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News Katyn and Switzerland – Forensic investigators and investigations in humanitarian crises, 1920-2007 6-11-2009 News release 19-12-2008 News release Section The ICRC and the Second World War ©All rights reserved/ref.HIST-02183-02
In WWII, as never before, civilians became the target of violence and persecution.
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During the Second World War, only Latin America and a number of neutral European countries were spared by the fighting. For the first time in history, aviation made it possible to bombard enemy territory over hundreds of square kilometres; for the first time too, the number of victims was higher among civilians than among soldiers. From the very beginning, Hitler's regime waged a racial war aimed at subjugating the Slavic peoples and wiping out all Jews and gypsies.At the time, international humanitarian law comprised rules governing the treatment of prisoners of war (Geneva Convention of 27 July 1929), but not that of the civilian population. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was therefore able to carry out activities to protect and assist prisoners of war, whereas its work for certain categories of civilians -- in particular, civilians held in concentration camps -- was to be very limited, or even non-existent.  Key document2-2-2005 ICRC in WW II: the HolocaustA brief account of events related to the holocaust and to ICRC activities during the Second World War (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Includes Photo 2-2-2005 ICRC in WW II: overview of activitiesThe conflicts of the 1920s and 1930s had shown how warfare was evolving – notably the effects of modern technology and the deliberate targeting of civilians. Nothing, however, could have prepared the ICRC for the challenges it was to face between 1939 and 1945. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Includes Photo 2-2-2005 ICRC in WW II: activities in the Far EastApart from the logistical problems to be overcome in such a vast area, the ICRC was to face immense difficulties in reaching prisoners of war held by Japan. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Includes Photo 29-10-2009 The International Tracing Service and the ICRCSince 1955 the ICRC manages the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen which traces Nazi victims and their families. The ITS documents their fate and makes its archives available for research. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Includes Photo 25-10-2007 The Nazi genocide and other persecutionsDocument adopted by the ICRC Assembly on 27 April 2006. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Official Statement Reference23-10-2007 ICRC in WW II: bibliographyProposals for further reading on the ICRC's work during the second world war. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) 4-2-2005 ICRC in WW II: delegations throughout the worldThe ICRC was present globally during the conflict, with delegations on every continent. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Feature31-5-2007 Nazi abuse of ICRC humanitarian serviceThe recent presentation in Argentina of an ICRC travel document used by the Nazi official Adolf Eichmann to flee Europe has been widely covered in the world's media and led to questions about these documents. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Feature Includes Photo 14-5-2007 Towards the opening of the International Tracing Service archives in ArolsenEditorial by Reto Meister, Director of the International Tracing Service Archives (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Feature 6-5-2005 Sixty years on: tracing victims of the Second World WarEvery year, the ICRC and National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies receive tens of thousands of tracing requests relating to the Second World War. The work of the ICRC and Red Cross/Red Crescent tracing officers still reunites families torn apart during the six-year conflict. Marcin Monko, of the ICRC's regional delegation in Budapest, sent this report. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Feature Includes Photo ICRC film31-12-1988 TracesThe International Tracing Service (ITS) in Arolsen, Germany, was set up in 1943 in London to collect information on civilian victims of the Nazi regime. Half a century later, the ITS is in possession of 44 million documents and is still updating its files and replying to enquiries. The story of the ITS (administered by the ICRC since 1955) is told through the personal accounts of four survivors who speak of their harrowing experience in the camps and explain how the ITS was able to help them. (Info resources\ICRC publications and films\Films\Protection) ICRC film ICRC publication31-12-1982 Warrior without weaponsAn account of Dr Junod's experiences between 1935 and 1945 on missions which took him first to Abyssinia and air raids with mustard gas bombs, then to Spain, Poland, Germany and lastly to Japan, where he was one of the first foreign doctors to observe the horrific effects of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Through Dr Junod's narrative, the reader discovers the difficult and sometimes dangerous, but always fascinating, work of an ICRC delegate. (Info resources\ICRC publications and films\Publications\About the ICRC) ICRC publication International Review of the Red Cross30-9-2000 Unknown pages of the history of the Second World War: Soviet prisoners of war in Finland (1941-1944)(Info resources\International Review\2000 - No. 839) International Review of the Red Cross 30-6-1999 The search for German prisoners and persons missing since the Second World War - a chapter in the history of the German Red Cross tracing service(Info resources\International Review\1999 - No. 834) International Review of the Red Cross 30-6-1999 The International Committee of the Red Cross reaffirms “open door” policy on its role during and after World War II(Info resources\International Review\1999 - No. 834) International Review of the Red Cross Interview23-12-2008 The International Tracing Service moves with the timesThe International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen, Germany, contains 50 million documents on Nazi persecution, serving victims and families and making these records available for research. Outgoing head Reto Meister reflects on the Service’s progress over the past two years and on its future. