The humanitarian mission by Jewish Joint distribution committee in Hungary (1914-1921)

The distribution of clothes was provided personally by the President. Special committees were working in the matter of the Mensa, of the eating-house for the middle- class, the working-shops for tradesmen, the students, the training for practical professions the maintenance of children, the home for children, the control of the Office of refugees, the management of organisations in the country and their controlling. The

Chief-Physician of the Committee to prescribed medicines, milk, food, clothes for the children and has artificial limbs made for mutilated people. A special workshop was occupied with producing “prothesis”.

As a consequence of anti-Semitism movement all the physicians of Jewish faith have been dismissed from the municipal service of Budapest. With the aid of these dismissed physicians was organised a special institution to providing the poor with medical aid. Wherever orphans or sick were placed by the Joint Distribution Committee, a member of the Committee was went for inspection and superintendence of the institution. All were members assisted by the other members of the administration took great interest in the promoting of the cause of the Joint Distribution Committee Memorandum of the Hungarian Branch of the Joint Distribution Committee of America....

The report of the Hungarian branch of the Joint Distribution Committee, which is dated October 31, 1920, is present the various disbursements to made by the Budapest Committee in 1919-1920. The main areas of JDC's aid at this time were:

1. “Refugees: For the care and repatriation of the Jewish refugees in Hungary, the sum of 1,079,854.70 kronen has been spent, which Includes 579,854.70 kronen mentioned in the first report.

2. Emergency Relief. The sum of 277,073 kronen has been distributed among 309 cases. This includes 56,976 kronen (granted to 114 cases) were mentioned in the first report.

3. Loans. For rehabilitation purposes the sum of 6,460 kronen has been lent without interest to 2 810 persons. This includes the 695,950 kronen (lent to 236 persons) mentioned in the first report. Of the whole amount, 13,000 kronen have been repaid, leaving a balance due of 6,447,000 kronen. The Budapest Committee has no means whatever to enforce the payment of these loans, nor is it able to say what proportion of these loans will ever be paid.

4. Students' .Relief. To date the sum of 780,156 kronen has been spent for the relief of the students. This includes 368,090.60 kronen previously reported. Beginning with November a mensa will be opened for 500 students.

5. Artificial .Limbs... Besides the 2000 kronen previously reported, the sum of 14,600 kronen has been spent in order to provide 5 crippled soldiers with artificial limbs. The Committee has set aside 600,000 kronen for the purpose of establishing an artificial limb factory, where practically only Jewish technical students will be employed.

6. Medical Relief. To give medical aid to war sufferers , a dispensary has been opened, which is in charge of Dr. Ernest Deutsch, one of the most eminent physicians in Budapest and a member of the Committee. So far 244 person have been treated at the dispensary. Moreover, acting upon instructions from Dr. Goldman, the Committee has undertaken to pay for the treatment of sick and disabled Jewish soldiers, their wives and children in the Jewish hospitals, as well as for the care of blind or deaf-mute children and war orphans. For this purpose the Committee appropriated 1,289,469.75 kronen to be distributed among the various Jewish hospitals, asylums, and educational institutions. Of this amount, 111,957.75 kronen have already been used up, leaving a balance of 1,177,512 kronen. The subsidised institutions, be it said in passing, are continually supervised by a member of the Committee specially delegated for this purpose.

7. Aid. .to .Emigrants. To help Hungarian Jews desiring to settle in Palestine, the sum of 1,400,000 kronen has been appropriated. It will be used to assist in the work of the local Palestine Office, established by the Zionist Organisation and the British government.

8. Clothing .and, .Shoes. To provide our students and needy professional men with clothing and shoes, 880,800 kronen have spent to buy 400 suits and 200 pair of shoes. 400 more pair of shoes have been ordered.

9. Aid..to..Rabbis. The members of the Committee were divided on the question of whether needy rabbis should be included among those entitled to assistance, seeing that the rabbis were not war sufferers in the strict sense of the word. The matter was finally decided at a full meeting, at which Mr. Morris Engelman of New York was present. Mr. Engelman urged that the rabbis be aided, and as a result a motion to that effect was carried. To date the sum of 1,115,000 kronen has been disbursed for the relief of needy rabbis, as follows: 5,000 kronen each to 193 rabbis; 2,500 kronen each to 25 acting rabbis; 2,500 kronen each to 25 widows of rabbis.

