Editing World Jewish Congress (section)

==History==
The World Jewish Congress was established in Geneva, [[Switzerland]], in August 1936 in reaction to the rise of Nazism and the growing wave of European anti-Semitism. Since its foundation, it has been a permanent body with offices around the world. The main aims of the organization were "to mobilize the Jewish people and the democratic forces against the Nazi onslaught", to "fight for equal political and economic rights everywhere, and particularly for the Jewish minorities in Central and Eastern Europe", to support the establishment of a "Jewish National Home in Palestine" and to create "a worldwide Jewish representative body based on the concept of the unity of the Jewish people, democratically organized and able to act on matters of common concern".<ref name="Garai">George Garai (ed.), World Jewish Congress, 40 Years in Action 1936–1976, Geneva 1976</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/holocaust/0131_World_Jewish_Congress.html|title=World Jewish Collection – An Introduction by Nolan Altman}}</ref>

===Precursor organizations (1917–1936)===
The WJC's precursor organizations were the [[American Jewish Congress]] and the ''Comité des Délégations Juives'' (Committee of Jewish Delegations). The latter was established in March 1919 to represent Jewish communities at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]], and advocated for Jewish minority rights in various countries, including the negotiation of rights for Jews in Turkey in the [[Treaty of Sèvres]] (1920) and special agreements with smaller eastern European states. Headed by Russian Zionist [[Leo Motzkin]], the ''Comité des Délégations Juives'' was composed of delegations from Palestine, the United States, Canada, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, East Galicia, Romania, Transylvania, Bukovina, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Yugoslavia, and Greece, and funded mainly by the [[World Zionist Organization]].<ref>Unity in Dispersion: A History of the World Jewish Congress, World Jewish Congress, New York, 1948, pp. 26–28.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9780631187288_chunk_g97806311872888_ss1-198|author=Blackwell Reference Online|title=Comité des Délégations Juives}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://americanjewisharchives.org/aja/FindingAids/ms0361/ |title= A Collection Overview to the World Jewish Congress Records. 1918–1982.}}</ref>

However, the first impetus for the creation of the WJC came from the [[American Jewish Congress]]. In December 1917, the AJC adopted a resolution calling for the "convening of a World Jewish Congress", "as soon as peace is declared among the warring nations" in Europe.<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York 1948, p. 22</ref> In 1923, Motzkin visited the United States and addressed the AJC Executive Committee, "pleading for a World Conference of Jews to discuss the conditions of Jews in various lands and to devise ways and means for effective protection of Jewish rights".<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York 1948, p. 28</ref> Conferences co-organized by Motzkin and the AJC leaders [[Julian Mack]] and [[Stephen Samuel Wise|Stephen Wise]] took place in 1926 in London and in 1927 in Zurich, Switzerland. The latter was attended by 65 Jews from 13 countries, representing 43 Jewish organizations, though the main Jewish groups in Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as the [[American Jewish Committee]], declined the invitation to attend.<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York 1948, p. 29</ref>

The First Preparatory World Jewish Conference was held in Geneva in August 1932. A preparatory committee was headed by Zionist [[Nahum Goldmann]], who was one of the leading advocates of the establishment of an international Jewish representative body.<ref name="Garai, pg. 10 and 20">Garai, pg. 10 and 20</ref> Goldmann defined the purpose of the World Jewish Congress as follows:

<blockquote>It is to establish the permanent address of the Jewish people; amidst the fragmentation and atomization of Jewish life and of the Jewish community; it is to establish a real, legitimate, collective representation of Jewry which will be entitled to speak in the name of the 16 million Jews to the nations and governments of the world, as well as to the Jews themselves.<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York 1948, p. 33</ref></blockquote>

The conference approved plans to set up the new organization in 1934, with headquarters in New York and European offices in Berlin, Germany.<ref name="autogenerated1932">{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1932/08/18/2795280/geneva-conference-approves-call-for-world-jewish-congress-in-summer-of-1934|author=JTA|title=Geneva Conference Approves Call for World Jewish Congress in Summer of 1934, 18 August 1932|date=18 August 1932}}</ref><ref name="americanjewisharchives.org">{{cite web|url=http://americanjewisharchives.org/aja/FindingAids/ms0361/|title= A Collection Overview to the World Jewish Congress Records. 1918–1982.}}</ref> In a manifesto, delegates called upon the Jewish people to unite as the only effective means of averting danger. The Jews, the declaration said, had to rely on their own power with the assistance of such enlightened sections of the world which had not yet been saturated with poisonous anti-Semitism. It added: "The World Jewish Congress does not aim at weakening any existing organizations, but rather to support and stimulate them."<ref name="autogenerated1932"/> The new organization would be based on the "concept of the Jewish people as a national entity, and authorized and obligated to deal with all problems affecting Jewish life".<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York 1948, p. 34</ref>

In the summer of 1933, following the rise to power of [[Adolf Hitler]] and his NSDAP in Germany, [[American Jewish Congress]] President Bernard Deutsch called on US Jewish organizations to support the establishment of a World Jewish Congress "to prove the sincerity of their stand" in favor of the embattled Jews of Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1933/07/02/2801209/world-jewish-congress-nearerdeutsch-american-delegates-soon-sail-to-confer|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113011656/http://archive.jta.org/article/1933/07/02/2801209/world-jewish-congress-nearerdeutsch-american-delegates-soon-sail-to-confer|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-13|author=JTA|title=World Jewish Congress Nearer—Deutsch; American Delegates Soon Sail to Confer, 2 July 1933}}</ref>

===Foundation (1936)===
After two more preparatory conferences in 1933 and 1934, the First Plenary Assembly, held in Geneva in August 1936, established the World Jewish Congress as a permanent and democratic organization. Elections for delegates to that assembly had to be according to democratic principles, namely secret, direct, and based on proportional representation. The 52 American delegates, for instance, were chosen at an Electoral Convention which met in Washington, DC, on 13/14 June 1936 and which was attended by 1,000 representatives from 99 communities in 32 US states.<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York, 1948, p. 46</ref>

The World Jewish Congress's expressed goal was Jewish unity and the strengthening of Jewish political influence to assure the survival of the Jewish people and promote the establishment of a Jewish state.<ref name="Garai, pg. 10 and 20"/> 230 delegates representing 32 countries gathered for the first WJC assembly. Addressing a press conference in Geneva, [[Stephen S. Wise]] assailed German Jews for opposing the WJC. He said: "I must make clear that the congress is not a parliament nor an attempt at a parliament. It is nothing more than an assembly of representatives of those Jewries which choose to associate themselves in defense of Jewish rights. The congress will not be wholly representative until all Jews choose to be represented by it."<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1936/08/09/2835383/world-jewish-congress-set-to-open-tonight-8-point-program-mapped|title=World Jewish Congress Set to Open Tonight; 8 Point Program Mapped|date=9 August 1936}}</ref>

[[File:Nahum Goldmann.jpg|thumb|[[Nahum Goldmann]], co-founder and president of the World Jewish Congress from 1949 to 1977]]
Although the delegates elected the US federal judge and erstwhile president of the American Jewish Congress [[Julian Mack]] as honorary president of the WJC, Wise was appointed as chairman of the WJC Executive and thus ''de facto'' leader of the congress. [[Nahum Goldmann]] was named chair of the Administrative Committee.<ref name="Garai, pg. 10 and 20"/> The WJC Executive immediately drew up a declaration urging the British government not to halt immigration to Palestine which was presented to British diplomats in Bern, Switzerland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1936/08/17/2835437/world-congress-leaders-to-see-british-envoy-on-palestine-today|author=JTA|title=World Congress Leaders to See British Envoy on Palestine Today, 16 August 1936|date=17 August 1936}}</ref>

The WJC chose Paris as its headquarters with a liaison office to the [[League of Nations]] in Geneva, first headed by the Swiss international lawyer and WJC Legal Advisor [[Paul Guggenheim]] and later by [[Gerhart Riegner]], who initially served as Guggenheim's secretary.<ref>Gerhart Riegner – Never Despair: Sixty Years in the Service of the Jewish People and of Human Rights, published by Ivan R. Dee, 2006</ref>

