Youngstown’s Jews React

As news of Hitler’s atrocities reached the United States, Jewish communities all across the country were in disbelief and anger. The initial reports of German actions reached the Mahoning Valley as early as 1938. In March of that year, the Jewish Federation in Youngstown donated special funds to German-Jewish Children’s Aide. The program rescued children from Hitler’s Germany and as a result several were placed with local Jewish families. The Federation also guaranteed loans through the Mutual Credit Union for support of refugees seeking to leave Europe for the United States. In early 1940, more than forty German Jewish families relocated to Youngstown, followed by an average of five families per month for the rest of the year. By 1959, more than 300 families and individuals had found refuge in the Mahoning Valley.

By 1939, the Jewish Federation in Youngstown had raised $100,000 in support of the victims in Europe. That same year the United Jewish Appeal and the Federation cooperatively dealt with the allocation of locally raised funds for overseas beneficiaries. The continued outpouring of local support for the Jews in Europe continued over the course of the war as Hitler’s extermination policy intensified.[1]

Above: Jewish War Vets team, late 1940s. Acc. No JA88-300, MVHS Collection.

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