Restoring courage to Jewish hearts: Frank Rosenblatt's mission in Siberia in 1919

Abstract

The article discusses a mission of Dr Frank Rosenblatt, a representative of the Joint Distribution Committee of American Funds for the Relief of Jewish War Sufferers to Siberia and the Russian Far East in 1919. This committee, then a young and little known philanthropic organisation, later changed its name to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC), and became world famous. After World War I, the JDC got involved in aiding German and Austro‐Hungarian prisoners of war of Jewish origin in Siberian camps, and Jewish war victims and refugees from European Russia. Siberia was then under the rule of a Russian White leader, Admiral Kolchak, who was backed by Great Britain, France, Japan and the US. In the course of his mission, Rosenblatt was concerned with protecting the Jews in Siberia from the antisemitic attitudes of the Russian authorities, army, and general populace. The article concludes that the intervention of American troops provided the JDC representative with a degree of operational opportunity.