In its fight against growing anti-Semitism in Europe, the WJC pursued a two-pronged approach: the political and legal sphere (mainly lobbying of the [[League of Nations]] and public statements) and  organizing a boycott of products from Nazi Germany. Given the weakness of the [[League of Nations]] vis-à-vis Germany and the successful efforts by the Nazi regime to stave off an economic boycott, neither approach proved very effective.<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York, 1948, pp. 83–110</ref>

Following the November 1938 [[Kristallnacht]] pogroms against Jews in Germany in which at least 91 Jews were killed and many synagogues and Jewish shops were destroyed, the WJC issued a statement: "Though the Congress deplores the fatal shooting of an official of the German Embassy in Paris by a young Polish Jew of seventeen, it is obliged to protest energetically against the violent attacks in the German press against the whole of Judaism because of this act and, especially, to protest against the reprisals taken against the German Jews after the crime."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.roizen.com/ron/grynszpan.htm|first=Ron|last=Roizen |title=Herschel Grynszpan: the Fate of A Forgotten Assassin, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Vol. 1, No.2., 1986, pp. 217–228}}</ref>

With the outbreak of [[World War II]] in September 1939, the WJC moved to Geneva to facilitate communications with Jewish communities in Europe. In the summer of 1940, by which time most of Europe had fallen under [[Nazi]] occupation, the headquarters were moved to New York to share office space with the American Jewish Congress, and a special WJC office was set up in London. The British Section of the WJC was tasked with acting as the European representative of the organization.<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York, 1948, pp. 122–123</ref>

Some of the personnel who worked in the WJC's European offices immigrated to the United States when the WJC moved its headquarters there. At the New York office in the 1940s, the major departments were: Political Department, Institute of Jewish Affairs (research and legal work), Relief and Rescue, Department for Culture and Education (or Culture Department), and Organization Department. In 1940, the WJC opened a representative office in Buenos Aires, Argentina.<ref name="americanjewisharchives.org"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-2587504540/comit-des-delegations-juives.html|first=Nathan|last=Feinberg|title=Comité des Délégations Juives}}</ref>

===The Holocaust and its aftermath===
The WJC's initial priorities included safeguarding Jewish minority rights, combating anti-Semitism in Europe, and providing emergency relief to Jews fleeing Nazi persecution. The WJC also concentrated on security for Jewish refugees and victims of the war. In 1939, the World Jewish Congress set up a relief committee for Jewish war refugees (RELICO) and cooperated with the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] to protect Jews in Nazi-occupied countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205816.pdf|title=Relief Committee for the Warstricken Jewish Population (RELICO)}}</ref>

[[File:Nahum Goldmann, Stephen Wise, Henri Torres at World Jewish Congress conference in New York, June 1942.jpg|upright=1.5|thumb|left|Left to right: [[Nahum Goldmann]], [[Stephen Samuel Wise|Stephen Wise]], and French lawyer [[Henri Torres|Henry Torrès]] (speaking) at a World Jewish Congress conference in New York City, 7 June 1942<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1942/06/08/2857896/immediate-restoration-of-jewish-rights-in-europe-after-allied-victory-demanded|title=Immediate Restoration of Jewish Rights in Europe After Allied Victory Demanded|date=8 June 1942}}</ref>]] Under the auspices of the WJC, 18 committees were set up in the United States composed of exiled representatives of the different European Jewish communities under Nazi rule. The committees were modeled on the governments-in-exile, and their task was to provide moral and material support for Jews in the respective countries, and to prepare a program of Jewish postwar demands. All representative committees together formed the Advisory Council on European Jewish Affairs, which came into being at a conference in New York City in June 1942.<ref>''World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress'', New York, 1948, pp. 128–129</ref>

The WJC also lobbied Allied governments on behalf of Jewish refugees, and urged US Jewish organizations to work towards waiving immigration quotas for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. In 1940, General [[Charles de Gaulle]], the leader of the French government in exile, pledged to the WJC that all measures taken by the [[Vichy regime]] against the Jews would be repudiated upon France's liberation.<ref>Garai, p. 14</ref>

In late 1941 and early 1942, Western diplomats and journalists received scattered information about Nazi massacres of many thousands of Jews in German-occupied Poland and Russia. However, the news was difficult to confirm. In June 1942, [[Ignacy Schwarzbart]], one of two Jewish representatives on the Polish National Council of the Polish government-in-exile, held a press conference with WJC officials in London, where it was stated that an estimated one million Jews had already been murdered by the Germans.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jtnews.net/index.php?/viewpoints/item/9254/C26 |first=Rafael |last=Medoff |title=How America first learned of the Holocaust|date=2012-06-20|access-date=2012-06-21}}</ref>

====Riegner Telegram====
{{Main|Riegner Telegram}}

On 8 August 1942, the WJC's Geneva representative [[Gerhart Riegner]] sent a telegram to the US vice-consul in Geneva in which he informed the Allies for the first time about the Nazis' planned [[Final Solution]] to exterminate all Jews in the German-occupied territories.<ref name="pbs.org">[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/filmmore/reference/primary/newsusdept.html U.S. State Department receives information from Switzerland regarding the Nazi plan to murder the Jews of Europe] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208191539/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/filmmore/reference/primary/newsusdept.html |date=2017-02-08 }}: The American Experience</ref> Riegner had received his information from the German industrialist [[Eduard Schulte]].

His telegram read as follows:

<blockquote>Received alarming report about plan being discussed and considered in ''Führer'' headquarters to exterminate at one fell swoop all Jews in German-controlled countries comprising three and a half to four million after deportation and concentration in the east thus solving Jewish question once and for all stop campaign planned for autumn methods being discussed including hydrocyanic acid stop<ref name="pbs.org"/></blockquote>

[[File:World Jewish Congress War Emergency Conference Atlantic City 1944.jpg|thumb|[[Louise Waterman Wise]], Jewish activist and wife of WJC President [[Stephen Samuel Wise|Stephen S. Wise]], addressing the World Jewish Congress War Emergency Conference in Atlantic City, November 1944]]
It was only several weeks later, on 28 August 1942, that WJC President [[Stephen S. Wise]] received Riegner's alarming message.<ref>Rafael Medoff, [http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/06/11/how-america-first-learned-of-the-holocaust "How America First Learnede of the Holocaust"] The Algemeiner (June 11, 2012). Retrieved June 26, 2012.</ref> The [[Riegner Telegram|telegram]] was met with disbelief despite preexisting evidence for mass executions. The US State Department considered it "a wild rumor, fueled by Jewish anxieties", while the British Foreign Office refused to forward the telegram for the time being and called for the allegations to be investigated first. It was only on 25 November 1942 that the WJC was allowed to release the news to the world.<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York, 1948, p. 159</ref>

On 28 July 1942, 20,000 people participated in a WJC-organized "Stop Hitler Now" demonstration at New York's Madison Square Garden. Nine months later, on 1 March 1943, an estimated 22,000 people crowded into the same hall and a further 15,000 stood outside at a WJC rally addressed by Wise, [[Chaim Weizmann]], New York Mayor [[Fiorello LaGuardia]] and others.<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York, 1948, p. 162</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/peopleevents/pandeAMEX101.html |title=The American Experience.America and the Holocaust.People & Events &#124; Rabbi Stephen Wise (1874–1949) |publisher=PBS |date=1942-08-28 |access-date=2013-08-18}}</ref> However, the US government did not heed calls to rescue European Jews. Early in 1944, US Treasury Secretary [[Henry Morgenthau Jr.|Henry Morgenthau]] stated in front of President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] that "certain officials in our State Department" had failed while it would have been commanded by duty to "prevent the extermination of the Jews in German-controlled Europe".

