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JDC Archives Expands Online Access to Critical Records

Additional Holocaust-era documents now available online

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Archives announces the expanded online availability of digitized archival materials. Researchers and the public can now more easily access a wealth of historical documents from Holocaust-era collections.

Key collections now accessible through the JDC Archives’ digital collections database include:

Overseas Headquarters (Geneva) Records, 1933-1944: Providing insights into JDC’s critical work during the Holocaust. Some highlights of this collection include material documenting JDC’s cooperation with other organizations, including the International Red Cross and the Quaker organization American Friends Service Committee during World War II and considerable material regarding Nazi confiscation of property, including postwar restitution claims. Relocating its Overseas Headquarters to Lisbon after the fall of France, JDC worked tirelessly to help Jews from across Europe to emigrate to countries of the Western Hemisphere and to provide temporary assistance to refugees.

Refugees in a JDC-organized transport board a train from Barcelona to Cadíz on their way to North Africa. Barcelona, Spain, 1944. JDC Archives, NY_36390

A notable example is documented in correspondence regarding Sephardic Jews, especially from Greece, who made their way to Spain with the acquiescence of the Spanish government, which, as JDC European Director Joseph J. Schwartz notes in the letter below, required that they quickly move on to other countries.

Letter from JDC European Director Joseph J. Schwartz to Sir Herbert Emerson, League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Director of the Inter-Governmental Committee on Refugees, regarding Sephardic Jewish refugees from Salonika, Greece. JDC Archives, item ID 3114251

New York Headquarters Records, 1933-1944 (partial): Focusing on JDC’s work in Latin America and the Caribbean during this period. This material is newly available online after careful review. JDC assisted European refugees to settle in their new countries, establishing agricultural colonies and working with local organizations of both established and refugee communities. JDC’s Reconstruction Foundation established loan funds following a model that had been successful in interwar Europe.

Excerpt of a press release announcing a tour to study implementation of loan and credit funds in South America, October 1941. (View full document.) JDC Archives, item ID 532259

This significant expansion of online resources offers unprecedented access to primary source materials for scholars, historians, genealogists, and anyone interested in Jewish history and humanitarianism.

To fully unlock the potential of the JDC Archives’ rich collections, make a donation. Your support will enable us to preserve and share these vital historical documents for future generations.