Records of the Geneva Office of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1945-1954

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee 

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) is the world’s leading Jewish humanitarian assistance organization. The JDC was founded in 1914 to assist Jewish persons in Palestine during World War I. The Holocaust and World War II caused the JDC to ramp up its relief efforts. With the end of the war in 1945, Jewish survivors were placed into hastily created displaced persons camps throughout Europe. Along with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), the JDC helped administer these camps and provide supplies. The JDC has aided millions of Jews in more than 85 countries. 

Records of the Geneva Office of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1945-1954 

748 microfilm reels (digitized), 35 mm digital images, 

Records of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC), Geneva Office, relating to global overseas operations in the immediate post-World War II (WWII) period: global rescue and relief efforts, primarily focused on resettling Jewish refugees and Holocaust survivors around the world; facilitating the renewal of Jewish life in Europe; rebuilding Jewish communal institutions; and providing sustaining aid to the remnants of Jewish communities worldwide. This collection include: correspondence; committee and board meeting minutes; field reports from worldwide staff; budgets; income and expenditure statements; lists of survivors; tracing requests from relatives and friends seeking information about relatives who may have survived the Holocaust; memoranda; lists of aid recipients and supplementary allocations; program descriptions; passenger lists; cables; supply lists; restitution laws and statutes; summaries of statistical reports; personnel files; legal files; case files; conference proceedings; names lists; audits; brochures; press releases; pamphlets; and news clippings.The collection documents AJDC’s work in over 70 countries. Some files in this collection hold confidential information, and are restricted in accordance with the AJDC Archives’ 

Copyright Holder: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee 

Arranged in four series: 1. Administration; 2. Organizations; 3. Subject Matters; 4. Countries and Regions. Each series contains sub-series: The Administration series is organized into nine sub-series. Within each sub-series, folders are organized alphabetically; within individual folders, documents are generally organized chronologically; The Organizations series is organized into four sub-series. Within each sub-series, files are arranged alphabetically by the organization's name; The Subject Matter series is organized into 18 subseries each of which focuses on a large-scale policy or program implemented by AJDC in the various regions and countries where it operated; The Countries and Regions series includes 71 subseries organized alphabetically by country, within these sub-series files are organized in the following groups: Administration, Organizations, Subject Matter, and Localities. For more detail information see the finding aid of the Archives of The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Inc. Some files in this collection hold confidential information, and are restricted in accordance with the AJDC Archives’: Microfilm reels 430-748 are restricted (Reel 730 is missing). The records in this collection have been digitized and are searchable online through the textual collections portal of the AJJDC Archives database.