====Rescue efforts====
Throughout the war, the WJC lobbied the Allied governments to grant visas to Jewish refugees from Europe and to ensure the restoration of Jewish minority rights in areas liberated by the Allied forces.<ref>Garai, p. 16</ref> Despite the US State Department's opposition, the WJC obtained permission from the [[US Treasury Department]], headed by [[Henry Morgenthau Jr.|Henry Morgenthau]], to transmit funds to Europe for the rescue and assistance of persecuted Jews. According to a report by Riegner, these funds helped to bring 1,350 Jewish children from the occupied countries to Switzerland and 70 to Spain.<ref>Garai, p. 18</ref>

However, at the [[Bermuda Conference|Bermuda Refugee Conference]] in 1943, both the United States and Britain refused to relax their immigration policies, not even for British Mandatory Palestine. In reaction, the WJC published a comment which said: "The truth is that what stands in the way of aid to the Jews in Europe by the United Nations is not that such a program is dangerous, but simple lack of will to go to any trouble on their behalf."<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York, 1948, p. 165</ref> Only in January 1944, President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] ordered the setting up of the [[War Refugee Board]], whose purpose was to "rescue victims of enemy oppression who are in imminent danger of death".<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York, 1948, p. 166</ref>

The World Jewish Congress also tried – mostly in vain – to convince the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] (ICRC) to assert its authority more forcefully vis-à-vis the Germans, and urged it to secure the status of civilian prisoners of war under the [[Third Geneva Convention]] on prisoners of war for those Jews that were confined to ghettos and Nazi concentration camps, which would have entitled the ICRC to provide care to them. However, the ICRC stuck to the view that it was "in no position to bring pressure to bear upon governments", and that the success of its work "depended on discreet and friendly successions".<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York, 1948, pp. 168–169</ref>

The Holocaust era president of WJC, [[Stephen Samuel Wise|Stephen Wise]], used his great influence with Jewish communities nationwide to energetically obstruct the [[Bergson Group]]'s strategical level rescue activism.<ref>The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941–1945 (Pantheon Books, 1984) {{ISBN|978-0-394-42813-0}}</ref><ref>The Deafening Silence: American Jewish Leaders and the Holocaust (New York: Shapolsky Publishers, 1987)</ref> Later president of the WJC [[Nachum Goldman]] told the State Department (per department protocol) that [[Hillel Kook]] (aka [[Peter Bergson]]) is an adventurer and does not represent "organized Jewry". He pleaded to either deport or draft Hillel Kook in order to stop his activism, which organized Jewry strongly opposed. Eleanor Roosevelt, many from Hollywood and Broadway and many in Congress supported the Bergson Group, including Senator [[Harry Truman]] for a while.<ref>A Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust, with David S. Wyman (The New Press, 2002)</ref>

====Letter to State Department====
[[File:A. Leon Kubowitzki.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|left|[[Aryeh Leon Kubowitzki]]]]

On 9 August 1944, Leon Kubowitzki (later Aryeh Leon Kubovy), the head of the WJC's Rescue Department, relayed a message from Ernest Frischer of the Czechoslovak State Council to the US State Department urging the destruction of the gas chambers and the bombing of railways lines leading to the [[Auschwitz]] death camp. US Undersecretary of War John J. McCloy rejected the suggestion five days later, writing to Kubowitzki:

<blockquote>After a study it became apparent that such an operation could be executed only by the diversion of considerable air support essential to the success of our forces now engaged in decisive operations elsewhere and would in any case be of such doubtful efficacy that it would not warrant the use of our resources.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/filmmore/reference/primary/bombworld.html|title=The World Jewish Congress in New York asks the War Department to bomb the crematoria at Auschwitz, August 9, 1944. The War Department turns down the request (August 14, 1944).|website=[[PBS]]|access-date=September 18, 2017|archive-date=March 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323041231/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/filmmore/reference/primary/bombworld.html|url-status=dead}}</ref></blockquote>

In November 1944, at the War Emergency Conference held in [[Atlantic City]], USA, the WJC elaborated a program for the post-war period, which included calls for reparations from Germany to Jews and the use of heirless Jewish property for Jewish rehabilitation. Also at that conference, [[Stephen S. Wise]] was elected president of the World Jewish Congress. Delegates decided to embark on a $10,000,000 fund-raising effort for relief and increased political activity throughout the world. The news agency JTA also reported the following:

<blockquote>The closing session of the conference also adopted a resolution recommending that the Congress establish a Department of Community Service which would be charged with aiding in the reconstruction of the spiritual and cultural life of Jews in liberated countries. Another resolution extended the gratitude of the gathering to the Vatican and to the Governments of Spain, Sweden and Switzerland for the protection they offered under difficult conditions to the persecuted Jews in German-dominated Europe. At the same time, it expressed regret at the fact that 'deplorably little has been done to have Axis civilians under the power of the United Nations exchanged for Jews in ghettos, internment, concentration and labor camps.'<ref>[https://archive.today/20130113022310/http://archive.jta.org/article/1944/12/03/2865512/world-jewish-congress-10000000-drive-no-challenge-to-other-groups-leaders-say World Jewish Congress $10,000,000 Drive No Challenge to Other Groups, Leaders Say], Publisher:JTA, Date: 1944-12-03</ref></blockquote>

''Related video: [http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675039006_Dr-Stephen-Wise_War-Emergency-Conference-of-World-Jewish-Congress_Dr-Nahum-Goldmann Stephen Wise addresses the World Jewish Congress War Emergency Conference in Atlantic City, November 1944]''

====Meeting with Heinrich Himmler====
In February 1945, the head of the Swedish office of the WJC, Hilel Storch, established contact through an intermediary with SS chief [[Heinrich Himmler]].<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York, 1948, pp. 190–191</ref> In April, [[Norbert Masur]] of the Swedish Section of the WJC secretly met with Himmler at Harzfeld, around 70 kilometers north of Berlin. Masur had been promised safe conduct by Himmler. Through negotiations with the Nazi leader and the subsequent talks with the head of the Swedish Red Cross, [[Folke Bernadotte]], the WJC was allowed to save 4,500 inmates from the women's concentration camp at Ravensbrück. Approximately half of these women, who had been deported to Germany from over forty countries, were Jewish.<ref>Frank Fox, [http://www.zwoje-scrolls.com/zwoje38/text18p.htm 'A Jew Talks to Himmler'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110174719/http://www.zwoje-scrolls.com/zwoje38/text18p.htm |date=2012-01-10 }}</ref><ref>See also: [http://archive.jta.org/article/1983/04/27/2996184/hilel-storch-dead-at-80 Hilel Storch]</ref>

====Post-war efforts====
At the end of the war, the WJC undertook efforts to rebuild Jewish communities in Europe, pushed for indemnification and reparation claims against Germany, provided assistance to displaced persons and survivors of the Holocaust, and advocated for the punishment of Nazi leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The World Jewish Congress notably took part in the formulation of the principles governing the [[Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal]] and furnished evidence against Nazi leaders to the US prosecutors.<ref>Garai, pp. 20–22</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/nuremberg/documents/index.php?documentdate=1945-06-12&documentid=C106-16-5&studycollectionid=&pagenumber=1y|title=Truman Library: Minutes, Meeting of World Jewish Congress with Robert H. Jackson in New York City, June 12, 1945. Records of the World Jewish Congress. (Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives)|website=www.trumanlibrary.org|access-date=2012-06-26|archive-date=2017-12-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207013036/https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/nuremberg/documents/index.php?documentdate=1945-06-12&documentid=C106-16-5&studycollectionid=&pagenumber=1y|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/nuremberg/documents/index.php?documentdate=1945-06-01&documentid=C106-18-21&studycollectionid=&pagenumber=1|title=Truman Library: List, "Anti-Jewish Utterances of Nazi Leaders", Institute of Jewish Affairs, World Jewish Congress, June 1, 1945. Records of the World Jewish Congress. (Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives)|website=www.trumanlibrary.org|access-date=2012-06-26|archive-date=2017-12-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207013740/https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/nuremberg/documents/index.php?documentdate=1945-06-01&documentid=C106-18-21&studycollectionid=&pagenumber=1|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/nuremberg/index.php?action=docs&sortorder=category|title=The War Crimes Trials at Nuremberg|website=www.trumanlibrary.org|access-date=2012-06-26|archive-date=2017-12-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206202021/https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/nuremberg/index.php?action=docs&sortorder=category|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:1948 World Jewish Congress Montreux - 2.jpg|thumb|Stephen Wise addresses World Jewish Congress Plenary Assembly in Montreux, [[Switzerland]], August 1948]]
On 19 August 1945, a conference of representatives of European Jews was organized in Paris, France by the WJC, whose leadership (Wise, Goldmann, Kubowitzki) traveled there from the US. Delegates from Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland attended the gathering.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1945/07/23/2867727/jews-of-western-europe-to-meet-in-paris-delegates-from-seven-countries-expected|title=Jews of Western Europe to Meet in Paris; Delegates from Seven Countries Expected|date=23 July 1945}}</ref>

