ABSTRACT
'World Jewry' is a term that has frequently been used by Jews, and their friends and enemies. As a political reality it has, of course, never existed. When the Second World War broke out the Jewish communities were no more united than they had been in the past. The only body in existence uniting several organizations was the World Jewish Congress, a voluntary association of representative Jewish communities and organizations founded 'to assure the survival and to foster the unity of the Jewish people'. It had come into being in 1936 at a meeting in Geneva attended by delegates from thirty-two countries. The British section of the World Jewish Congress, where some of the early news was received, was headed by Eva Marchioness Reading, the daughter of Alfred Mond. Many thousands escaped and everyone brought some information. The Information Department of the Jewish Agency circulated immediately after the Athlit visit fairly detailed summaries of the evidence given by individual witnesses.
