The war relief work of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Poland and Lithuania, 1915–18

Abstract

The article examines the adverse conditions in which the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) started its war relief work in German‐occupied Lithuania in 1915. As Lithuania's fate was still uncertain, the JDC had to overcome almost insurmountable diplomatic, political and practical problems in the initial stages of its activity. The article highlights how the JDC was able to adopt a consistent policy, always subscribing to a non‐political approach and adapting its tasks to the immediate and most pressing need of the countries aided, while having to deal with significant political challenges that deeply affected its freedom of movement, such as the impossibility of acting without the State Department's approval and of ignoring the reality of the German military administration.