On 21 September 1945, [[Pope Pius XII]] received WJC Secretary General Leon Kubowitzki in audience, who recounted to the pope the "great losses" suffered by the Jews during the war and expressed gratitude for what the church had done to help "our persecuted people". Kubowitzki suggested a papal encyclical on the Catholic Church's attitude toward the Jews and a condemnation of anti-Semitism. "We will consider it," Pius XII reportedly replied, adding: "certainly, most favorably, with all our love". The WJC also urged the Vatican to assist in the recovery of Jewish children saved by Catholics during the Holocaust.<ref>Michael R. Marrus, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1252/is_1_133/ai_n26741974/pg_2 "The missing: the Holocaust, the Church & Jewish orphans"]</ref><ref>Garai, p. 22</ref>

The WJC also supported the foundation of the [[United Nations]] Organization in 1945. In 1947, the organization became one of the first NGOs to be granted [[consultative status]] with the [[United Nations Economic and Social Council]] (ECOSOC).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about|title=About Us|first=World Jewish|last=Congress|website=www.worldjewishcongress.org}}</ref>

In 1947, an estimated 30,000 people attended the opening of the Latin American Conference of the World Jewish Congress at [[Luna Park, Buenos Aires]], Argentina.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1947/06/30/3010696/80000-at-opening-of-latinamerican-parley-of-world-jewish-congress-in-buenos-aires|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113064634/http://archive.jta.org/article/1947/06/30/3010696/80000-at-opening-of-latinamerican-parley-of-world-jewish-congress-in-buenos-aires|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-13|title=30,000 at Opening of Latin American Parley of World Jewish Congress in Buenos Aires, JTA, 30 June 1947}}</ref>

===Creation of the State of Israel===
Although its principal purpose was to defend the rights of Jews in the [[Jewish diaspora|Diaspora]], the WJC always actively supported the aims of [[Zionism]], i.e. creation of a [[Jewish National Home]] in British Mandatory [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]]. The [[Yishuv]], the Jewish community in British Mandatory Palestine, was represented at the First Plenary Assembly of the WJC in 1936, which affirmed in a resolution "the determination of the Jewish people to live in peaceful cooperation with their Arab neighbors on the basis of mutual respect for the rights of each".<ref>World Jewish Congress, Unity in Dispersion – A History of the World Jewish Congress, New York 1948, p. 67</ref>

In 1946, in a memorandum to the [[Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry]] on Palestine drafted by WJC Political Secretary Alexander L. Easterman, the WJC declared that "the only hope of reviving the life and culture of the Jewish people lies in the establishment of a fully self-governing Jewish Homeland, recognised as such throughout the world; that is, a Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine."<ref>Garai, p. 27</ref>

WJC officials lobbied UN member states in favor of the adoption of [[UN General Assembly]] Resolution 181 of 1947, which called for the creation of a Jewish and an Arab state in Palestine. On 15 May 1948, the day of Israel's proclamation of independence, the WJC Executive pledged "world Jewry's solidarity" with the fledgling Jewish state. In Montreux, Switzerland, delegates from 34 countries attended the Second Plenary Assembly of the World Jewish Congress, held from 27 June to 6 July 1948.<ref>Garai, pp. 26–28</ref>

===Negotiations with Germany on reparations and compensation===
In 1949, the World Jewish Congress called on the newly established [[Federal Republic of Germany]] to acknowledge responsibility and liability of the German people for the wrongs inflicted on the Jewish people by the Nazi regime. In 1950, the WJC opened an office in Frankfurt to function as a "listening post" on developments in Germany. In representations to the United States, Britain and France, the WJC detailed Jewish moral and material claims on Germany. In 1951, [[Nahum Goldmann]], at the request of the Israeli government, established the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany ([[Claims Conference]]).<ref>Garai, p. 28</ref>

The same year, in a declaration approved by the parliament, West German Chancellor [[Konrad Adenauer]] recognized Germany's duty to make moral and material restitution to the Jewish people and signaled its readiness to engage in negotiations with Jewish representatives and the State of Israel. "Unspeakable crimes have been committed in the name of the German people, calling for moral and material indemnity [ ... ] The Federal Government are prepared, jointly with representatives of Jewry and the State of Israel [ ... ] to bring about a solution of the material indemnity problem, thus easing the way to the spiritual settlement of infinite suffering," Adenauer said.<ref name="History of the Claims Conference">[http://www.claimscon.org/?url=history History of the Claims Conference] Retrieved June 21, 2012.</ref>

On 10 September 1952, WJC and Claims Conference head [[Nahum Goldmann]] and the West German federal government signed an agreement embodied in two protocols. Protocol No. 1 called for the enactment of laws that would compensate Nazi victims directly for indemnification and restitution claims arising from Nazi persecution. Under Protocol No. 2, the West German government provided the Claims Conference with 450 million deutschmarks for the relief, rehabilitation and resettlement of Jewish victims of Nazi persecution. Similar agreements were also signed with the [[Israel|State of Israel]].

Subsequent to these agreements, the Claims Conference continued to negotiate with the German government for amendments to the various legislative commitments and monitored the implementation of the various compensation and restitution laws. According to the Claims Conference, more than 278,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors received lifetime pensions under the German Federal Indemnification Laws. Germany expended a total of US$60 billion in satisfaction of Jewish claims.<ref name="History of the Claims Conference"/>

In 1952, the World Jewish Congress called on the Austrian government to intensify efforts for the restitution of heirless Jewish property. Austrian Chancellor [[Leopold Figl]] subsequently pledged to remedy Jewish grievances.<ref name="Garai, p. 34">Garai, p. 34</ref>

At the Third Plenary Assembly in Geneva (4 to 11 August 1953), [[Nahum Goldmann]] was elected president of the World Jewish Congress, having previously served as acting president.<ref name="Garai, p. 34"/>

===Zionism and Jewish rights in the Soviet Union===
{{main|History of the Jews in Russia}}
Although the [[Soviet Union]] initially supported the creation of the [[State of Israel]], during the 1950s the Jewish state emerged as part of the Western camp, and Zionism raised fears of internal dissent and opposition among the Communist leadership.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

During the later part of the Cold War, Soviet Jews were suspected of being traitors, Western sympathizers, or security liabilities. The Communist leadership closed down various Jewish organizations and declared Zionism an ideological enemy. Synagogues were often placed under police surveillance, both openly and through the use of informers. As a result of the persecution, both state-sponsored and unofficial, anti-Semitism became deeply ingrained in the society and remained a fact for years. The Soviet media, when depicting political events, sometimes used the term 'fascism' to characterize Israeli nationalism. Jews often suffered hardships, epitomized by often not being allowed to enlist in universities, work in certain professions, or participate in government. Many Jews felt compelled to hide their identities by changing their names.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

[[File:World Jewish Congress - Third Plenary Assembly - Geneva 1953.jpg|thumb|Third Plenary Assembly of the World Jewish Congress, Geneva, Switzerland, 4–11 August 1953]]
In 1953, the World Jewish Congress condemned the indictment in Moscow of Jewish doctors as alleged conspirators against the Soviet Union leadership, the so-called [[Doctors' plot]], and called a leadership meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, which was canceled at the last minute due to the death of Soviet dictator [[Joseph Stalin]]. The new Soviet leadership declared that the case against the doctors had been fabricated.<ref>Garai</ref>

In 1956, WJC leaders delivered a memorandum to Soviet leaders [[Nikolai Bulganin]] and [[Nikita Khrushchev]] during their visit to London, and a year later the World Jewish Congress Executive launched a worldwide call to attention regarding the plight of Jews in the Soviet Union and other Communist countries. This resulted in a growing international campaign for their cultural and religious rights and for the reunion of families separated by the Cold War. After a lapse of seven years, the organization also re-established contact with several Jewish communities in Communist Eastern Europe. In 1957, the Jewish community of Hungary re-affiliated with the WJC.<ref>Garai, p. 36</ref>

In 1960, the WJC convoked the International Conference on Soviet Jewry in Paris, which was chaired by Goldmann. In 1971, the WJC co-sponsored the First World Conference of Jewish Communities on Soviet Jewry in Brussels, Belgium. Successor events were held in Brussels and Zurich in 1976.<ref>Garai, pp. 36–52</ref>

