Contributions to the Jewish National Fund from the different countries in the year 1917 were as follows: Russia, Rbl. 475,312; United States, $73,502; Holland, Fl. 28,767; England, £1396 1s. 10d.; Argentina, Pesos 13,378; Canada, $4056; South Africa, £639 8s. 4d.; Switzerland, Frs. 11,572; Belgium, Frs. 8,329; France (including Tunis), Frs. 6,978; Egypt, £255 11s. 4d.; Greece, Frs. 6,425; Sweden, Kr. 2,542; Denmark, Kr. 2,447. Various countries, about Frs. 600,000. The total amounts to Frs. 1,747,278. At the rate of exchange before the war it would be Frs. 2,730,011.
THE JEWISH NATIONAL FUND
| Country. | 1914. | 1915. | 1916. |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 197,311 | 291,604 | 268,317 |
| Russia | 184,334 | 30,120 | 81,336 |
| Holland | 10,662 | 13,972 | 35,921 |
| Argentine | 4,196 | 4,334 | 22,807 |
| England | 24,655 | 12,061 | 20,766 |
| Roumania | 15,532 | 23,997 | 19,021 |
| South Africa | 27,511 | 21,905 | 15,001 |
| Scandinavia | 807 | 1,715 | 4,886 |
| Canada | 21,951 | 23,129 | 10,296 |
| Switzerland | 3,854 | 3,748 | 7,296 |
| Greece | 5,755 | 4,545 | 4,410 |
| Belgium | 10,472 | — | 4,161 |
| Egypt | 2,845 | 832 | 3,382 |
| France | 2,115 | 1,862 | 2,992 |
| Far East | 1,377 | 280 | 2,562 |
|
Australia and New Zealand | 3,305 | 1,080 | 1,915 |
| Italy | 1,630 | 2,641 | 1,312 |
| Portugal | — | 280 | 937 |
| Brazil | 1,430 | 1,082 | 125 |
| New Zealand | — | — | 522 |
| Other countries | 224,962 | 197,597 | 425,110 |
| 744,704 | 636,784 | 933,075 |
With regard to the Zionist Organization, it must be stated that some of its functions, particularly those which were centralized in the headquarters, such as the periodical meetings of the Greater Actions Committee and the permanent contact and co-operation between the members of the Inner Actions Committee, had to be suspended. The Zionist Congress, the chief organ of the movement, which elects the executive of all the officers of the movement, to decide all questions of policy, could not be held owing to the war, and as a result the position had to remain as settled by the Congress of 1913. As, however, the events of the war threw upon the Organization not less but very much more responsibility than previously, and confronted the existing executive with problems of the greatest urgency and importance, new instruments had necessarily to be created to meet the new situation and to carry on the work of the movement.
In America, where the movement began to spread with great rapidity, the American Provisional Committee for General Zionist Affairs was formed in 1914, very soon after the outbreak of the war, and conducted the affairs of the movement with great skill. Their efforts in connection with Palestine relief were beyond all praise, and constitute one of the brightest pages in the history of the movement.
In Copenhagen, also, a Bureau was opened, which rendered invaluable services to the cause.
ZIONISM AND JEWISH RELIEF WORK
The greater part of the practical work of the Zionist Organization consisted of Relief Work for Jewish sufferers from the war. The terrible catastrophe which fell upon Russian Poland, Galicia, Bukovina, Lithuania, Zamut and Courland, affected the Jews in a unique way. Hundreds of towns and villages, in which Jewish inhabitants had dwelt and woven into their lives the threads of their own characteristic customs for many generations, in which they had faithfully preserved their ancient spiritual treasures in spite of misery and poverty, which had been a perennial source of inspiration and a rich storehouse for the Judaism of the whole world, which had nourished and sustained almost the whole House of Israel in the Diaspora, suddenly became a field of slaughter and the arena of the grimmest struggle in the world’s history. Troops in numbers never seen before, with weapons of destruction, threatening to reduce the world to ashes, passed like angels of destruction to and fro over the battlefields, leaving not a stone intact, not a blade of grass, or a living man or beast. Thus far the wounds and misfortunes which befell the Jews were no different from the wounds and misfortunes of the other inhabitants. But there must be added the special Jewish affliction in these countries, the persecution and the fierce anti-Jewish feeling which were the special characteristics of the ancient regime in Russia, which was wont to take advantage of every opportunity of avenging itself on the Jews, attacking them and holding them up to scorn on every kind of pretext and false accusation. This made the war a specially terrible phenomenon for the Jews: it produced a war within a war.