Popular abbreviation of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC), a philanthropic agency set up in 1914 by American Jews to help Jews in other countries. Between 1934-1937 Joint spent 4.6$ million for the relief of European, mainly German Jewry, which is about 64% of the total expenditure of the Joint these years. In 1938-1939, the Joint's expenditure reached 12.29$ million, and in 1940-1941 it stood at 11.9$ million. In 1942, the most fateful year of the Holocaust, the Joint had at its disposal 6$ million. However, it turned out to be increasingly difficult to transfer funds to Europe. During the 1930s, the Joint was the leading body in the common effort to help German Jews find a new economic basis for survival in Germany, and subsequently aided Jews to leave Germany. In the mid-1930s, the Joint's aid to the Central Committee of German Jews for Relief and Rehabilitation amounted to up to one-third of the Committee's funding.
