General Jewish Council Records

In an effort to coordinate their minority rights defense activities, the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, B’nai B’rith, and the Jewish Labor Committee founded the General Jewish Council on June 13, 1938, at a conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

While founding the General Jewish Council, known as the General Council for Jewish Rights in its early days, Edgar J. Kaufmann called on national and local Jewish defense and communal agency leaders to endorse its creation and foundation, sayng that “The tragic plight of millions of Jews throughout Europe, -- concentration camps, public degradations, mass disenfranchisements, confiscations, ruthless expulsion of our people, -- the spectre of increasing race prejudice, intolerance and insecurity, -- these terrible forces of evil demand the most effective union possible of American Jewry at once."

For Kaufmann and other communal leaders, this “most effective union” meant the development of a common voice on the subject of rights protection for the Jewish community.

In August 1938, eight representatives from the organizations met in New York City, and agreed on a constitution for the nascent organization. The aim of the Council, as per the constitution, was to "consider and act upon proposals and plans for safeguarding the equal rights of Jews here and abroad."

The Council's initial goal to address both domestic and international concerns, however, there was a lack of consensus between the four organizations regarding hpw to approach Jewish rights abroad. While the Council did issue public statements on behalf of European Jewry, and looked into rescue and relief options, the Council’s attention was largely focused on the U.S.

On that front, the Council investigated and evaluated state and federal legislative policy affecting rights, group libel cases, and organizations of interest (such as the American League to Combat Antisemitism and various American Jewish press organizations). On the basis of that research, the Council issued statements and recommendations to and on behalf of its constituent organizations.

There was frequent internal debate over the effectiveness and aims of the Council. In April 1941, the American Jewish Congress withdrew from the Council. The three remaining member organizations continued with the Council until 1944, at which point it was formally dissolvers, and the four founding organizations joined with the Council of Jewish Federations to form a new umbrella organization, the National Community Relations Advisory Council.