This sudden uprooting of an entire people from the land in which it has
dwelt for centuries has brought irretrievable disaster to the Jews of
Poland and Russia. It has been estimated that nearly three of the six
million Jews of Russia and Poland are now without means of support.
Overwhelming and incalculable as the economic loss may be, the moral
losses far exceed them in intensity. Jewish communal life is disrupted.
Many of the cities and towns from which the expulsions took place were
centers of Jewish culture. Most of the Jewish colleges and schools
have been closed and many of the buildings and synagogues have been
destroyed. It is safe to say that these losses cannot be repaired for
generations to come.
The demoralization and pauperization of the individual refugees is
painfully noticeable everywhere. Beggary, which was practically unknown
among the Jews, is now only too frequent.
The appalling misery of the refugees is fully described in the
appended report of the Russian Jewish Committee for the Relief of War
Sufferers (see p. 98). The Jews of the Empire living outside of the war
zone, have assumed a system of self-taxation which, added to their
normal—or rather normally excessive—burden of taxation is practically
impoverishing them. The small Jewish community of Moscow alone gives
about 85,000 roubles a month, ranging from an average of 200 roubles
per month imposed upon 265 manufacturers down to the 10 roubles per
month imposed upon their poorest clerks. Other cities are contributing
in proportion but they cannot possibly keep pace with the ever-growing
need.