Nationality - Stateless, Destination Australia: JDC and The Australian Survivor Community - Suzanne D Rutland, Sarah Rood

Exhibition Catalogue

She is twenty-six, A dressmaker. A typewritten address, Azbergerlager, has been crossed out and Rothschild Hosp' scrawled over the top.

Her nationality, stateless. Fendestination, Australia.

She is accompanied by her husband.

He is seventeen. A student. His address is also Rothschild Hospitäl, but unlike her, he is accompanied by no-one.

His nationality, stateless. His destination, Australia.

So read two index cards completed by staff of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (then known as the Joint and today as JDC), who were working to assist Jewish war refugees displaced by the horrors and events of World War Two.

JDC is a major welfare organisation established in 1914 to provide relief and aid for Jews suffering the results of political upheaval and turmoil in various parts of the world. It continues to be motivated by this aim today.

JDC has a long and dynamic history of involvement with the Australian Jewish community that stretches back to the 1930s. Not only did the JDC play a crucial role in the relocation of Jewish war refugees to Australia, but it worked closely, often behind the scenes, with Jewish welfare and relief organisations in Australia in the crucial post World War Two years.

This exhibition catalogue celebrates the collaboration between The Australian Jewish community and JDC. Using personal stories and profiles of individuals to tell the moving story of Jewish welfare and the JDC in Australia, it not only remembers the past but looks toward the future.

American Jewish Joint Distribution Community Publishing 2008 Softcover