born in Kupat Holim hospitals.
DETROIT'S •PALESTINE HISTADRUT
CAMPAIGN was launched Sunday, Jan. 5,
for a quota of $175,000 at the annual con-
ference. This conference served once again
to mobilize the Detroit Jewish community
in the great effort to support the activities
of the Histadrut in Palestine. Nearly
200,000 members of Palestine's unique
workers' organization stand as the chief
bulwark in the historic effect to build the
Jewish National Home. As the most power-
ful supporting element in this great nation-
building task, American Jews are called
upon to uphold the hands of the builders of
Zion and to make a great success of the
Palestine Histadrut Campaign (Gewerk-
shaften).
CHILDREN GROWING UP in a
Histadrut collective (above) are
reared to have fun, freedosn and a
love for farming. The older chil-
dren there are self-sustaining.
SURVIVORS OF NAZI EUROPE (below) who finally arrived
in Palestine. Received at the Histadrut Immigration Center in Tel
Aviv, they are (left to right) : Shimshon Zondek, 27, from Poland,
who fought at Stalingrad and won a high Soviet decoration; Shlomo
Lonismski, from Warsaw, who lost a leg fighting as a Partisan;
Hayim Albert, 24, from Romania, who fought with Ukrainian parti-
sans. They are among thousands of survivors from Nazism who were
helped by the "Underground Railway." Histadrut volunteers -in
Europe play a leading part in this rescue work.
-Nt
PALESTINE'S HOUSING
PROBLEM is being re-
lieved by Histadrut's house-
building society, Shikum,
which already has provided
homes for 20,000 and is de-
veloping four garden cities
for 100,000. The photograph
(above) shows building ac-
tivities at Efal, Tel Aviv
workers' suburb, launched
with a $100,000 gift made
by the Jewish National
Workers' Alliance (Far-
band) of America.
•
WORLD'S LARGEST
Hebrew daily is Davar,
published by the Histadrut.
This Hebrew linotype (left)
was a gift of the American
National Committee for
Labor Palestine.
.
. .
A JEWISH SETTLEMENT POLICE (above) stands watch over the village Kfar
Blum, named in honor of the ex-premier of France. -Here, many American volunteers
work at the side of young British, South African and Latvian Jews.
•