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Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee

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Coordinates: 40°44′42″N 73°58′51″W / 40.745054°N 73.980882°W / 40.745054; -73.980882
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Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee (JAFRC)
Formation1941
FounderEdward K. Barsky
Founded atNew York City
Merger ofNorth American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy, American Medical Bureau
HeadquartersNew York City
Location
  • 192 Lexington Avenue, New York NY 10016
Coordinates40°44′42″N 73°58′51″W / 40.745054°N 73.980882°W / 40.745054; -73.980882
ServicesHumanitarian aid for Spanish Civil War refugees
Official language
English
National Honorary Chariman
Walter Rautensrauch
National Chairman
Edward K. Barsky
Secretary
Helen R. Bryan
Treasurer
Lyman R. Bradley
Websitedlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/alba_057/bioghist.html

Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee (JAFRC) was a nonprofit organization to provide humanitarian aid to refugees of the Spanish Civil War.[1][2]

History

Ambulance of American Medical Bureau in Spain (1937)

In 1941, the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee was formed by Lincoln Battalion veterans of the Spanish Civil War to provide aid to Spanish Loyalists refugees from Francoist Spain.[2] JAFRC superseded previous groups, including the North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy and American Medical Bureau (the latter of which Barsky had founded in 1936).[1] Specifically, JAFRC was "dedicated to the rescue and relief of thousands of anti-fascist fighters trapped in Vichy, France, and North Africa" so they might "return to the active fight against the Axis."

JAFRC established a fundraising organization called "Spanish Refugee Appeal" of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee."[1][3] Dorothy Parker took charge of the committee’s fundraising and the anti-fascists soon attracted the support of Leonard Bernstein, Albert Einstein, Lillian Hellman, Langston Hughes, and Orson Welles.[4]

In 1942, it was licensed to do so in Vichy France by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's wartime administration and the anti-fascists were then granted tax-exempt status.[5]: 70 

In 1946, the JAFRC began to face near-constant attack from federal government organizations. In 1948, the (then) Bureau of Internal Revenue (now Internal Revenue Service) rescinded JAFRC's tax-exempt status. Thereafter, the United States Congress’s Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB) tried to force JAFRC to register as a Communist front organization.[1]

In 1955, the JAFRC board voted to disband.[1]

Attacks by government

See Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath.

People

Leaders

According to letterhead dated March 17, 1944,[6] leaders included:

  • Edward K. Barsky, National Chairman
  • Lyman R. Bradley, National Treasurer[7]
  • Helen R. Bryan, National Secretary

National Sponsors[6] included:

  • Dr. Comfort A. Adams
  • Rabbi Michael Aper
  • Dr. Hery Lambert Bibby
  • James L. Brewer
  • Dr. Walter B. Cannon
  • Prof. Richard T. Cox
  • Martha Dodd
  • Julien Duvivier
  • Dr. Frederick May Eliot
  • Dr. Henry Pratt Fairchild
  • Lion Feuchtwanger
  • Prof. Irving Fisher
  • Prof. Mitchell Franklin
  • Rev. Stephen H. Fritchman
  • Prof. Marion Hathaway
  • Kenneth Leslie
  • Princess Helga zu Loewenstein
  • Dr. Robert Morss Lovett
  • Prof. Kirtley F. Mather
  • Philip Merivale
  • Rt. Rev. Edward L. Parsons
  • Prof. Renato Poggioli
  • Dr. Francis M. Pottenger
  • Paul Robeson
  • Prof. Harlow Shapley
  • Dalton Trumbo
  • Dame May Whitty
  • Dr. Max Yergan

Members

Spanish Refugee Appeal supporters

Dorothy Parker raised money for JAFRC

Appeal Officers[3][9]:

National Sponsors[4][3][9] included:

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Guide to the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee Records ALBA.057". New York University. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  2. ^ a b Deery, Phillip (December 2009). ""A blot upon liberty": McCarthyism, Dr. Barsky and the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee" (PDF). American Communist History. 8 (2): 167–196. doi:10.1080/14743890903335948. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "Circular letter from Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee to W. E. B. Du Bois". University of Massachusetts. 21 February 1952. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Guide to the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee Records ALBA.057". Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives. New York University. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  5. ^ Goldstein, Robert Justin (March 2008). "The Grapes of McGrath: The Supreme Court and the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations in Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath (1951)" (PDF). Journal of Supreme Court History. 33 (1): 68–88. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5818.2008.00179.x. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Letter to J.W. Pehle of War Refugee Board" (PDF). Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library. 17 March 1944. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  7. ^ "Circular letter from Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, February 24, 1950". University of Massachusetts. 24 February 1950. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  8. ^ Straus, MD, Mark (13 February 1952). "Letter from Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee to Mayor of the City of New York". Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  9. ^ a b "Letter from Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee to W. E. B. Du Bois". University of Massachusetts. 6 April 1949. Retrieved 27 September 2018.

External sources

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