Achievements of the WJC

The first organization to warn the world of the Nazis’ Final Solution', with the historic telegram sent by WJC Secretary General Gerhart Riegner in August 1942, the WJC was involved in relief activities during World War II and subsequently with the plight of refugees and the problems of post-war reconstruction. And the WJC has continued to fight for justice for Holocaust victims until this day.

In the 1950s, WJC President Nahum Goldmann led the negotiations for reparations for Holocaust survivors with the post-war German government. These reparations are still being paid, in the form of pensions, to Holocaust survivors, to this day. In the 1990s, after the fall of the Berlin wall, it was the WJC which co-founded of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, spearheaded diplomatic efforts to seek the restitution of Jewish property that was  wrongfully seized and withheld from Jews and their heirs since the World War II.

No area was left untouched, whether it was personal or communal property, homes, or synagogues, in central and eastern Europe.  And it was the WJC which called for restitution of assets of those who perished under the Nazis, being held in so-called dormant bank accounts in Switzerland and elsewhere.

The WJC brought international attention to bear upon those who were wrongfully holding these assets, and ensured that they were returned to their rightful owners, or that adequate compensation was paid.  Commissions were set up in 17 nations to investigate Holocaust era assets, and the funds recovered have been used to support a multitude of programs worldwide.

It was the World Jewish Congress which fought for justice for forced labourers – both Jewish and non-Jewish – whose agonizing hardship had gone uncompensated for decades.

The World Jewish Congress has been at the forefront of countless campaigns for justice for Jews over the last decades. In the late 1970s, the WJC took up the cause of Soviet Jews, and campaigned tirelessly to have the ‘Prisoners of Zion’ be granted permission to move to Israel or to remain, practice and express their religion freely, and rebuild their communities.

It was also the WJC that brought to the world's attention the fact that former Austrian President, and UN Secretary General, Kurt Waldheim had been a member of the Nazi SS and had lied about his wartime past. An international diplomatic blockade ensured that Waldheim was received by few world leaders.

Today, the World Jewish Congress is active on different levels to ensure that the United Nations fulfils its critical human rights agenda and adequately reacts to the threat posed by Iran and its quest for nuclear weapons.