M.4 - Bulletins of the Vaad Hahatzalah (Rescue Council) of the Jewish Agency for Eretz Israel, 1937-1959

M.4 - Bulletins of the Vaad Hahatzalah (Rescue Council) of the Jewish Agency for Eretz Israel, 1937-1959 There are 220 files in the record group, which includes various publications, such as bulletins, reports, letters and surveys, containing information regarding the condition of the Jews in occupied Europe during World War II. The information was gathered, collated and distributed by Jewish organizations in Eretz Israel, Turkey (Istanbul) and Switzerland during the war and the early postwar years. Some of the communications were intended for distribution solely among the members of the organizations. The information was gathered from international newspapers published in occupied Europe and the free world, from letters smuggled out of occupied Europe and from testimonies given by refugees who succeeded in escaping and arriving in Eretz Israel or the neutral countries. The surveys in the various communications include information regarding the persecution of the Jews and their annihilation in Europe, and the situation of the Jewish refugees during the war and afterwards. Among the organizations gathering, collating and distributing the information were the Jewish Agency, the Rescue Council of the Jewish Agency, the Hechalutz movement, Committees for Polish Jewry in Eretz Israel, Istanbul and London, the World Jewish Congress and refugee, relief and rescue organizations which were active in the free countries. The record group also contains: - Files of the Red Cross Organization in Geneva, including activity reports from the war years; - Various communications regarding displays of anti-Semitism and persecution of the Jews in Germany and other countries during the 1930s; - A collection of World Jewish Congress reports, surveys and letters from the war years and afterwards, including information regarding the situation of the Jews in Czechoslovakia.