UNRRA and Aid: Displaced Persons and Medical Relief in Post-War Europe

UNRRA and Aid: Displaced Persons and Medical Relief in Post-War

Europe.

The significance of UNRRA in the rehabilitation of DPs and its contributions as an

international health organisation.

Clíona Walker

English & History

ii

Title Page.

Name: Clíona Walker

ID: 10118187

Title: UNRRA and Aid: Displaced Persons and Medical Relief in Post-War Europe

Focus: The significance of UNRRA in the rehabilitation of DPs and its contributions as an

international health organisation.

Supervisor: Professor Anthony McElligott

External Examiner: Dr Judith Devlin

Word Count: 11,835

Degree: English and History

iii

Abstract.

This project will assess the instrumental role UNRRA played in the rehabilitation of displaced

persons in the occupied zones of Germany after World War II. It will focus on the people and

children worst affected and how they were capable of survival after liberation. It will address

issues faced by DPs in the centres and camps they were forced to inhabit until they were able to

move on and live their lives free of starvation and abuse. The project will not only look at the

destruction through the eyes of displaced persons but will also look to the relief workers and

how they aided in their rehabilitation through the organisation of the camps and administration

of medical relief. It will assess the reconstruction of post-war Europe through the people’s

perspective. It will consider the effects UNRRA had on DPs and its success in the containment

of disease. The threat of contagion in Greece was at a critical stage after the war and rather than

highlight effects it had on the country, this project will look at the people specifically and how

UNRRA aided in the elimination of typhoid, malaria, and tuberculosis. This project will show

the significant role UNRRA played in the lives of the displaced persons of Europe and how they

aided in providing them with the means to rebuild their lives from the ground up.

iv

Acknowledgment.

I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Anthony McElligott for all his assistance and

guidance throughout the year.

I would also like to extend a very big thank you to my parents who have supported me in all

my decisions and to Diarmuid who has always encouraged me to do my best.

v

Declaration

I hereby declare that this project is entirely my own work, in my own words, and that all

sources used in researching it are fully acknowledged, and all quotations properly identified.

Signed: ________________________ Date: ________________

Clíona Walker

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Table of Contents.

Cover Page i

Title Page ii

Abstract iii

Acknowledgment iv

Declaration v

Table of Contents vi

Introduction 1

Chapter One 5

Chapter Two 13

Chapter Three 26

Conclusion 35

Appendix 39

Bibliography 43

1

INTRODUCTION.

This project will look at the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

between 1943 and 1947 as it attempted to rehabilitate the displaced persons of liberated Europe.

It will argue the significant role that UNRRA had in the recovery of European refugees in the

occupied zones of Germany and the instrumental role it played in eradicating disease in Greece.

UNRRA aid was circulated globally but to understand the significance of relief in relation to

displaced persons in Europe it was clear that Germany and Greece were two countries that dealt

with DPs on a greater level than most others. The project will outline the main goals and

aspirations of UNRRA, including the means by which it hoped to achieve them. UNRRA’s

purpose was very clearly laid out in the Agreement that any country under the United Nations

that had been liberated by the military, or countries in which the enemy had retreated would be

viable to receive aid. The aid to be administered would go beyond that of food and clothing, it

would include the ‘prevention of pestilence’ and the reestablishment of employment

opportunities.1 This project will expand on the measures taken to ensure the success of such aid.

UNRRA required funding and supplies and so this project will highlight the contributions made

by the 44 participating nations. It will assess how UNRRA aided the DPs of Europe and how

the Administration was instrumental in their rehabilitation, both mentally and physically. This

involved looking at the DP centres that were established across the continent, the refugees

entering them, and the aid administered by UNRRA officials. I will also look at the challenges

faced by UNRRA in relation to the distribution of aid and the problems they encountered as an

international organisation.

1 Agreement for United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration’, November 9, 1943, Article I. Also see

Appendix I.

2

When researching the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, many

sources focus on the political aspect and how the organisation aided in the reconstruction of

Europe, but what this project will do is take a closer look at the people associated with the

Administration. Authors like Mark Wyman and Margaret Myers Feinstein give a very detailed

account of the lives of the displaced persons in Europe and life inside the camps. Wyman focuses

on the repatriation and migration of the DPs, and although this project will highlight the issues

surrounding their return home it will look more closely at their health and how UNRRA aided

them in their recovery. Feinstein delves into the issues some DPs had regarding the medical care

they were receiving from German doctors in UNRRA hospitals. Her work gives accounts of DP

women and ‘forced’ abortions at the hands of Nazi doctors.2 Although such cases were heard of

many were seen as a result of poor training rather than a result of Nazi ideology.3 Although

many of the DPs in Western Europe were Jewish, this project will focus on all refugees and not

Jewish victims of the Holocaust specifically. The scope of UNRRA’s relief work in Europe

could not be fully assessed for the purposes of this study if it did not include refugees of all

groups.

