Vaad Hatzalah

This article is about the American organization. For the Hungarian organization, see Aid and Rescue Committee. For the emergency medical services organization, see Hatzolah.
Vaad Hatzalah
FoundedNovember 1939; 84 years ago (November 1939)
Focusrescue Jews in Europe from the Holocaust

Vaad Hatzalah (the Rescue Committee or Committee for Rescuing) was an organization to rescue Jews in Europe from the Holocaust, which was founded in November 1939 by the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada (Agudath Harabbanim).[1]

The organization was originally named Emergency Committee for War-Torn Yeshivas and it is often referred to as "the Rescue Committee" also formally named: Vaad ha-Hatzala in Hebrew.

Activities

Recognizing that following the law would lead to greater numbers of Jews being murdered, the Vaad sometimes used means that were illegal.[citation needed]

For example, the Polish government-in-exile ambassador in Bern, Aleksander Ładoś, sent coded cables to New York City on behalf of the Vaad and related Jewish organizations. The United States State Department had issued orders to block messages coming from Europe regarding news of the Nazis extermination of the Jews.[2]

Archives

The records of the Vaad Hatzala can be examined at Yeshiva University Archives. A guide to the collection may be viewed at the website of Yeshiva University Libraries.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ Zuroff, Efraim (1997). "Rabbis' Relief and Rescue: A Case Study of the Activities of the Vaad ha-Hatzala (Rescue Committee) of the American Orthodox Rabbis, 1942-1943". Museum of Tolerance. Simon Wiesenthal Center (Los Angeles). Archived from the original on 12 May 2018. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  2. ^ Wyman, David (1984). The Abandonment of the Jews. Pantheon Books. p. 186. ISBN 0-394-42813-7.
  3. ^ "An Inventory to the Vaad Hatzala Collection, 1940-1963". archives.yu.edu. Retrieved 2023-10-30.