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Warning: This article was first published on ICRC History, the former archives and library blog of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It is the original layout that is reproduced below. What is the place of women working in the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)? This is what this article asks by looking for their traces in the films of the institution. (In French)

Discover Prisonnier de guerre..., a fictional story about the harrowing day-to-day existence of prisoners of war held in camps grappling with a condition dubbed “barbed-wire disease” at the time.

Second part of the article “You have mail: Letter from Lebanon, a film by John Ash”, an analysis of this short film produced in 1984 by the ICRC. Click here to read the first part. Framing the narrative The long opening sequence, about three minutes in length, shows a car driving through the ruins of Beirut and arriving at the building in which the ICRC office is located. The sense of...

Letter from Lebanon was filmed in 1983 [1] eight years after the civil war had broken out in the country. A sensitive and committed portrayal of the ICRC’s work, John Ash’s 30-minute film is one of the organization’s most original films from the 1980s and most accomplished documents on the Lebanese Civil War. John Ash, film-maker John Ash was recruited by the ICRC towards the end of 1983...

Third part of the article “You have mail: Letter from Lebanon, a film by John Ash”, an analysis of this short film produced in 1984 by the ICRC. Click here to read the first part or the second part. An embedded narrative – in search of a basis Michel Amiguet’s inner voice asks the question [00:04:58–00:05:14]: “In this tangled web of conflict, we need a solid basis on which we can...

Fourth and final part of the article “You have mail: Letter from Lebanon, a film by John Ash”, an analysis of this short film produced in 1984 by the ICRC. Click here to read the first part, second part or third part. An appeal sealed in an envelope Before returning to the enclosed space of his office, we hear Amiguet’s voice over the last images of the displaced people being reunited with...

Since 2009, the documentary series Mysteries in the archives has been deciphering images filmed for more than a century around the world. In seven seasons and sixty episodes, Serge Viallet and his team analyse archives that are sometimes known, often unpublished, in order to bring to light information that is invisible at first glance. In the last season, Mysteries in the archives devoted an...

The V CI sub-fonds, Iconographic Collections, contains approximately 330 images of historical interest related to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), most of which are large-format originals dated between 1845 and 1997. The sub-fonds illustrates the evolution of the ICRC’s activities, tools and relations since its creation in 1863 through a relatively small and well-defined...

Table of Contents Introduction – General Overview – The ICRC and Nazi persecutions – Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees – Relief Actions – The ICRC in Hiroshima – Aftermath of the Conflict – Testimonies Introduction On September 1st 1939 the invasion of Poland by the Nazi troops marked the onset of the Second World War. Pursuing its mission to alleviate the sufferings of war...

A feeling of “Déjà-vu” by Fania Khan Mohammad[*] Since the launch of the ICRC AV archives database in February 2016, it is now of public knowledge that ICRC handles more than 90’000 photos, which are now widely available. Those photos cover all the activities ICRC could have in the Field. As the photo librarians receive new images, they sometime have an impression of “déjà vu”....