At the second Brussels conference, Jewish leaders called on the Soviet Union to implement the [[Declaration of Helsinki]] on human rights, respect its own constitution and laws and "recognize and respect the right of Jews in the USSR to be united with their brethren in the Land of Israel, the Jewish historic homeland".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1976/02/20/2974589/brussels-ii-ends-with-call-on-ussr-to-implement-helsinki-declaration-recognize-rights-of-jews-to-be-reunited-with-brethren-in-israel|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113043228/http://archive.jta.org/article/1976/02/20/2974589/brussels-ii-ends-with-call-on-ussr-to-implement-helsinki-declaration-recognize-rights-of-jews-to-be-reunited-with-brethren-in-israel|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-13|title=Brussels II Ends with Call on USSR to Implement Helsinki Declaration, Recognize Rights of Jews to Be, JTA, 20 February 1976}}</ref> Under the motto, 'Let my people go!, the Soviet Jewry movement caught the attention of statesmen and public figures throughout the West, who considered the Soviet Union's policy toward Jews to be in violation of basic human and civil rights such as freedom of immigration, freedom of religion, and the freedom to study one's own language, culture and heritage. "You have no choice but to release Soviet Jewry," US President [[Ronald Reagan]] told Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] during the latter's first state visit to the US in 1987.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sovietjewry.org/history.php |title=Soviet Jewry Movement Marks Anniversaries |publisher=Sovietjewry.org |date=2007-10-30 |access-date=2013-08-18}}</ref>

On 25 March 1987, WJC leaders [[Edgar Bronfman Sr.|Edgar M. Bronfman]], [[Israel Singer]], [[Sol Kanee]] and [[Elan Steinberg]], as well as the head of the [[Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations]], [[Morris B. Abram]], arrived in Moscow to discuss the matter with Soviet government ministers, though officials swiftly denied that the USSR had agreed to an increase in Jewish emigration and had invited an Israeli delegation to visit Moscow.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-03-mn-2416-story.html|title=Moscow Denies Shift on Jews or Israel Policy|first=Times Wire|last=Services|date=3 April 1987|via=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> Nonetheless, the visits by WJC officials to Moscow were widely seen as helpful in securing the exit permits for prominent Jews in the Soviet Union.<ref name="jewishpost.com">Gad Nahson, [http://www.jewishpost.com/archives/news/edgar-m-bronfman-the-making-of-a-jew.html EDGAR M. BRONFMAN "THE MAKING OF A JEW"], Jewish Post, 1996</ref>

In 1989, Soviet Jewish organizations were granted permission by the authorities to join the World Jewish Congress,<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/04/world/soviet-jews-to-join-world-congress.html "Soviet Jews to Join World Congress"], New York Times, 4 January 1989</ref> and two years later in Jerusalem, several directly elected delegates from the Soviet Union were officially represented for the first time at a World Jewish Congress Plenary Assembly.<ref>[http://archive.jta.org/article/1991/05/07/2874728/soviet-jews-fill-empty-chair-at-wjc-assembly-in-jerusalem "Soviet Jews Fill ‘empty Chair’ at Wjc Assembly in Jerusalem"], JTA, 7 May 1991</ref>

===North Africa and the Middle East===
In the aftermath of World War II and the establishment of the State of Israel, the World Jewish Congress was actively involved in assisting Jews in Arab and other Muslim countries, who had come under increasing pressure. In January 1948, WJC President Stephen Wise, appealed to US Secretary of State George Marshall: "Between 800,000 and a million Jews in the Middle East and North Africa, exclusive of Palestine, are in 'the greatest danger of destruction' at the hands of Muslims being incited to holy war over the Partition of Palestine ... Acts of violence already perpetrated, together with those contemplated, being clearly aimed at the total destruction of the Jews, constitute genocide, which under the resolutions of the General Assembly is a crime against humanity." The United States, however, did not take any follow-up action to investigate these pleadings.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/jewref.html|title=Jewish Virtual Library-Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries|access-date=2012-06-27}}</ref>

[[File:World Jewish Congress North African Conference, Algiers, June 1952.jpg|thumb|left|World Jewish Congress conference on the situation of Jews in North Africa, Algiers, 1952]]The WJC also submitted a memorandum on the problem to the UN Economic and Social Council, asking for urgent action.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://zionism-israel.com/hdoc/Arab_League_Law_Jews.htm|title=Draft Arab League Law Regarding Jews-1947|access-date=2012-06-27}}</ref> The memorandum in particular mentioned an [[Arab League]] document which planned to strip Jewish citizens of their rights and belongings as part of a calculated plan. However, when the WJC brought the Arab League document before the ECOSOC, its president Charles H. Malik, a representative of Lebanon to the UN, refused to bring it to the floor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/112/the-forgotten-jewish-refugees-from-arab-states|title=Robert Ivker, The Forgotten Jewish Refugees From Arab States, 2008|date=29 February 2008|access-date=2012-06-27}}</ref>

During the 1950s, the WJC conducted negotiations with a number of Arab governments, notably in North Africa, and pleaded with them to allow their Jewish populations to leave their native countries. With the advance of Arab nationalism, especially during the 1950s, these efforts were increasingly complicated. In 1954, a WJC delegation visited Morocco, then still under French colonial rule.

The WJC leadership also kept in close touch with the leaders of the Moroccan independence movement, including the exiled sultan of Morocco, Mohammed V, who insisted that an autonomous Morocco would guarantee the freedom and equality of all its citizens, including access of non-Muslims to public administration.<ref>Jews in the new North African states, Report submitted to the Fourth Plenary Assembly of the World Jewish Congress by the directors of the Political and International Affairs Departments, A. L. Easterman and Dr. M.L. Perlzweig, in: World Jewry, 1959, pp. 12–13 and p. 26</ref> When Morocco became independent from France in 1956, WJC Political Director Alex Easterman immediately began negotiations with Prime Minister [[Mbarek Bekkay]] and other government officials, pressing them to grant Jews the right to leave.

Whilst in 1957 an agreement was reached to allow for the emigration of all 8,000 Jews from Mazagan that were held in a refugee camp near [[Casablanca]],<ref name="Gerhart M. Riegner 1961, p. 19">Gerhart M. Riegner, Jews in North Africa, in: World Jewry, 1961, p. 19</ref> a 1959 WJC report concluded that in spite of repeated assurances by the new government that Jewish rights would be safeguarded, "internal political conflicts have obstructed a solution" to the problem that Moroccan Jews willing to leave the country were denied passports by the authorities.<ref>Jews in the new North African states, Report submitted to the Fourth Plenary Assembly of the World Jewish Congress by the directors of the Political and International Affairs Departments, A. L. Easterman and Dr. M.L. Perlzweig, in: World Jewry, 1959, p. 13</ref> In 1959, Morocco became a member of the [[Arab League]], and all communications with Israel were stopped.<ref name="Gerhart M. Riegner 1961, p. 19"/> However, both King [[Mohammed V of Morocco|Mohammed V]] and his successor, [[Hassan II]] of Morocco continued to emphasize that Jews enjoyed equal rights in their country.<ref name="Gerhart M. Riegner 1961, p. 19"/>

===Cold War activities===
Delegates from 43 countries attended the Fourth WJC Plenary Assembly held in Stockholm in 1959.

In 1960, the WJC convoked a special conference in Brussels following a series of anti-Semitic incidents in Europe.<ref>Congress in Action – Chronicle of forty years, in: George Garai (ed.), World Jewish Congress, 40 Years in Action 1936–1976, p. 40</ref>
In 1966, the speaker of the West German parliament, [[Eugen Gerstenmaier]], delivered an address titled, 'Germans and Jews – A Problem Unresolved' to the Fifth Plenary Assembly in Brussels, Belgium, becoming the first senior German politician to address a WJC conference, which caused some controversy within the WJC.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19660802&id=cNsjAAAAIBAJ&pg=3126,329372|title=Milwaukee Journal, 2 August 1966, p. 3}}</ref> Some delegates from Israel boycotted the session with Gerstenmaier in protest.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1966/08/02/3085139/mapam-and-her-ut-to-boycott-wjc-symposium-on-germans-and-jews|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113015224/http://archive.jta.org/article/1966/08/02/3085139/mapam-and-her-ut-to-boycott-wjc-symposium-on-germans-and-jews|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-13|title=Mapam and Herut to Boycott WJC Symposium on 'Germans and Jews' – JTA, 2 August 1966}}</ref>

In 1963, the American Section of the WJC was set up to broaden the organization's constituency in the country with the biggest Jewish community worldwide.<ref>Congress in Action – Chronicle of forty years, in: George Garai (ed.), World Jewish Congress, 40 Years in Action 1936–1976, p. 42</ref> In 1974, the [[Board of Deputies of British Jews]] affiliated with the World Jewish Congress. The British Section of the WJC, which had previously represented UK Jewry, was dissolved.

