International Jewish Humanitarianism in the Age of the Great War

The untold story of how American Jews reinvented modern humanitarianism during the Great War and rebuilt Jewish life in Jewish homelands.

Jaclyn Granick (Author)

9781108495028, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 June 2021

418 pages
23.6 x 16 x 2.7 cm, 0.73 kg

'This is a meticulously researched book, drawing from a wealth of international archives, which sets the story of Jewish humanitarianism into a truly global context. Jaclyn's pioneering study places a new spotlight on the Great War as a tumultuous and devastating episode for European Jewry, but also one which served as a catalyst for the internationalisation of Jewish humanitarian causes and organisations. Perceptive, expansive and transnational in scope, this volume makes a truly significant contribution to modern Jewish history and to the history of the Great War.' British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies, 2023 Book Prize Judging Panel

In 1914, seven million Jews across Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean were caught in the crossfire of warring empires in a disaster of stupendous, unprecedented proportions. In response, American Jews developed a new model of humanitarian relief for their suffering brethren abroad, wandering into American foreign policy as they navigated a wartime political landscape. The effort continued into peacetime, touching every interwar Jewish community in these troubled regions through long-term refugee, child welfare, public health, and poverty alleviation projects. Against the backdrop of war, revolution, and reconstruction, this is the story of American Jews who went abroad in solidarity to rescue and rebuild Jewish lives in Jewish homelands. As they constructed a new form of humanitarianism and re-drew the map of modern philanthropy, they rebuilt the Jewish Diaspora itself in the image of the modern social welfare state.

Preface
Terms, Acronyms, and Abbreviations
Introduction
1. War Sufferers: Moving Money in War
2. The Hungry: Establishing In-Kind Relief in the Field
3. Refugee: Solutions without Resolution
4. The Sick: Jewish Fitness through Jewish Health
5. Child: Welfare for a Contested Jewish Future
6. The Impoverished: Credit as Reconstruction
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Human rights [JPVH], Jewish studies [JFSR1], Judaism [HRJ], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW]