A Tale of Two Worlds (excerpts)

A promotional sound-moving picture, A Tale of Two Worlds, addresses the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s (JDC) response to the Nazi advance. Made in the United States, from background footage and newsreel material, the film was made under the direction of Al Paul Lefton in 1941. It was produced without cost to the JDC through the generosity of the Al Paul Lefton Company of Philadelphia. It vividly depicts JDC activities spanning from 1940-1941, contrasting the rights of Jews in the United States to the plight of Jews in Europe, and Jewish refugees in Shanghai, Japan, and Latin America. By 1940, JDC was helping Jews in more than forty countries and funding chartered ships bound for interim locations such as Shanghai, Kobe, and Tangier, and final immigration destinations such as the United States, Palestine, and Latin America.