UNRRA relief workers were very important in the success of the organisation and so I

will look to some of the accounts written by those involved, including Susan Pettiss, a social

worker for UNRRA and her book, After the Shooting Stopped. Through Pettiss’ diary and

reports from nurses in Greece we see what life was like for the relief workers as well as the

refugees. Nursing reports from 1944 and 1945 were helpful in addressing the subject of medical

personnel that were drafted by UNRRA. Like other authors, Wyman and Jessica Reinisch often

2 Margarete Myers Feinstein, Holocaust Survivors in Post-war Germany, 1945-1957 (Cambridge New York,

2010), pp 136-137. 3 Ibid, pp 144-145.

3

focus on the politics surrounding UNRRA. Reinisch comments on the political aspects of a relief

organisation that required international cooperation. 4 This project however, will explore the

histories of the people rather than the histories of the nations.

This project will be organised into three chapters. In each, a particular topic will be

addressed pertaining to UNRRA’s goal in rehabilitating displaced persons. These topics will

address not only the refugees, but the UNRRA workers as well. The Administration undertook

the largest international relief operation seen in history, and its efforts would have been futile if

it were not for the relief workers that dedicated themselves completely to the cause.

Chapter one will look at the organisation of UNRRA. It will address how the idea of an

international relief programme came about and how the Administration received funding. The

chapter will outline the scale of the mission and the different forms of relief and aid that were

administered by UNRRA. Jessica Reinisch’s material will be addressed in this chapter to give

the reader an idea of the sheer size of the operations that were carried out. Speeches and press

conferences given by the Director General, Fiorello LaGuardia proved useful in assessing the

work being done from inside the organisation and in examining the solutions to the issues they

were faced with regularly. This chapter will highlight UNRRA’s mission and how it set about

in putting the wheels of relief and rehabilitation in motion.

Chapter two will look at the displaced persons of Europe and at how UNRRA was

instrumental in their rehabilitation. It will be divided into two sections. In the first I will address

camp life and the certain coping mechanisms that were introduced to aid in the DP’s recovery.

It will look at the establishments used to house the refugees and the different types of camps

that were utilised for their care. The focus of this section will be on the people residing in the

4 Jessica Reinisch, ‘Internationalism in Relief: The Birth (and Death) of UNRRA p. 264.

4

camps, how UNRRA organised them and the systems implemented to guarantee their survival.

The second section will focus on the displaced children and the necessary precautions that were

taken in their rehabilitation. It will look at the children’s centre Kloster Indersdorf in particular

and Anna Andlauer’s book, The Rage to Live, as it gives detailed accounts written by the centre’s

director Greta Fischer. This section will look at the education and the re-civilizing effects the

organisation had on the children; many had become accustomed to a life without boundaries or

rules and UNRRA’s goal was to alter such behaviours. Both sections will address the physical

and mental condition of the DPs and the opportunities made available to them by UNRRA as

the rehabilitation process was drawing to a close.

The third and final chapter will look at UNRRA’s role in the control of contagion in

Greece and the Balkans. The threat of an epidemic was an issue that caused worry for all nations

and so it was crucial that a mission of decontamination be put in place immediately. In this

chapter I will look at the types of diseases, the methods of control and the medical personnel

involved. The chapter will highlight the work of the nurses and the influence they had on the

rehabilitation of refugees. It was important for UNRRA to give people across Europe the tools

to survive and so a recurring topic throughout this project will be looking at how instrumental

UNRRA was in aiding self-sufficiency.

5

Chapter One: The UNRRA Mission

This chapter will look at the development of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation

Administration and the major characteristics of the Administration. It will focus on the birth of

the organisation, the aid and relief it distributed. It will also look at the workers and the areas in

which such aid was administered. UNRRA was an instrument of relief and rehabilitation and it

was the first United Nations organization to grow out of the conflicts of World War II. One of

the specific purposes of UNRRA was to plan the readjustments that were ‘essential to rebuilding

peace’.5 UNRRA came into existence officially in November 1943 as a means of providing aid

to the people and countries that had been affected and devastated by the war. The Administration

consisted of 44 participating nations who agreed to combine forces in an effort in making such

an immense task possible.6 It had been decided that in order for a recovery mission to be

successful, each member government would commit themselves to the Administration,

contribute supplies and services, and support the decisions made by the Director General. They

set out with a goal in mind and they were determined to see it succeed. UNRRA had three

directors in its four year existence. The first was Herbert H. Lehman, former governor of New

York. In March of 1946 he had been succeeded by Fiorello LaGuardia, former mayor of New

York and the final Director was Major General Lowell Ward who became director in 1947.7

Their leadership and their dedication to the Administration was one of the key factors that led

UNRRA to succeed in its mission to rehabilitate the devastated peoples of post-war Europe.