To emphasize its solidarity with the State of Israel, the WJC held its Sixth Plenary Assembly in 1975 for the first time in Jerusalem, and with one exception, all plenary assemblies have since been held there. The delegates also adopted new statutes and a new structure for the organization, and the WJC entered into a cooperation agreement with the [[World Zionist Organization]].<ref>Congress in Action – Chronicle of forty years, in: George Garai (ed.), World Jewish Congress, 40 Years in Action 1936–1976, pp. 56–58</ref>

====Opposition to UN resolution condemning Zionism as racism====
The World Jewish Congress was vocal in efforts to repeal [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379]], which was adopted on November 10, 1975, and held "that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination".<ref>''Moynihan's Moment: America's Fight Against Zionism as Racism'', Gil Troy, Oxford University Press, 2012, {{ISBN|978-0-19-992030-3}}</ref>

The WJC Executive characterized the resolution as an "attempt to defame Zionism by equating it with imperialism, colonialism, racism, and apartheid, ... amounting to incitement to racism and racial hatred". All communities and organizations affiliated to the Congress were urged to take immediate action to mobilize public opinion against the resolution.<ref>Activities of the World Jewish Congress, February 1975-October 1977, Report of the Secretary-General to the General Council of the World Jewish Congress at its meeting in Washington, October 30 – November 3, 1977, Geneva, October 1977, p. 6</ref> Israel made revocation of Resolution 3379 a condition of its participation in the [[Madrid Conference of 1991|Madrid Peace Conference]] of 1991. Resolution 3379 was revoked in 1991 by UN General Assembly Resolution 4686.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the WJC also campaigned for an end to the [[Arab boycott of Israel]].<ref>[http://archive.jta.org/article/1975/10/14/2973350/wjc-committee-on-arab-boycott-will-focus-on-international-pacts "WJC Committee on Arab Boycott Will Focus on International Pacts"], JTA, 14 October 1975</ref>

====Leadership changes====
At the WJC Plenary in 1975, longtime WJC leader [[Nahum Goldmann]] (then 80) stood again for WJC president. Several Israeli delegates, notably from the [[Herut]] movement, but also former Israeli Prime Minister [[Golda Meir]], opposed Goldmann's re-election for his criticism of Israel's policies, notably with respect to the peace process.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1975/01/08/2970955/herut-seeking-to-prevent-reelection-of-goldmann-as-wjc-president|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113001231/http://archive.jta.org/article/1975/01/08/2970955/herut-seeking-to-prevent-reelection-of-goldmann-as-wjc-president|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-13|title=Herut Seeking to Prevent Re-election of Goldmann As WJC President – JTA, 8 January 1975}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1975/02/10/2970825/goldmann-reelected-wjc-president-despite-bitter-herut-opposition|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113013520/http://archive.jta.org/article/1975/02/10/2970825/goldmann-reelected-wjc-president-despite-bitter-herut-opposition|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-13|title=Goldmann Re-elected Wjc President Despite Bitter Herut Opposition – JTA, 10 February 1975}}</ref>

[[File:1975 WJC Sixth Plenary Assembly Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Nahum Goldmann]] addressing the Sixth WJC Plenary in Jerusalem in 1975. Seated on the right: Israeli Prime Minister [[Yitzhak Rabin]]]]Two years later, in 1977, the American real estate developer and erstwhile president of [[B'nai B'rith]] International [[Philip Klutznick]] succeeded Goldmann as WJC president. In 1979, when Klutznick was named US secretary of commerce by President [[Jimmy Carter]], the Canadian-American businessman [[Edgar Bronfman Sr.]] took over as acting head of the organization. Bronfman was formally elected WJC president by the Seventh Plenary Assembly, held in Jerusalem in January 1981.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/01/world/bronfman-heads-jewish-congress.html?scp=2&sq=edgar+bronfman&st=nyt "Bronfman Heads Jewish Congress"], New York Times, 1 February 2012</ref>

=====Edgar M. Bronfman=====
Under the leadership of Bronfman, the new Secretary General [[Israel Singer]] (who took over from [[Gerhart Riegner]] in 1983), and Executive Director Elan Steinberg, the WJC adopted a more aggressive style. Steinberg characterized the change as follows: "For a long time, the World Jewish Congress was meant to be the greatest secret of Jewish life, because the nature of diplomacy after the war was quiet diplomacy. This is a newer, American-style leadership — less timid, more forceful, unashamedly Jewish."<ref name="jewishpost.com"/><ref>[http://www.jewishledger.com/2012/04/elan-steinberg-advocated-for-holocaust-survivors-around-the-world "Elan Steinberg advocated for Holocaust survivors around the world"], Jewish Ledger, 10 April 2012</ref>  
Bronfman led the World Jewish Congress in becoming the preeminent Jewish organization. He broadened its organizational base by bringing in new member communities in Europe. Through campaigns to free Soviet Jewry, the exposure of the Nazi past of Austrian President [[Kurt Waldheim]], and the campaign to compensate victims of the Holocaust, Bronfman became well known internationally in the 1980s and 1990s.<ref>{{cite news|first=Sam|last=Sokol|title=Jewish Philanthropist Edgar Bronfman Passes Away at 84 |url=http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/Edgar-Bronfman-passes-away-at-84-335767 |access-date=April 29, 2014|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|date=December 22, 2013}}</ref>

On 25 June 1982, WJC President Edgar Bronfman became the first leader ever of a Jewish organization to address the United Nations General Assembly.<ref>[http://archive.jta.org/article/1982/05/24/2993642/wjc-to-be-the-only-jewish-ngo-to-address-un-assemblys-special-session-on-disarmament "WJC to Be the Only Jewish NGO to Address UN Assembly’s Special Session on Disarmament"], JTA, 24 May 1982</ref>

====Controversy over Catholic convent's presence at Auschwitz====
In 1985, [[Carmelites|Carmelite nuns]] opened a convent near the site of the former Nazi death camp [[Auschwitz]] I. WJC President Edgar Bronfman called for the removal of the convent. In public statements, other Jewish leaders, including former WJC Secretary General [[Gerhart Riegner]], also called for the removal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1986/01/13/3003376/plan-to-build-convent-on-site-of-auschwitz-death-camp-sparks-anger-among-european-jewish-communities|title=Plan to Build Convent on Site of Auschwitz Death Camp Sparks Anger Among European Jewish Communities|date=13 January 1986}}</ref> A year later, the Catholic Church agreed to those requests and said the convent would be removed within two years.

However, the Carmelites stayed put, and a year later erected a large cross from a 1979 mass with the Pope near their site. The World Jewish Congress Executive strongly urged the Vatican to take action against the convent's presence and said [[Pope John Paul II]] should "exercise his authority" to order the prompt removal of convent and cross. The WJC Executive said the pontiff's action was necessary to implement the agreement major European Catholic cardinals, including the cardinal of Kraków, Franciszek Macharski, had signed with Jewish leaders on 22 February 1987 in Geneva. Edgar Bronfman declared: "It is not only a matter of the Auschwitz convent, but the broader implications of historical revisionism in which the uniqueness of the Holocaust and the murder of the Jewish people is being suppressed."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1989/05/11/2870284/wjc-urges-pope-to-use-authority-to-remove-convent-from-auschwitz|title=Wjc Urges Pope to Use Authority to Remove Convent from Auschwitz|date=11 May 1989}}</ref>

A few months later, the Carmelites were ordered by Rome to move. The WJC praised the Vatican for taking action,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1989/09/20/2871143/vatican-praised-for-offer-to-help-relocate-the-convent-at-auschwitz|title=Vatican Praised for Offer to Help Relocate the Convent at Auschwitz|date=20 September 1989}}</ref> although the nuns remained on the site until 1993, leaving [[Auschwitz cross|the large cross]] behind.

