64 Friday, June 26, 1981
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
History of a Great Cause in a Tragic Era
Yehuda Bauer's Record of JDC's Rescue Tasks,
Philanthropic Goals Daring Holocaust Years
Any phase in the history
of the American Jewish
Joint Distribution Commit-
tee assumes an important
role historically. The period
of activities during the Nazi
era is especially significant.
Therefore "American Jewry
and the Holocaust" which
deals with the JDC services
and struggles for relief of
the victims of Hitlerism
during the years 1939 to
1945, by Prof. Yehuda
Bauer, is a volume of major
significance.
Wayne State University
Press has just issued, this
volume as one of its current
Judaica publications.
Made possible by the
Morris and Emma Schaver
Publication Fund for Jew-
ish Studies, this immense-
ly encyclopedic volume is
much more than a history of
philanthropy. It is history
itself. It is a record of cour-
age as well as sacrifice, of
the -dedication of a great
cause to the rescue efforts
that enveloped the many
lands which were affected
by the Nazi terror during
the six years under review
in a study that was fortu-
nately conducted by a mas-
ter who has a background of
dedication to the many is-
sues which are covered in
the JDC historical record.
Dr. Bauer, who is the
Jonah M. Machover Pro-
fessor of Holocaust
Studies and former head
of the Institute of Con-
temporary. Jewry at the
Hebrew University in
Jerusalem, is the author
of many books devoted to
studies of the Holocaust
and the era of the Nazi
horrors. Already having
enriched the Holocaust
bookshelves with his ear-
lier works, the current
WSU Press volume fills a
great need with the fac-
tual about the financial
aid of the JDC that
enabled a continuing re-
scue process.
Brother's
"My
In
Keeper," published by the
Jewish Publication Society
in 1974, Dr. Bauer com-
menced the JDC story
which continues in the pre-
sent volume. Here he covers
the role of the great philan-
thropic agency in Poland,
Hungary, Romania and the
other portions of the Euro-
pean continent where the
Nazis were bent upon de-
stroying the Jewish people.
The difficult tasks of rescu-
ing those who could be
saved was conducted by the
JDC.
Describing the theme of
the book as "Jewish self-
help, whether American
based or initiated locally
under JDC's name," Dr.
Bauer delved into the JDC
records for the accumula-
tion of the many experi-
enced in the rescue tasks.
The many personalities
involved, the scores of
hitherto unpublished inci-
dents, the historical account
of associating with the
endangered and whoever
could assist i _ n the rescue
work, all are accounted for
in this brilliant anthologi-
cal and historical chronicle.
In the first years it was
a matter of providing re-
lief, of assuring that the
• hungry were fed. Then
came the years of terror
when the Nazis inaugu-
rated the policy of de-
struction, their Genocide
threat to all Jews.
,At the root of the story are
the activities of per-
sonalities like Saly Mayer
who was JDC's unofficial
representative in Switzer-
land. Throughout World
War II Mayer was the most
important individual con-
tact person.
There is the story of Raoul
Wallenberg, retold here in
some detail, to indicate how
some of the Swedish hero's
efforts were partially made
possible with JDC's finan-
cial aid.
Germany proper be-
fore the last calamitous
years, Shanghai, the
Soviet Union, North Af-
rica events are detailed
here..
There is the record of ac-
tivities in behalf of trans-
portingome of the rescued
into what was then the
Jewish settlement in pre-
Israel Palestine.
difficulties
The
encountered by the JDC
emphasize the dramatic fac-
tors in this impressive story
of the great philanthropic
movement. JDC sought the
participation of European
Jews. It was a difficult task.
It needed cooperation from
communities and their
leaders. A concluding por-
tion of the descriptive intro-
duction to this book 'em-
phasizes- these difficulties.
Describing "European
Jewry on the Eve of War,"
this portion of the introduc-
tion offers these revela-
tions:
"The outlook in 1939 was
bleak. JDC tried to get local
communities to raise money
from their richer members.
