General Jewish Council

In an effort to coordinate their minority rights defense activities, the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, B’nai B’rith and Jewish Labor Committee founded the General Jewish Council at a June 13, 1938 conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While spearheading the formation of the General Jewish Council, which was known as the General Council for Jewish Rights in its early days, Edgar J. Kaufmann called on national and local Jewish defense and communal agency leaders to endorse the move, citing the following impetus: “The tragic plight of millions of Jews throughout Europe, -- concentration camps, public degradations, mass disenfranchisements, confiscations, ruthless expulsion of our people, -- the spectre of increasing race prejudice, intolerance and insecurity, -- these terrible forces of evil demand the most effective union possible of American Jewry at once.” 1 For Kaufmann and the leaders of the four organizations, this “most effective union” meant the development of a common voice on the subject of rights protection for the Jewish community. In August 1938, eight representatives from the organizations met in New York City, which would be home to the General Jewish Council, and agreed on a constitution. The aim of the Council, as the constitution defined it, was to “consider and act upon proposals and plans for safeguarding the equal rights of Jews here and abroad.” 2

The initial goal to address both domestic and international concerns shifted slightly in practice. There was often a lack of consensus between the four organizations on an approach to Jewish rights abroad. While the Council did issue public statements on behalf of European Jews and studied efforts at rescue and relief, the Council’s attention largely focused on the U.S.

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