Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, European Director of the Joint (center of front row) with local leaders in Poland

Following World War II, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (“the Joint”) re-opened its Warsaw office in July 1945 and organized for a massive relief effort, shipping vital supplies to the needy, promoting economic activity, and supporting a network of schools, children’s homes, hospitals, and cultural institutions. Nearly half of the 1945 appropriation of the Joint was used for emergency aid to the 150,000 surviving Jewish children in Europe. Pictured here in the front row left: Dr. Shlomo Herszenhorn, Vice President of the Central Committee of the Jews in Poland; Back row third from the left: David Guzik, the Joint’s first post-war Director for Poland. Dr. Schwartz was in Poland to discuss child-care and homes for homeless and Jewish orphaned children.