While it is true that some
communities could have
done much more, and some
in fact did do quite a lot, in
most communities there
were simply no reserves
available for social and wel-
fare work.
"There were excep-
tions. In Switzerland, for-
instance, the head of the
Jewish community, Saly
Mayer, heard what was
termed a 'pep talk' from
Morris C. Troper, JDC's
European director, who
claimed that "It was
hardly fair that
American money should
be used until he was con-
vinced that the maximum
amount possible had
been raised in his own
community.' Mayer did in
fact obtain increased
sums from members of
this community (which
numbered only 18,000).
"On the other hand, there
were many extremely weal-
thy Jews in Hungary, but
the community leadership
there had degenerated to a
frightening degree. There
were internecine quarrels, a
lack of public and commu-
nity spirit, and mass con-
versions. Little help was
forthcoming for the many
Hungarian Jews who
needed it, especially those
in the territories annexed
from Czechoslovakia in
early 1939.
"It is evident that the
many complicated problems
could not possibly be hand-
led from New York, given
the relatively slow means of
transporation and corn-
munication. Ever since the
early twenties, JDC had
tried to remedy this situa-
tion by having a central
office responsible for the
whole of Europe. Until the
Vise of the Nazis, this office
was located in Berlin, and
the New York leadership
delegated some authority to
it.
"In 1939, however, the
center of JDC activity in
Europe was in Paris, where
JDC's European Executive
Council was located, with
Morris C. Troper as chair-
man or European director.
The other members of the
council were relatively
junior staff, and in the cru-
cial summer of 1939, it was
Troper who was JDC in
Europe, just as Bernhard
Kahn had been until late in
1938.
"Troper emerges from
JDC correspondence as a
warm human being with
compassion and a sense
of humor, but he appar-
ently never became very
popular either in Europe
or with his own people in
America.
"He had become involved
in JDC affairs by being head
of the firm that JDC used for
all its accounting business
— obviously a very impor-
tant aspect of the work of a
public philanthropic organ-
ization. But he never quite
shook off the image of a
`mere' accountant, and
while his letters and
memoranda reflect quick
intelligence, .broad vision,
and seemingly considerable
powers of decision, that is
not the impression one
gathers from later tes-
timonies of people with
whom he worked.
"In late August 1939,
JDC and HICEM called an
Yg HUD A BAUER
emergency conference in
Paris of their main repre-
sentatives, who discussed
arrangements to be made in
case war broke out. A rare
and interesting motion pic-
ture taken on that occasion
shows Troper, Joseph C.
Hyman, who had come from
New York to participate in
the proceedings, Saly
Mayer from Switzerland,
Gertrude van Tijn of Hol-
land, Max- Gottschalk of
Belgium, Isaac Giterman of
Poland, Marie Schmolka of .
Prague, Otto Hirsch of Be-
' rlin, and others.
"The main decision taken
by JDC in the wake of that
conference was to transfer
large amounts of money to
Poland for the second half of
1939 and to keep its cash re-
serves in European banks
as low as possible.
"In the midst of the
conference, Giterman
rushed back to Warsaw
to be at his post when
hostilities began. That
was the last time his col-
leagues saw him. On,Sep-
tember 1, German
soldiers crossed the
Polish border. Night de-
scended over the Jewish
people in Europe."
While the Nazis were per-
secuting other peoples, Dr.
Bauer points out that "only
in the case of the Jews did
the Nazis intend the total
physical annihilation of a
people whom in their im-
agination they had iden-
tified with a demonic force.
Their anti-Jewish attitude
resulted from the combina-
tion of an age-old hatred fos-
tered by other monotheistic
religions against the father
religion and those who
adhered to it and the sec-
ularist rebellion of a
technologically oriented
nationalistic civilization
against the Judeo-
Christian ethical tradition.
It was that deadly pseudo-
religious combination that
produced Nazism and the
Holocaust."
There is a summary in. the
Bauer story which reveals
that not enough funds were
provided for the JDC activi-
ties, that there were dedi-
cated people who labored
without such sustenance.
