Language:
French
Year of publication:
2009
Titel der Quelle:
Vingtième Siècle; revue d'histoire
Angaben zur Quelle:
101 (2009) 149-162
Keywords:
International Committee of the Red Cross
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Abstract:
A study of the status and character of the French Red Cross (FRC), its place in the field of official humanitarian activities, and its neutrality during the Shoah. Shows that Vichy attempted to marginalize the organization in favor of purely national structures, while the Germans preferred working with the FRC rather than with Vichy. The question of neutrality was thus most acute with regard to the Germans. Through its presence in the French internment camps, the FRC first confronted the question of how to respond to the persecution of Jews. Its weakness became clear in 1941, when social assistants were transferred from camps or dismissed for criticizing camp conditions or connecting Jewish families. In 1942 the FRC stopped its activities in the Jewish camps altogether, showed impotence during the Vel d'Hiv roundup, and dismissed its Jewish employees. The organization did, however, rescue an unknown number of Jewish chidren in 1943. Concludes that, although the FRC's leaders did not overtly protest against German orders, many of the organization's actions in fact opposed them.
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