Dorothy Filene

Dorothy Filene, née Finkelstein, a social worker, who worked mostly with new immigrants in the US, was born on June 19th, 1908, in Berlin, Germany.

After her initial school education she began her studies in Social Work. She graduated from the Berlin Kindergarten Teacher’s College in 1928 and then received a second degree form the Berlin School of Social Work in 1930. She was employed at a number of places as a social worker, including the Jewish Children’s Hospital.

In 1933 Dorothy Filene emigrated to Palestine. She returned to Germany in 1935 before immigrating to the US that same year.

In New York she continued her association with Social Work and in 1943 received an MS from the New York School of Social Work at Columbia University.

She then worked as a Research Assistant at the Jewish Federation and Welfare Funds and later as caseworker at the New York Travelers Aid Society.

Between 1946 and 1948 Dorothy Filene worked as a field representative for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. During this period she worked at a Displaced Persons Camp in Germany.

She later worked in a number of other places providing social assistance, such as with the United Service for New Americans, the Family and Children’s Service, and the Jewish Federation of Youngstown, Ohio.

Dorothy Filene died on November 17, 1993 in Jamaica, Queens.