The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Cyprus Operation, 1945-1949

Document | Digitized | Accession Number: 2016.145.1 | RG Number: RG-68.190M

Overview

Description: Personal letters, petitions, and newspapers published by the deportees. Records contain accounts of the aid activities of the AJJDC in the British detainee camps, including correspondence with the British authorities, medical care, educational programs, welfare activity, immigration to Mandatory Palestine and Israel, and eyewitness accounts of conditions in the camps written by the AJJDC administration. It also consists of many documents related to activities of the British soldiers.
Date: inclusive: 1945-1949
Collection Creator: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
Biography: 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.
Reference: Laub, Morris. Last Barrier to Freedom: Internment of Jewish Holocaust Survivors on Cyprus 1946-1949. Berkeley, Calif: J.L. Magnes Museum, 1985.

Language: English Hebrew German Yiddish French Hungarian Greek
Genre/Form: Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.) Correspondence. Financial records. Medical reports. Registers. Statistics.
Extent: 16,664 digital images : JPEG ; 19.0 GB.
19 microfilm reels (digitized) ; 35 mm.
System of Arrangement: Arranged in three series: 1. Administration; 2. Organization; 3. Subject Matters.
The records in this collection have been digitized and are searchable online through the textual collections portal of the AJJDC Archives database.

Conditions on Access: This material can only be accessed in a Museum reading room or other on-campus viewing stations. The collection is open to researchers with the exception of files that are restricted due to the nature of their contents. Restricted files can include legal files, personnel files, case files, and personal medical diagnoses, etc. Restrictions apply to microfilm reels: # 17-19.
Conditions on Use: Copyright held by The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Inc. (AJDC). The publication of AJDC records in any format requires the written permission of the JDC Archives. Users must apply in writing for permission to reproduce or publish manuscript materials found in this collection. The USHMM Archives will not provide a reproduction of microfilm reels to any third party but researchers can make copies of individual documents. Researchers should give a credit to the AJDC Archives in Jerusalem when citing documents from the collection.
Copyright Holder: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee

Topical Term: World War (1939-1945)--Refugees--Cyprus. Refugee camps--Cyprus. Emigration and immigration--Cyprus--History--20th century. Humanitarian assistance--Cyprus--History--20th century. Jews--Legal status, laws, etc.--Cyprus--History--20th century. Jewish refugees--Cyprus--Registers. Holocaust survivors--Cyprus--Registers. Holocaust Jewish (1939-1945) Refugee assistance groups (ushmm) Jewish committees (ushmm) Jewish Women -- Associations, institutions, etc.
Geographic Name: Cyprus--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century. Cyprus--History--British rule, 1878-1960. Famagusta (Cyprus) Great Britain--Emigration and immigration--Government policy--History--20th century. Israel--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century. Limassol (Cyprus) Nicosia (Cyprus) Palestine--Emigration and immigration. Cyprus South Africa
Personal Name: Laub, Morris, 1909-
Corporate Name: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee HIAS (Agency) Jewish Agency for Palestine Wizo

Holder of Originals: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: Source of acquisition is the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (Jerusalem, Israel). The collection was transferred to Israel after the Cyprus camps were closed and stored in Petach Tikva, and later, in the early 1980s, to Jerusalem.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received this collection via the United States Holocaust Museum International Archives Project in March 2016.