5 National Planning Association, ‘UNRRA: Gateway to Recovery,’ Planning Pamphlets, 30-31 (1944), Foreword. 6 Jessica Reinisch, ‘‘Auntie UNRRA’ at the Crossroads’ in Past and Present, 218 (2013), p. 70. 7 The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, ‘United Nations Relief and Rehabilitations Administration’ in

Holocaust Encyclopedia. http://www.ushmm.org/learn/holocaust-encyclopedia

6

Herbert Lehman, who in June 1943 was the Director of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation

Operations, made it evident in his speech to the Foreign Policy Association that it was crucial

that the rehabilitation measures carried out would be a tool in enabling suffering countries to

begin their own reconstruction. This speech was monumental in introducing the United States

to the idea of an organisation that would be at the head of relief operations in Europe. After

UNRRA became an official organisation it administered the work of twenty three separate

voluntary welfare agencies including the Joint Distribution Committee, the Organisation for

Rehabilitation through Training and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.8 In the occupied zones

of Germany, voluntary societies similar to these were under the direct supervision of UNRRA;

they were barred from operating without proper authorization.9 The scope of the Administration

was vast and keeping order was priority so as to avoid further disruptions.

Reports from Europe showed that ‘starvation was commonplace’ and that areas which

had been enslaved were now the breeding grounds for diseases of the body and spirit. In 1943,

Lehman informed the Foreign Policy Association that the governments of the United States,

Great Britain, Russia and China had all agreed and made it known that they were ready to

participate wholeheartedly in an effort to prevent further death in post-war Europe.10 Hope for

the success of the Administration was concreted in the positive response from all participating

nations. It was proposed by the Council that ‘each member government whose home territory’

had not been occupied by the enemy should make ‘a contribution for participation in the work

of the Administration, approximately equivalent to one per cent of the national income of the

8 USHMM ‘United Nations Relief and Rehabilitations Administration’ in Holocaust Encyclopedia. 9 Daniel Cohen, ‘Between Relief and Politics: refugee humanitarianism in occupied Germany 1945-1946’ in

Journal of Contemporary History, 43 (2008), p. 439 10 Herbert H. Lehman, ‘Relief and Rehabilitation: the supreme test for permanent stability’, in Vital Speeches of

the Day, 9 (1942), pp. 621-624.

7

country for the year ending June 30, 1943 as determined by the member government’.11 Between

the United States and Great Britain the total came to $1, 826,000,000 in 1943.12 A large sum of

money such as this seemed minimal compared to the grand scale of damage but this number

increased significantly as other participating nations contributed their funds, supplies and

services that were crucial in the rehabilitation of Europe’s refugees.

UNRRA’s goal had not been to distribute money as a form of charity but rather to give

the devastated and uprooted people the means and tools to rebuild their lives from the bottom

up. The Administration not only provided funds but it provided clothing, food, health care, child

welfare, education, vocational training and employment opportunities. The services and supplies

administered by UNRRA fell under four headings: 1) Relief supplies, which were essential

consumer goods that were seen as immediate needs. 2) Relief services, such as health and

welfare. 3) Rehabilitation of supplies and services, this entailed raw materials, fertilizers and

machinery to enable the people to produce relief supplies of their own. 4) Rehabilitation of

public supplies and services, this was meant for the restoration of power, sanitation, transport

and communication.13 The types of relief were numerous in kind and participating nations

contributed as much as they could possibly spare. The Administration set out with the goal to

rehabilitate post-war DPs and as Lehman had pointed out the objective of UNRRA was to ‘help

the people to help themselves’.14 Liberation for many was disorientating; many did not

understand their own circumstances and it was important that the people gain independence and

self-sufficiency. Many had been slaves in camps, their entire lives had been uprooted and

11 First Session of the Council of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitations Administration: Selected

Documents. Resolution 14.4 (1943) p.45. 12 National Planning Association, ‘UNRRA’, p. 26. 13 First Session. Res.1.4, pp 27-28. 14 Lehman, ‘Relief and Rehabilitation’.

8

UNRRA understood the importance of injecting some form of normality back into their lives.