10. Food. .Parcels. 1,200 food parcels, which the Committee has received since the beginning of its activity, have been distributed among needy members of the middle class.

11. Expenses. To date the administration expenses (salaries, stationery, office equipment, telegrams, etc.) of the Budapest Committee have been 587,327.54 kronen, of which 154,376.08 kronen have already been accounted for” Digest of report No. 2 of the Hungarian branch of the Joint Distribution Committee....

Thus, the assistance of the JDC to the Hungarian Jews was, although diverse, but insignificant. The total expenditure during 1919-1921 reached $550,184.00 (see table 2). Only during the emergency relief period of 1919-1920, the JDC expended more than $22 million for various forms of relief and rehabilitation abroad Beizer M. American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.... Thus, Hungarian Jews received less than 0.025% of the assistance that the organization allocated during this period.

Table 2 JDC relief in Hungary in the post-war emergency relief period (1919-1921) Hungary Statement of appropriations, drawings and undrawn balances for the various activities from the inception of the Committee to April 30^th, 1923 // NY AR192132 / 4 / 17 / 1 / 210.

On May 30, 1921, the JDC closed its Remittance Department completely SzajkowskiZ. Private and Organized American Jewish Overseas Relief... P. 98.. In Hungary JDC relief committees were liquidated in June 192 1 Granick J. Op. cit. P. 270..

Conclusion

In spite of insurmountable difficulties during World War I and in the post-War years that followed it; in spite of the lack of unity and of many internal differences; in spite of negative attitudes from various governments - in spite of all these obstacles, American Jewry was able not only to deliver general organized relief to the starving European Jews (including Hungarian Jews), but also to assist in the organization of the machinery for the transmission of private relief. Indeed, on November 13, 1919, Dr. Bogen wrote in his report: “The most essential factor in this rehabilitation is the establishment of the necessary means to transmit the relief so generously proffered by American Jewry, the organization of the transmission system” Szajkowski Z. Private and Organized American Jewish Overseas Relief. P. 100..

JDC for the first time had brought together in the common task of mercy American Jews of all shades of opinion. The experience of these years had developed an organization and had recruited dedicated personnel. A small but adaptable staff of diverse background and experience brought together a corps of experts ready to take on additional assignments. A network of affiliated Jewish organizations was prepared to assume responsibility for reconstruction, but was also available in the event of unexpected crisis.

Aids for the Jews of Hungary was, though small, but very tangible. Local Jews, as well as refugees from neighboring territories (especially Galicia) received much-needed support. Participation in the program of the European Children's Fund saved tens of thousands of children and their families from death. At the same time, this program had its continuation in the future. All this created the basis for the transition to the stage of reconstruction, which, if possible, we will highlight in further studies.

References

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2. Granick, J. (2021). International Jewish Humanitarianism in the Age of the Great War (Human Rights in History). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/9781108860697 Hajdu, Tibor (1979). The Hungarian Soviet Republic. Budapest: Akademiai Kiado.

3. Handlin, Oscar (1964). A Continuing Task. The Joint Distribution Committee 1914-1964. New York: Random House.

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5. Kind-Kovacz, Friederike (2022). Budapest's Children. Humanitarian Relief in the Aftermath of the Great War. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

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8. Okey, Robin (1986). Eastern Europe 1740-1985: Feudalism to Communism. London & New York: Harper Collins Academic.

9. Pamlenyi, Ervin (Ed.) (1973). A History of Hungary. Budapest: Corvina Press.

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11. Sommaruga, K. (1997). Gumanitarnaya deyatelnost i operatsii po podderzhaniyu mira [Humanitarian and peacekeeping operations]. Mezhdunarodnyi zhurnal Krasnogo Kresta, 317, 57-65 [in Russian].

12. Szajkowski, Z. (1967). Private and Organized American Jewish Overseas Relief (1914-1938). American Jewish Historical Quarterly, 57 (1), 52-106.

13. Szajkowski, Z. (1968). Private American Jewish Overseas Relief (1919-1938): Problems and Attempted Solutions. American Jewish Historical Quarterly, 57 (3), 285-350.

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