The literature of modern Israel grows apace. There are so many facets in the inhuman and aching variations that are part of the history of our days. In broad outline there is the now familiar story: the Balfour Declaration; the confusion of wartime promises; the implacable Arab hatred; the horrors of Hitler’s Germany; escape at all costs; the independence of Israel.
Each book brings its own facet that justifies publication. None more so than Herbert Agar’s, “The Saving Remnant” (Rupert Hart-Davis, London), which relates the labours of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, colloquially known as “the Joint”. It is probably the least known aspect of Jewish aid and rehabilitation.
In many ways we are reminded of Leon Uris’ “Exodus“, or Jon Kimche’s “The Secret Roads“, but with the addition of the tremendous humanitarian operation of American Jewry paving the way and smoothing the stubborn path, sometimes in the open light of day, often under cover of secrecy. After all, money unlocks and it has its own persuasive language. Uris’ book was basically factual. He lightened his account of the grim tragedy with a fictional romance and many people benefited by reading this best seller, who otherwise would have no knowledge of the subject.
“The Saving Remnant”, like Lord Russell of Liverpool’s, “If I Forget Thee”, has an authentic tone throughout its pages.
“The Joint” began its activities in 1914 when an American Committee commenced giving assistance to suffering Jews abroad. Other committees were formed, but it was to advantage that the funds collected should be distributed through the medium of one body, hence the existence of “The Joint”, whose wonderful work has continued ever since, facing the innumerable problems of an inflamed Europe.
Many of its heroic workers met their common end in the cold-blooded fiendishness of Germany. The courage of a “Joint” worker Ringelblum, is an example. In 1941 the Germans permitted the establishment of a “Joint” office in the Warsaw Ghetto. Ringelblum was in charge. At this time contact with America was still possible, and hope still lived. “Rut after Pearl Harbour relations with the outside world steadily faded.” Ringelblum, aware of the prospects, diligently pursued his duty. Privately he made a careful survey of all around him. He was critical of his own people in their selfishness — but who wonders at anything in the appalling conditions — as well as of the German regime. Whatever happened, this man was anxious that at some time the world should know the facts. Within a few months he followed others to execution.
The organisation of relief on a continent-wide scale in the midst of enemies called for astuteness and diplomacy of the highest order. A firm policy decreed had to be maintained. The “Joint” could not be political. It must not be fettered with the bickerings and whims of party politics. It must be in touch with the American Government to avoid a clash of interests and yet be outside of official sponsorship. It must avoid any suggestion of spying or subversive conduct. Enemies would look for loopholes with all speed—as they did. And it was essential to keep accurate records of expenditure. These principles were adhered to with rigidity.
The work of the “Joint” suffered in the first World War as it did in the second, when America entered the conflict. -Southwards from the German zone, however, on the border of the Russian and the Austro-Hungarian Empires, the troubles of the Jews were still more acute and could scarcely be alleviated . . . Some Jews fled into Austria; some were deported into Russia; some stayed at home to be abused by friend and enemy. Each fate was as unpleasant as the others . . . the worst doom of all was that of the Jews in unoccupied Russia. . . . Half-a-million were deported by the Russian army under conditions which recall the German death trains of 1942-45. They were not, however, sent to be murdered, but merely to starve inconspicuously in some place where they were no trouble to the soldiers.”
This book covers a period of almost 45 years. Throughout, the “Joint” in so many diverse ways, gave aid and succour in the face of difficulties and opposition. During those years it collected and expended the enormous sum of 667,254,299 dollars. How close to the wind they sailed in adhering to their principles and providing help on the crucial occasions is very apparent. As an illustration we quote from p. 199 (the time is after World War II) :
“The return of the Saving Remnant to their Holy Land was an operation in three stages. First, the Jews had to be helped from Eastern Europe to one of the occupation zones in Germany, or to Austria or Italy, where they could be cared for temporarily in camps. This was the work of the Bricha (a Jewish illegal immigration body’s escape section). The “Joint” helped with finance as inconspicuously as possible. It also provided food, medicine and sometimes motor vehicles all along the line.
“Daring and ingenuity were the hallmarks of the Bricha, most of whose members had served in the British army, and had learned the uses of precise planning. They hunted out and rescued the surviving Jews of Poland, Rumania and Hungary. They bribed and smuggled them across closed borders, inventing new devious routes as fast as the old ones were blocked.
“The ‘Joint’s’ decision to subsidise the Bricha was the most difficult in its career. Bricha, in connivance with local authorities, was making nonsense of the laws of half a-dozen countries and of the edicts of great armies. The ‘Joint’ was already accused of spying against the People’s Democracies and other sinister bourgeois deeds . . . the ‘Joint’ must save these last available Jews among the ten million who had inhabited Eastern Europe when the work began in 1914. So the ‘Joint’ gave Bricha about twenty-five million dollars . . . the ‘Joint’ was a chief provider for the Jews whom Bricha delivered into the D.P. camps.”
It is hoped that sufficient has been said to encourage the borrowing or buying of this unusual facet to the story of how, through flesh and blood, the pre adventual colonisation of Israel slowly attained its fruition.
Review of “The Early Earth” by John Whitcomb (1972)