Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, Inc.

Jewish Cultural Reconstruction Inc. was founded in New York by the Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction in 1947. The Commission was created in 1944 by the Conference on Jewish Relations, later known as the Conference on Jewish Social Studies. The historian Salo W Baron (1895-1989) was key player in all these organisations. He was also a close friend of the political theorist, Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), whom he made executive director of the organisation - she is the author of some of the reports in this collection.

The organisation, which operated first from its base in Offenbach, later Wiesbaden, was entrusted with receiving, processing and distributing the considerable quantity of Jewish property, plundered by the Nazis. The property was classified according to origin and to type and wherever possible was restored to its original owners. Several hundred thousand books were distributed: 85% was shipped to Israel and to the USA to be allocated to institutions of Jewish learning. 8% was given to West European countries (half to Great Britain) and the remaining 7% was distributed to countries around the world. Other objects distributed included 1000 Torah scrolls to the Israel Ministry for Religious Affairs, 4000 ritual objects to Bezalel Museum in Jerusalem and archival material, chiefly from the Jewish communities in Germany, to the Israel Historical Society.

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