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Survivors, Refugees
and the Plight of Statelessness
Orphanage of the German Relief Society, Urmia 1899
The massacres against Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire during the years 1894-1896 left many children orphaned. In this period, humanitarian aid was mainly provided by Protestant or Catholic institutions. This picture shows an orphanage in Urmia, Northern Persia, built by the German Relief Society for Armenia.
German Relief Society School, Urfa 1898
In the facilities of the German Relief Society for Armenia, the orphans were not only provided with clothing and food, but they were also given access to education. Volunteer teachers from the German Empire were sent to various regions of the Near East for this purpose. Besides their commitment to Christian charity, these numerous volunteers were also motivated by their love of travel or their quest for adventure. This picture shows the teacher Bruno Eckart who later became a witness of the Armenian Genocide.
Karen Jeppe
The Danish humanitarian Karen Jeppe (1876-1935) was one of the most renowned figures who worked with Armenian refugees and survivors. During the interwar period, she worked in Aleppo as the director of the Commission for the Protection of Women and Children in the Near East, under the auspices of the League of Nations. The picture shows her (top row first person on the left) with Armenian widows in Aleppo who tried to build an economic existence through needlework.
Near East Relief
The Near East Relief was founded as the Near East Foundation in 1915. It was a nonsectarian international development organization . Campaigning intensively through different medias, it took humanitarian campaigning to an unprecedented professional level. The picture shows the Lest we perish campaign to raise 30,000,000 $.
Red Cross Refugee Camp, Samara 1921
The International Committee of the Red Cross, founded in 1863, was another major humanitarian player during the interwar period. During the Russian famine in 1921-22, an estimate 5 million people died from hunger. This picture shows a refugee camp in Samara, established by the Swedish Red Cross.
Food unloading of the SS Wandeggen Red Cross, 1922
Transporting food was a major challenge during the Russian famine. Ships could deliver up to 600 tonnes of relief supplies. At the same time, fundraising for the famine relief operation began in Europe, with all the elements of a modern emergency relief operation: full-page newspaper advertisements, local fundraising and a film shoot in the famine area. The picture shows the unloading of food in Novorossiysk, the largest port on the Black Sea.
Famine Relief Truck Hoover Boys, 1921/1922
During the Russian famine, US President Herbert Hoover was the head of the American Relief Administration (ARA). The U.S. Congress attributed $20,000,000 for relief under the Russian Famine Relief Act of late 1921. Over 300 relief workers, called the “Hoover Boys,” arrived in the Soviet Union to assess the food needs and logistical challenges. By August 1922, the ARA and its “Hoover Boys” were feeding nearly 11 million Russians a day in 19,000 food kitchens. The ARA also hired 120,000 Soviet citizens to help distribute the food.
Fridtjof Nansen, Saratov 1922
Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) was one of the central figures associated with the League of Nations during the interwar period. Already renowned as an explorer and a scientist, he organised humanitarian aid and the repatriation of European refugees in the last decade of his life. He is well known for the creation of the Nansen-passport which made it possible for hundreds of thousands of stateless refugees to get an official document to travel one way and get settled in different European countries. The picture shows him inspecting the quality of imported grain during the Russian famine 1921-22.
The Nansen Passport
One of the main problem in the humanitarian efforts for refugees was the lack of a legal status for refugees. Before 1914, traveling across Europe was relatively free of constraints. World War 1 changed this free and open circulation of people dramatically. Restrictive legislation were implemented, requiring passports and visas. Nansen discussed this issue with diplomats and legal scholars on a few international conferences and introduced in 1922 a simple and efficient solution for the status of refugees, known as the “Nansen passport”. This internationally recognized identity paper (56 countries in 1926) allowed refugees to travel from one point to another. Initially issued only for Russian refugees it was extended to Armenian refugees in 1924 and Assyrians in 1928.
Peace Treaties
and the Quest for Justice
Women and Children
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