Documentation of the American Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC) in Krakow, Poland regarding the organization activities in Poland, 1939-1942

Description of the files are available on IDEA ALM system at Yad Vashem Archives reading room YV archives The documentation includes the welfare and assistance activities of the AJDC to the Jews of Poland; it consists of four main parts: 1. AJDC correspondence with the German administration authorities in occupied Poland; 2. AJDC correspondence with Jewish institutions and organizations in Poland; 3. AJDC correspondence with Jewish institutions and organizations outside of Poland; 4. Survey reports, charts and statistical data. 1. Correspondence with the German administration authorities in occupied Poland, August 1940-January 1942, including requests for the issuing of various permits, such as transit and travel passes, release from forced labor, funds and contributions received from abroad, distribution lists of funds, food products, clothing and medicines, information regarding the organizational structure and areas of activity of the AJDC and its contacts with other organizations, such as the German Red Cross. 2. Correspondence with Jewish institutions and organizations in Poland, December 1939-November 1941: Distribution of food items, clothing and medicines received from the RGO (the Central Welfare Council for assistance from the Polish Government-in-Exile) and abroad to various communities according to the number of people in need in each community; dealing with the transfer of property and businesses under Jewish ownership to Treuhandstelle (Aryan trustees); guidelines for completing forms as demanded for payment of taxes and the transfer of reports by the Judenrats; financial balances as well as lists of Jewish communities; importing of Matzot from Romania before the Pesach holiday and the way to distribute them; treatment and relief for Jewish refugees; cooperation with the TOZ (Society for Safeguarding the Health of the Jewish Population) and Centos [health] organizations in the area of health; child care; community kitchens; social assistance; allocation of resources for vocational training, health, care for the elderly, and more; and handling requests for emigration of Jews to Eretz Israel and Italy. 3. Correspondence with Jewish institutions and organizations outside of Poland, February1940-October 1942: Applications and requests to locate and care for individual Jews within the borders of Poland; requests for financial assistance; obtaining food from various countries; requests for the sending of medicines; certificates regarding the receipt of assistance in the form of funds and products; and dealing with the deportation of the Jews from Ostravska Morava to Nisko, Poland. 4. Survey reports, charts and statistical data, September 1939-October 1940: General survey regarding the deterioration in the situation of the Jews of Poland, from April 1940 and afterwards; the activities undertaken in the welfare area and means necessary for future activities; detailed charts of welfare activities in the Lublin and Krakow districts; charts showing payments transferred to Jewish communities in the Krakow and Warsaw districts and their neighboring areas; itemization of the payments transferred to Jewish institutions, among them TOZ, Centos, ORT (Association for the Promotion of Skilled Trades), hospitals and more.