General Jewish Council. Selected records.

Constitution, meeting agenda, press releases, statements, memoranda, and similar documents, from the General Jewish Council (New York, NY), relating to its efforts to raise public awareness of the threats of Nazism and antisemitism, and to mobilize individuals and organizations in the United States to combat antisemitism, 1938-1942. The documents, which were mimeographed copies that were distributed to member organizations, were collected and housed in one volume at the library of the American Jewish Congress at time of distribution, and were later withdrawn from that library. In addition to the draft constitution and the final version that was adopted in August 1938, other documents treat organizational matters, the Council's stance toward other Jewish organizations, whether or not to endorse or advertise in specific publications, and responses to federal and state legislation and court cases, among other topics. The General Jewish Council (GJC), which existed from 1938-1944, was initially comprised of representatives from the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, B'nai B'rith, and Jewish Labor Committee, to coordinate their activities in the defense of human rights, and in particular, to respond to the threat of Nazism in Europe and anti-Semitism, both in the United States and abroad. The GJC was founded at a conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 13 June 1938, and its constitution was approved at a meeting in New York in August 1938. While addressing the persecution of Jews in Nazi-occupied areas of Europe, most of the activities of the GJC focused on domestic concerns, and disagreements about the effectiveness of the GJC led the American Jewish Congress to withdraw in 1941, and the remaining members to dissolve the GJC in 1944 and join forces with the Council of Jewish Federations to form the National Community Relations Advisory Council. [Source: archival finding aid, General Jewish Council records, I-170, American Jewish Historical Society, New York].