====Diplomatic contacts with Communist countries====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1988-1017-018, Berlin, Bronfman-Besuch.jpg|thumb|left|Meeting of a WJC delegation led by Edgar Bronfman with GDR leader [[Erich Honecker]], in East Berlin, October 1988]]

During the mid-1980s, the World Jewish Congress also entered into diplomatic talks with several Central and Eastern European countries, notably Communist East Germany, whose leadership the WJC urged to recognize its obligations to Jewish victims of Nazi Germany.<ref>[http://www.osaarchivum.org/files/holdings/300/8/3/text/27-5-16.shtml "THE GDR OFFERS "SYMBOLIC" COMPENSATION TO JEWISH VICTIMS OF NAZISM"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310095417/http://osaarchivum.org/files/holdings/300/8/3/text/27-5-16.shtml |date=2016-03-10 }}, Radio Free Europe, 20 October 1988.</ref> In February 1990, GDR Prime Minister [[Hans Modrow]] sent a letter to WJC President Edgar Bronfman in which he recognized on behalf of the East German government the GDR's responsibility for German crimes committed against the Jewish people under the Nazi regime.<ref>Holocauste: L'Est avoue – Libération, 9 February 1990, p. 17</ref> In a statement, Modrow said:

<blockquote>The German Democratic Republic stands unalterably by its duty to do everything against racism, Nazism, anti-Semitism, and hatred among peoples, so that, in the future, war and fascism will never again start from German soil, but only peace and understanding among people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1990_682891/e-germany-agrees-to-pay-reparations-for-crimes-aga.html|title=E. Germany agrees to pay reparations for crimes against Jews, Houston Chronicle, 9 February 1990}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref></blockquote>

A few weeks later, the first freely elected parliament of the GDR, the ''[[Volkskammer]]'', passed a resolution which recognized the GDR's responsibility for the Holocaust and asked "Jews around the world for forgiveness". The GDR pledged to compensate for material damages to Jews and to safeguard Jewish traditions. The resolution became part of the [[German reunification]] treaty and continues to be part of German law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.compass-infodienst.de/Konrad_Weiss__Antisemitismus_und_Israelfeindschaft_in_der_DDR.1452.0.html#referenz_15|title=04.12.2017 – Nr. 1756|website=www.compass-infodienst.de}}</ref>

In 1987, the World Jewish Congress held a meeting of its executive committee in Budapest, Hungary, the first WJC gathering in Communist Eastern Europe since the end of World War II. The Hungarian government had accepted that there would to be no restrictions to the attendance of Israeli delegates or the subjects of discussion.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/07/world/a-jewish-parley-in-budapest.html "A JEWISH PARLEY IN BUDAPEST"], New York Times, 7 May 1987</ref>

====Waldheim affair====
In 1986, the World Jewish Congress alleged that Austrian presidential candidate [[Kurt Waldheim]], a former secretary general of the [[United Nations]], had lied about his service as an officer in the mounted corps of the Nazi Party "[[Sturmabteilung]]" (SA), and his time as German ordnance officer in Thessaloniki, Greece, from 1942 to 1943.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/04/world/files-show-kurt-waldheim-served-under-war-criminal.html?scp=1&sq=waldheim+nazi+world+jewish+congress&st=nyt |title=FILES SHOW KURT WALDHEIM SERVED UNDER WAR CRIMINAL |newspaper= [[New York Times]] |date=4 March 1986}}</ref>

Waldheim called the allegations "pure lies and malicious acts". In a telex to Bronfman, he said that his past had been "deliberately misinterpreted".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/08/world/waldheim-says-reports-on-past-are-unfounded.html?scp=5&sq=waldheim+nazi+world+jewish+congress&st=nyt |title=WALDHEIM SAYS HIS PAST WAS MISREPRESENTED |newspaper= [[New York Times]] |date=6 March 1986}}</ref> Nevertheless, he admitted that he had known about [[Bandenbekämpfung|German reprisals]] against partisans: "Yes, I knew. I was horrified. But what could I do? I had either to continue to serve or be executed." He said that he had never fired a shot or even seen a partisan. His former immediate superior at the time stated that Waldheim had "remained confined to a desk".

Former Austrian Jewish chancellor [[Bruno Kreisky]] called the World Jewish Congress's actions an "extraordinary infamy" adding that in election, Austrians "won't allow the Jews abroad to order us about and tell us who should be our President".<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/04/world/around-the-world-ex-chancellor-voices-criticism-of-waldheim.html "EX-CHANCELLOR VOICES CRITICISM OF WALDHEIM"], [[New York Times]], 4 April 1986</ref>

In view of the ongoing international controversy, the Austrian government decided to appoint an international committee of historians to examine Waldheim's life between 1938 and 1945. Their report found no evidence of any personal involvement of Waldheim in those crimes. At the same time, although he had stated that he was unaware of any crimes taking place, the historians cited evidence that Waldheim must have known about war crimes.<ref>Simon Wiesenthal "The Waldheim Case" in ''Contemporary Jewish Writing in Austria'' edited by Dagmar Lorenz. pp 81-95, University of Nebraska press</ref>

Throughout his term as president (1986–1992), Waldheim and his wife Elisabeth were officially deemed "[[personae non gratae]]" by the United States. They could visit only Arab countries and the [[Vatican City]].<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL2351006420070623?pageNumber=2 "Waldheim, ex-UN leader and Nazi, buried in Austria"] Reuters, 23 June 2007</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/jun2007/wald-j21.shtml|title=Kurt Waldheim (1918–2007)|first=Dietmar|last=Henning}}</ref> In 1987, they were put on a watch list of persons banned from entering the United States and remained on the list even after the publication of the International Committee of Historians' report on his military past in the [[Wehrmacht]].

On May 5, 1987, Bronfman spoke to the World Jewish Congress saying Waldheim was "part and parcel of the Nazi killing machine". Waldheim subsequently filed a lawsuit against Bronfman, but dropped the suit shortly after due to a lack of evidence in his favor.

===Restitution of Holocaust-era assets and compensation payments===
In 1992, the World Jewish Congress established the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO), an umbrella body of Jewish organizations and including the [[Jewish Agency for Israel]]. Its purpose is to pursue the restitution of Jewish property in Europe, outside Germany (which is dealt with by the [[Claims Conference]]). According to its website,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wjro.org.il/Web/AboutUs/Mission/Default.aspx|title=World Jewish Restitution Organization – Our Mission|access-date=2012-06-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610231419/http://wjro.org.il/Web/AboutUs/Mission/Default.aspx|archive-date=2012-06-10|url-status=dead}}</ref> the WRJO's mission is to consult and negotiate "with national and local governments to conclude agreements and ensure legislation concerning the restitution of property to the Jewish people", to conduct "research on Jewish property in national and local archives and to establish a central data bank in which information on Jewish communal property will be recorded and assembled, and to allocate "funds for the preservation of Jewish cultural and educational projects in that country. To date, such funds have been establishes in Poland, Romania and Hungary." Current World Jewish Congress President [[Ronald S. Lauder]] is chairman of the WRJO.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wjro.org.il/Web/AboutUs/Council/Default.aspx|title=World Jewish Restitution Organization – Council Representatives|access-date=2012-06-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630164329/http://wjro.org.il/Web/AboutUs/Council/Default.aspx|archive-date=2012-06-30|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Swiss bank settlement====
{{See also|World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks|Bergier Commission}}
In the late 1990s, as President of the WJC, Edgar Bronfman championed the cause of restitution from Switzerland for Holocaust survivors. Bronfman began an initiative that led to the $1.25 billion settlement from Swiss banks, aiming to resolve claims "that the Swiss hoarded bank accounts opened by Jews who were murdered by the Nazis".

