Jewish Colonization Association
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The Jewish Colonization Association (JCA, in Yiddish ICA) was created on September 11, 1891 by the Baron Maurice de Hirsch. Its aim was to facilitate the mass emigration of Jews from Russia and other Eastern European countries, by settling them in agricultural colonies on lands purchased by the committee, particularly in North and South America (especially Argentina).
Colonies were funded within the United States in southern New Jersey, Ellington, Connecticut (Congregation Knesseth Israel), and elsewhere.[1]
A Canadian Committee of the JCA was established in November 1906 to assist in the settlement of the thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing Russia, and to oversee the development of all the JCA settlements in the country.
Colonies established prior to 1906:
- Saskatchewan
- Hirsch (1892)
- Qu'Appelle or Lipton (1901)
- Cupar near Regina (1901)
- Edenbridge east of Prince Albert (1906)
- Sonnenfeld west of Estevan (1906)
- Manitoba
- Bender Hamlet or Narcisse north of Winnipeg (1903)
- Quebec
- La Macaza (1904) north of Montreal
- Ste-Sophie (1904) north of Montreal
- Alberta
Colonies established after 1906:
- Manitoba
- Pine Ridge (1907) not far from Winnipeg
- Bird's Hill (1911) east of Winnipeg
- Camper or New Hirsch (1911) 150 kilometres north of Winnipeg
- Saskatchewan
Economic factors, notably the Great Depression, led to the dissolving of all the western Canadian colonies by the end of World War II. Thereafter concentrating its work in the east, the Canadian JCA purchased farms or made loans to farmers in Ontario and Quebec:
- Ontario colonies:
- Niagara Peninsula
- Brantville-Woodstock region
- Spencerville-Kemptville region
- Beamsville region
- Quebec
- Saint-Hyacinthe
- Saint-Damase
- Saint-Jean-Baptiste
- Frelighsburg
- Clarenceville
The JCA Canadian Committee made no more loans after 1970 and ceased all legal existence in 1978. The JCA deposited the major part of its papers at the National Archives of the Canadian Jewish Congress in 1978, and the remainder of its documents (the "S" collection) there in 1989.
The JCA also established two agricultural colonies in the first two decades of the 20th century in what now is Turkey. In 1891 JCA bought land near Izmir in Turkey and established an agricultural training center, Or Yehudah, on an area totaling 30 km² by 1902. The center was closed in 1926 owing to numerous difficulties. A group of Romanian Jews in Anatolia were assisted by JCA in the early 20th century to establish an immigration bureau in Istanbul in 1910. The JCA also bought land in the Asian part of Istanbul and founded Mesillah Hadassah agricultural colony for several hundred families. In 1928 the colonies were practically liquidated with only the immigration bureau remaining to assist migrants in transit to Palestine.
The JCA also established several colonies in Argentina. Once such colony is Colonia Lapin founded in 1919 in the Buenos Aires Province.
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