Bar of soap distributed by JDC in the DP camps

This soap belongs to Orly Ardon, an Israeli professor based in Utah. Her grandmother, Hanna Secemska, received the soap while interned in a displaced-persons (DP) camp at Bergen Belsen in July, 1945. On the front of the bar, JDC’s name is imprinted in English, while the reverse features JDC’s name in Yiddish. Supplementing the relief provided by the U.S. Army, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), and the International Refugee Organization (UNRRA’s successor agency), the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) distributed additional supplies in the DP camps, including food, medicine, clothing, tools, equipment, and educational, cultural, and religious materials including books, Torah scrolls, ritual articles, and holiday provisions.