In total, the WJC, the [[Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany]], the World Jewish Restitution Organization, and the [[International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims]], founded in 1998, have secured millions of dollars for the victims and survivors of the Holocaust in payments from Germany, [[World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss Banks|Swiss banks]], Insurances and other parties totaling $20 billion.<ref name="buncombe">[http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=597158] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050305083349/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=597158|date=March 5, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/838311.html |title=World Jewish Congress fires chairman Israel Singer in surprise move - Haaretz - Israel News |access-date=2008-05-23 |archive-date=2007-03-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317193926/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/838311.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Edgar M Bronfman 1989.jpg|thumb|[[Edgar Bronfman Sr.|Edgar M. Bronfman]]]]
In 1995, the WJC initiated negotiations on behalf of various Jewish organizations with Swiss banks and the government of [[Switzerland]] over so-called dormant [[World War II]]-era bank accounts of [[Holocaust]] victims. The WJC entered a [[class-action lawsuit]] in Brooklyn, NY alleging that Holocaust victims and their families faced improper barriers to accessing WWII-era Swiss bank accounts because of requirements such as death certificates (typically non-existent for Holocaust victims), and that some Swiss banks made deliberate efforts to retain the account balances indefinitely. The claims also included the value of art works purported to have been stolen, "damages" to persons denied admission to Switzerland on the strength of refugee applications, and the value or cost of labor purported to have been performed by persons being maintained at Swiss government expense in displaced-person camps during the Holocaust, along with interest on such claims from the time of loss. The WJC marshaled the support of US government officials including New York Senator Alfonse D'Amato, who held hearings of the Senate Banking Committee on the topic and claimed that "hundreds of millions of dollars" of WWII-era Jewish assets remained in Swiss banks. At the behest of US President [[Bill Clinton]], Undersecretary of Commerce [[Stuart Eizenstat]] testified at these hearings that Swiss banks knowingly purchased looted gold from the Nazis during WWII. Eizenstat was later named special envoy of the US government for Holocaust issues.<ref>[http://banking.senate.gov/97_05hrg/051597/witness/eizenst.htm Hearings before the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070301040526/http://banking.senate.gov/97_05hrg/051597/witness/eizenst.htm |date=2007-03-01 }}, May 15, 1997.</ref> The report relied exclusively on US government archives. It contained no new historical information on Nazi victims' deposits into Swiss banks, and criticized the decisions of US officials who negotiated settlements with Switzerland after the war as being too lenient.<ref>Stuart E. Eizenstat, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, Special Envoy of the Department of State on Property Restitution in Central and Eastern Europe,[http://www.ushmm.org/assets/state/index.html "U.S. and Allied Efforts To Recover and Restore Gold and Other Assets Stolen or Hidden by Germany During World War II"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070101094622/http://www.ushmm.org/assets/state/index.html |date=2007-01-01 }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Audits ordered by the Swiss government of dormant accounts between 1962 and 1995 showed a total of US$32 million (in 1995 terms) in unclaimed war-era accounts. However, during the negotiations, the Swiss banks agreed to commission another audit of wartime accounts, headed by former US [[Federal Reserve]] Chairman [[Paul Volcker]]. The Volcker Commission report concluded that the 1999 book value of all dormant accounts possibly belonging to victims of Nazi persecution that were unclaimed, closed by the Nazis or closed by unknown persons was CHF 95 million. Of this total, CHF 24 million were "probably" related to victims of Nazi persecution.<ref>[http://www.crt-ii.org/ICEP/ICEP_Report_ToC.pdf "Report on Dormant Accounts of Victims of Nazi Persecution in Swiss Banks"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920123612/http://www.crt-ii.org/ICEP/ICEP_Report_ToC.pdf |date=2020-09-20 }}, Annex 4; and Part I paragraph 41</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/nazis/etc/cron.html|title=A Chronology of Events Surrounding the Lost Assets of Victims of Nazi Germany|website=[[PBS]]}}</ref>

The commission recommended that for settlement purposes, the book values should be modified back to 1945 values (by adding back fees paid and subtracting interest) and then be multiplied by 10 to reflect average long-term investment rates in Switzerland. On 12 August 1998, several major Swiss banks agreed to pay Holocaust survivors and their relatives more than US$1.25 billion over the following three years. As part of the settlement, the plaintiffs agreed to drop a lawsuit against the Government-owned Swiss National Bank in US courts.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

====Nazi gold====
In 1997, a study commissioned by the World Jewish Congress concluded that Nazi Germany had looted at least US$8.5 billion in gold between 1933 and 1945 from Jews and other victims. The study estimated that a third of the gold had come from individuals and private businesses rather than central banks and that over US$2 billion of privately owned gold eventually ended up in Swiss banks.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/07/world/a-price-tag-of-billions-in-nazi-gold.html|title=A Price Tag Of Billions In Nazi Gold|first=David E.|last=Sanger|newspaper=The New York Times|date=7 October 1997|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Switzerland rejected the WJC accusations.<ref>{{cite news|title=World News Briefs; Swiss Reject Finding Of $3 Billion Gold Debt |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/08/world/world-news-briefs-swiss-reject-finding-of-3-billion-gold-debt.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=8 October 1997|agency=Associated Press|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In response to inquiries from the World Jewish Congress, the US [[Federal Reserve Bank]] admitted in 1997 that personal gold seized by the Nazis was melted into gold bars after the war and then shipped as gold bullion to the central banks of four European countries.<ref>{{cite news|title=U.S. admits to melting gold of Nazi victims |newspaper=New York Jewish Week |url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/7177/u-s-admits-to-melting-gold-of-nazi-victims |date=5 December 1997}}</ref> In 1996, Sweden also opened an investigation into assertions by the World Jewish Congress that looted Nazi gold from World War II had been deposited in Swedish government bank vaults.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sweden to Investigate Assertions of Nazi Gold |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/21/world/sweden-to-investigate-assertions-of-nazi-gold.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=21 December 1996|agency=Reuters|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

====Agreements with other European countries on Holocaust-era property restitution and compensation====
During the 1990s and 2000s, at the behest of the World Jewish Congress a total of 17 European countries established special committees to look into their role during [[World War II]]. Many set up funds to compensate Jewish and other victims of the war.<ref>[http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/video/17/70_25_wjc_anniversary_video WJC anniversary video] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825093042/http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/video/17/70_25_wjc_anniversary_video |date=2012-08-25 }}</ref>

In 1997, French Prime Minister [[Alain Juppé]] created a commission to investigate the seizures of Jewish property by the occupying Nazi forces and the French collaborators during the war.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/nazis/etc/cron.html "A Chronology of Events Surrounding the Lost Assets of Victims of Nazi Germany"] PBS Frontline</ref>

In 2000/2001, the World Jewish Congress helped to negotiate a compensation agreement with the German government and industry under which a €5 billion fund was set up to compensate World War II slave and forced laborers, mainly living Central and Eastern Europe, who had hitherto not received any compensation payments for the suffering under Nazi rule.<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,135530,00.html "NS-Zwangsarbeiter: Erste Zahlungen ab Juni"], Spiegel Online, 23 May 2001</ref>

====Restitution of looted art====
In 1998, the WJC released a list of 2,000 people who allegedly took part in the Nazis' massive looting of art. It named people from 11 countries, including museum curators, gallery owners, art experts and other intermediaries.<ref>[http://articles.cnn.com/1998-11-10/world/9811_10_nazi.art_1_nazi-art-french-museums-jewish-collections?_s=PM:WORLD "France publishes catalogue of looted Nazi art"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919114417/http://articles.cnn.com/1998-11-10/world/9811_10_nazi.art_1_nazi-art-french-museums-jewish-collections?_s=PM:WORLD |date=2010-09-19 }}, [[CNN]], 10 November 1998</ref> A few weeks later, in Washington DC, delegates from 44 countries agreed to set up a central registry on art looted by the Nazis which could be established on the Internet.<ref name="archives.cnn.com">[http://archives.cnn.com/2000/STYLE/arts/03/02/holocaust.art.reut "Manhattan museum plans to issue Holocaust looted-art study"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051122073740/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/STYLE/arts/03/02/holocaust.art.reut |date=2005-11-22 }}, [[CNN]], 2 March 2000</ref>

[[Ronald S. Lauder]], then chairman of the WJC Art Recovery Commission, estimated that 110,000 pieces of art worth between US$10 and 30 billion were still missing.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/227675.stm "Europe Nazi loot to return to Holocaust victims"], [[BBC News]], 4 December 1998</ref> In 2000, the World Jewish Congress criticized museums for waiting for artworks to be claimed by Holocaust victims instead of publicly announcing that they have suspect items.<ref name="archives.cnn.com"/> In the wake of the WJC accusations, a number of countries commissioned investigations into Nazi-looted art.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1060451.stm "Canada probes Nazi loot"], [[BBC News]], 8 December 2000</ref>