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JDC Partners with Israel Genealogy Research Association

Exciting news for Israeli genealogists and family historians! The JDC Archives has recently initiated a collaboration with the Israel Genealogy Research Association (IGRA) to share two sets of information:

Jews in Poland who received parcels as per orders via JDC’s Jerusalem office from 1946-1947

Immediately following World War II, JDC created a program through which families and friends could get life-sustaining CARE packages to Holocaust survivors in Poland. Included on this list are names and addresses of beneficiaries in Poland and donors in Mandatory Palestine. (View sample page)

The Operation Magic Carpet lists

Following Israel’s independence, JDC organized and financed Operation Magic Carpet, bringing Yemenite Jews to Israel. The first portion of the lists to be shared covers the initial phase of the operation, the airlift of orphans, unaccompanied women and children, and elderly men from December 1948 – February 1949 to the newly established State of Israel from the British Protectorate of Aden. The list includes names, sex, birth year, weight, and family status. (View sample page)

The JDC Archives is providing IGRA with the primary names from each index record, which IGRA will translate from English to Hebrew. IGRA will add these names to its database with a direct link to the complete record and document in the JDC Names Index. IGRA is first working on the Poland parcels list; those records will be uploaded in the coming month. The Hebrew translations will be especially valuable for the Operation Magic Carpet lists, as many Yemenite Jewish names were spelled inconsistently in the original English-language lists.

This collaboration will help raise further awareness of JDC’s archival resources in Israel and throughout the world, increasing both their discoverability and their accessibility to diverse research communities.

Also See

Explore your family history in the JDC Names Index.