[2.9. Liquidation of COMZET 1938 - end of the Agro-Joint
in Russia
1938]
[Since 1936: Rosen wants to leave
Russia - bring out the assets - liquidation of COMZET - end of
Agro-Joint in Russia 1938]
With the failure of the Biro-Bidjan immigration scheme in 1936, Rosen
realized that the time had come to get out of Russia, although Warburg
was still loath to accept that conclusion. On February 15, 1938, Hyman
finally accepted the idea and proposed the termination of operations.
(End note 52: AJ 22)
The assets still in Russia had to be disposed of and a settlement
reached regarding the $ 5,353,000 in (p.97)
bonds still held. Finally, an agreement was reached in July 1938.
COMZET had been liquidated in June because the Soviet government
"considered the Jewish problem in the Soviet Union solved."
The financial settlement involved the cancellation of the bonds and
their transformation into $ 2,430,000 in new Soviet bonds that were
finally redeemed, with interest, by 1940. The remaining Agro-Joint
assets were handed over to the Russians in return for the promise that
they would be used largely for the benefit of Jews. And finally, "all
the files, documents, and correspondence connected with the activities
of the society and the Agro-Joint in the USSR and kept in the USSR are
to be transferred to the government." Rosen left Russia for the last
time in the summer of 1938, and the Agro-Joint Russian venture came to
an end.
