The World Jewish Congress Geneva Office records

The World Jewish Congress (WJC) is an international organization founded by resolution of the First World jewish Congress, which took place in August 1936 in Geneva. The organization goal is to defend the political, social, and economic rights of Jews throughout the world. Its governing bodies were elected at the First World Jewish Congress: the executive committee headed by Stephen Wise (also the organization’s chairman), an administrative committee, headed by Nahum Goldman, and a central council headed by Louis Lipsky. At the first session of the executive committee, Sept. 6, 1936, it was decided to establish regional offices of the WJC in Geneva, New York, and London, and a central bureau in Paris. The central bureau coordinated the WJC’s work, collected information on the situation of Jews in various countries, published materials, and also lobbied at the League of Nations. In 1940, with the Second World War under way, the central bureau was transferred to New York, and a European office was established in London. Copyright Holder: World Zionist Organization. Central Zionist Archives Contains correspondence of the Geneva Office of the World Jewish Congress with organizations from Switzerland and from other countries and with the International Red Cross and the United Nations; papers and speeches of the head of the Geneva Office, Gerhart Riegner; wartime reports of the Relief Committee for the War-Stricken Jewish Population (RELICO); chronological files related to accounts, restitution and rehabilitation; minutes of the Geneva WJC meetings; and various periodicals and printed materials.