The Jews in the Eastern War Zone

by American Jewish Committee

The difficulties of the situation before Turkey became a belligerent are briefly set forth in the following extracts from a report, dated October 21, 1914, made by Mr. Maurice Wertheim, who was entrusted by Ambassador Morgenthau with the distribution of a fund of $50,000 contributed by American Jews.

The colonists themselves did not stand in actual need of assistance, as they are largely men of certain means and can help themselves. Furthermore, they are able to obtain their bank deposits in the following manner: the Anglo-Palestine Bank, with which most of the Jews in Palestine do business through their various branches in Jaffa, Jerusalem, Haifa, Safed, and Tiberias, etc., are registering or certifying for their depositors checks down to the smallest denominations. These checks are made payable to the drawer, endorsed by him, and the registration stamp of the bank is equivalent to a notice that the check will be cashed by the bank after the moratorium. With these checks the colonists are able to supply their immediate needs and harvest their crops.

The only pressing requirement of the colonists was to exchange some of these checks for gold in order to pay Government taxes and military exoneration fees, and this was arranged.

Further than this, the two great needs of the Jewish colonies, generally speaking, were: (a) to take care of Jewish laborers thrown out of employment by existing conditions, and (b) to secure new markets for their products to take the place of those that had been affected by the war.

There are about 2,500 Jewish laborers in the colonies. It is impossible to determine the exact percentage of unemployed amongst them, but even if we assume that only half of them are out of employment, it is easily seen that the amount of money we were able to divert to this purpose will not go very far. I might say here that in dividing the fund amongst the various districts in Palestine, we allotted to the colonies a somewhat larger proportion than their population justified.

The opening up of new markets for Palestinian agricultural products (oranges, wine and almonds, are the chief articles of export), is probably the most pressing need of the colonist movement in Palestine. Colonists feel that the chief market for the oranges which in the past has been England, will be greatly interfered with, and if they are not able to dispose successfully of their products, their entire future and very existence will be threatened.

The situation in the larger centers of population is very bad. Almost no currency enters the country and foreign checks that do find their way there are not realizable. This naturally places in great want those who depend on the “Chaluka” contributions and also the large class who depend on money sent by relatives. Furthermore, the industries of manufacture of antiques and souvenirs are completely stopped, owing to want of customers, and there is no money to conduct industries such as building, carpentering, tailoring and shoemaking, in which large numbers of Jews are employed. I found that the better class of Jews had themselves organized temporary relief, but their possibilities of assistance are rapidly drawing to a close. People who had, a few weeks before my visit, contributed to the maintenance of soup kitchens, stood in need themselves upon my arrival. One Jewish hospital had already closed.

The food situation in Palestine was precarious, for while prices had not risen to any large extent, yet the source of supply was limited. The introduction of wheat from the East of the Jordan had been prohibited by the Government (which restriction through the efforts of the Ambassador we have endeavored to have lifted). In order to guard against possible shortage of food and also to offer food at the cheapest possible price, our Committee will purchase from time to time as large quantities of food as it can, have bread baked itself, and will sell same at cost, or possibly a little less.

When Turkey entered the war as an ally of Germany and Austria-Hungary the situation of the 50,000 Russian Jews, who constituted half of the Jewish population of Palestine, became precarious. As nationals of an enemy country, they became liable to any restrictions or deprivation of rights which military necessity or international animosity might dictate. Thus these thousands of Jews were to suffer because they technically bore the nationality of a country which had virtually exiled them.