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Interview Includes Photo Official Statement30-4-2008 Opening ceremony of the International Tracing Service in Bad ArolsenThe International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen, Germany, contains over 50 million documents regarding the persecution, exploitation and extermination of millions of civilians by the Nazis. The recent opening of the archives to historical research was today marked at a ceremony organized in Bad Arolsen. The ICRC's Vice-President, Christine Beerli, made the following statement to media. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Official Statement 5-9-1945 ICRC appeal: "Mankind is faced with a problem of supreme gravity..."Full text of the statement issued by the ICRC on 5 September 1945, in the light of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which brought the war to an end. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Official Statement Press article14-8-2003 Hiroshima 1945: a day in August that changed the worldOriginal title: Regard sur Hiroshima, un mois après la bombe - press article by Richard Werly published in Le Temps (Switzerland) on 14 August 2003; how the ICRC, focussed on the fate of prisoners, came to learn about the atom bomb attack on Hiroshima, and the action it took. (About the ICRC\History) Press article Includes Photo More in this section2-2-2005 ICRC in WW II: the Central Agency for Prisoners of WarAs in the first world war, one of the ICRC's first steps after hostilities broke out in 1939 was to establish a clearing house for information on prisoners. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Includes Photo 2-2-2005 ICRC in WW II: Polish prisoners of war in GermanyWhy the ICRC was unable to keep track of Polish POWs captured by German forces. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Includes Photo 2-2-2005 ICRC in WW II: German prisoners of war in Allied handsIn the first part of the war there were relatively few German POWs. This was to change after the Normandy landings. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Includes Photo 4-2-2005 ICRC in WW II: working on the Atlantic coastlineHow the ICRC helped the population of the German-occupied Channel Islands and civilians in German-controlled coastal towns after D-Day (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) 4-2-2005 ICRC in WW II: relief work in GreeceHow the ICRC helped civilians in Greece during the occupation and afterwards, when thousands of tonnes of food were needed each month to keep people alive. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Includes Photo 4-2-2005 ICRC in WW II: Friedrich Born, "Righteous Among the Nations"Friedrich Born's single-handed attempts to save Jews in Hungary were recognized after his death by the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Includes Photo 13-9-2005 Geneva honours memory of atom bomb victimsMemorial plaque unveiled, special edition of Marcel Junod's booklet The Hiroshima Disaster – events on 13 September 2005. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) 12-9-2005 The Hiroshima disaster – a doctor's accountExtracts from the journal written by the ICRC's Dr. Marcel Junod, the first foreign doctor to reach Hiroshima after the atom bomb attack on 6 August 1945, and to treat some of the victims. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) 3-6-2005 The International Tracing Service – 50 years on The International Tracing Service came into being in its present form through the Bonn Agreements of 6 June 1955. It has the mammoth task of gathering, filing, preserving and processing the personal records of civilians who were persecuted under the Third Reich.
(About the ICRC\History\Second World War) 1-2-2005 ICRC in WW II: allegations by the OSSIn 1996 serious allegations were made on the basis of hitherto secret US intelligence files, concerning some ICRC staff during World War II. The ICRC's response. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) 13-5-2004 Marcel Junod (1904-1961): centenary of a "warrior without weapons"He fought off looters with his bare hands as Addis Ababa fell to Italian forces, bargained the exchange of hostages in Spain's civil war, was arrested by the Gestapo in Berlin as a spy and became the first foreign doctor to help atom bomb victims at Hiroshima. Close-up of a remarkable ICRC delegate. (About the ICRC\History) 5-11-2002 Dialogue with the past: the ICRC and the Nazi death campsFrançois Bugnion, the ICRC's Director for International Law and Cooperation within the Movement, reflects* on the organization's failure to react vigorously to the persecution of Jews by the Third Reich. (About the ICRC\History\Second World War) Other site23-2-2005 International Tracing Service in ArolsenThe International Tracing Service at Bad Arolsen (ITS) serves victims of Nazi persecutions and their families by documenting their fate through the archives it manages. The ITS preserves these historic records and makes them available for research. (Info resources\Other sites\Red Cross and Red Crescent) Other site  |