Without listing the activi-
ties of the individuals in the
cast of devoted characters,
the following analyses de-
serve quoting as an
encouragement to those
who respond to the call of
philanthropy that their ef-
forts are urgent as fulfill-
ment of the great needs for
services:
"Generally, one can di-
vide JDC activities into
three main types: direct in-
volvement of American
emissaries in local activi-
ties; direct involvement of
local JDC groups in aid, re-
scue and .sometimes politi-
cal activities; and funding of
local initiatives.
"We have seen examples
of the first of these. with
Moses Beckelman's work in
Lithuania and Laura Mar-
golis' work in Shanghai.
The second type is
exemplified in Warsaw and
in Jules Jefroykin's group
in France. The third we
have seen in Slovakia,
Romania, Zagreb, Italy,
Belgium, and Holland.
"The involvement of
Americans was necessarily
transitory; with America's
entry into the war, this kind
of activity had to cease.
" 'It is'hard to assess the
relative effectiveness of the
other two kinds of JDC in-
volvement. No planning -of
these activities was possi-
ble; they arose out of des-
perate necessities and were
adjusted to the concrete
situation.
"The link between JDC-
Lisbon and the Jewish
communities in most of
Europe and . Shanghai after
1942 was Saly Mayer in
Switzerland. Our inquiry
has shown the unique im-
portance of this man in the
JDC story. A more flexible,
less complicated individual
might have been a better
choice, but Mayer did sur-
prisingly well, his oppo-
nents' claims notwith-
standing. Above all, he
grasped the situation better
than many others, manag-
ing to supply, with the little
money he had to give, not
merely help but hope.
hope.
"The terrible question
is often asked whether
more could have been
done to save lives.
Michael Weissmandel
wrote that the Jews of the
West were asked to shed
not blood — dam in He-
brew — but money —
damim. If all the money in
the world had bought the
life of just one child, it
would have been cheaply
bought. _
"American Jewry gave
JDC very little.money until
1944 ($37,909,323 in 1939-
1943) and somewhat 'more
in 1944 and 1945
••• 1
($35,551,365).
$194,332,033 it raist.
1945-1948 showed how late
the reaction to the disaster
of the Holocaust was.
"Some of the expendi-
tures of scarce JDC dollars
were, to judge with the
benefit of hindsight, less
than judicious. Hundreds of
thousands were poured in to
the fiasco that was the
Sosua venture in the
Dominican Republic. Hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars
were given to the Russians,
in addition to the millions
that the American people as
a whole gave. Had they been
allocated to Gize Fleisch-
mann or Reszoe Kasztner,
they might have made a
real difference.
"Yet the bulk of JDC's
limited funds went where it
was needed most. The re-
sults achieved were in many
areas and cases just what
had been hoped for. Without
JDC funds, the hiding of the
children in France, the re:-
scue from starvation in the
Transnistrian ghettos, the
feeding of the Jews be-
leaguered in the Swiss and
Swedish houses in Budapest
— these and many more
ventures would have been
impossible.
"JDC's limitations lay
in its very legalistic ap-
proach to rescue, its
limited funds, and an Al-
lied policy that aimed ex-
clusively at military vik
tory rather than at both
victory and the saving of
lives.
"Within those limita-
tions, JDC did a great deal
of good. It was basically an
organization of volunteer's.
Its workers, from the lay
leadership in New York
who gave of their time with-
out hesitation and often
without limit, to the heroes
of the Holocaust — Gizi
Fleischmann, Emmanuel
Ringelblum. Isaac Giter-
man, and all the others —
were united in a typically
Jewish endeavor.
"It was perhaps best ex-
pressed by Saly Mayer in
one of his notebooks: 'Stop
this Rezach!"Rezac' • n
Hebrew, means crnu.____,z.
Jewish tradition says that
he who saves one soul is
likened to on'e who has
saved the whole world."
prof. Bauer's review of
the JDC role adds a valu-
able chapter to American
and world Jewish history.
WSU Press enriches its pub-
lishing goals with this im-
portant work.
—P.S.