The pamphlets distributed by the agency to give an overview of the mission summed up their

objective to ‘get to the people the essentials to keep them alive and then give them some means

to begin to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.’15 The United States concluded that in

order for Europe to reach pre-war production levels it would have to provide the means for the

people to produce and manufacture supplies for themselves. Time was limited and the

Administration had to work quickly in order to distribute enough relief so that reconstruction

could begin immediately. UNRRA did not set out to be a long-term organisation, it set out to

develop a free and independent Europe within the designated time frame.16

Starvation was one of the major issues UNRRA dealt with and even in 1946 malnutrition

was still a problem. The world food crisis became the focus of the Administration as the influx

of refugees to the west increased after millions of people had been displaced after the war. In

the British zone of Germany rations were down to 1,014 calories in February 1946, 1,180

calories in the American zone by the end of May, and only 910 calories in the French zone.17 It

was important to keep the people healthy and fed so as to curb the spread of disease. When

LaGuardia became Director General in 1946 he made it his priority to address the issue of

starvation. He made it clear in his acceptance speech that he would assess the distribution of

food along with pleading to the nation to do everything they could in sparing food for the people

of Europe. It was his task to source food, not money. He understood that there were still untapped

sources in the world and his plan was to find, and make use of them.18 LaGuardia’s enthusiasm

15 Office of Public Informations, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitations Administration. ‘The Story of

UNRRA’ (Washington D.C., 1948), pp 5-6. 16 Cohen, ‘Between Relief and Politics’, p. 439. 17 David W. Ellwood, Rebuilding Europe: Western Europe, America and postwar reconstruction (London, 1992),

p. 35. 18 LaGuardia and Wagner Archives (LGWA), 26 B1.03. ‘Text of LaGuardia UNRRA Acceptance Speech’ in

UNRRA Daily Press Clippings, 30 March, 1946.

9

and determination was instrumental in UNRRA’s success; he was willing to go to great lengths

to carry out the duties of the Director General (See Appendix III). He succeeded in sourcing the

untapped supplies in South America. The contributions made by the southern countries were

vital in achieving UNRRA’s goal. LaGuardia was proud to announce the figures in May 1946

and extended his gratitude to all the countries, large and small. UNRRA received $108,238 from

Bolivia, $40,000,000 from Brazil and had delivered from Brazil, $9,627,000 in food,

$13,123,000 of textiles, $2,269,000 in livestock and feed, $67,000 in medical supplies, $810,000

in soap, $420,000 in belting and $2,934,000 in miscellaneous. Chile contributed $3,061,000 and

200,326 metric tons of nitrate, 7,500 tons of electrolytic copper. Colombia contributed $2,

427,312 and 83,200,000 pounds of powdered milk. From Cuba they received $6,061,000 out of

which they were able to get 30,000 tons of sugar. The Dominican Republic contributed

$1,400,000, 5,000 tons of corn, 1,250 tons of coffee, 500 tons of peanut meal and 1,000 work

animals.19 The sheer volume of shipments that were being sent to Europe were quite often not

sufficient to deal with the extensive damage that had swept across Europe’s landscape. To say

that UNRRA did not encounter difficulties would be a false interpretation. The food crisis caused

numerous problems and suffered many setbacks. In an address given by Fiorello LaGuardia in

June 1946 he informed the people that shipments fell far below requirements by several hundred

thousand tons due to weather conditions but he remained ever positive that UNRRA could

succeed.20 His efforts in sourcing food were certainly influential in the rehabilitation of the

European people but at times the resources were not always available to him. Post-war Europe

was in a state of need but at times there was only so much UNRRA could do.

19 LGWA, 26 B1.03. ‘Director General LaGuardia’s Press Conference’, 15 May, 1946. 20 LGWA, 26 B1.03. ‘Address delivered by the honorable Fiorello LaGuardia on the Eternal Light Program’, 2

June, 1946.

10

There were many different divisions of UNRRA, each containing relief workers with

specific skills in a certain field. At its peak UNRRA employed nearly 25,000 people.21 The relief

workers were made up of nurses, doctors, sanitary engineers, teachers, and social workers. Each

worker was assigned to a division where their skills could be utilised; many relief workers

returned to areas and jobs they had been familiar with. Daniel E. Wright worked as a sanitary

engineer in Greece in the 1930s and later in 1945 became the head of UNRRA’s sanitation

section in Greece. Francesca Wilson had been a social worker involved all over Europe after the

First World War and later returned as a relief worker for UNRRA.22 It was desirable that the

relief workers be trained to a certain degree as training new recruits was often quite time

consuming and time was precious to UNRRA’s mission. Many of those who volunteered would

have been trained previously and were now offering their services, quite often, as a way to gain

international experience. Relief workers came from many different backgrounds and

nationalities but they came together in an effort to meet impossible challenges. These people

were often unsure what awaited them or what their mission would be but they all agreed that it

was their job to do all they could in order to obtain peace amongst the war-torn countries of

Europe. Susan Pettiss said that a ‘pervasive idealism infected both faculty and trainees.’ They

all hoped to see ‘a true world community with new social systems and international relations’

established.23 The relief workers might not always have been informed on where they would be

going or what they would be doing, but their attitude and willingness to carry out the work of

UNRRA was a key aspect in the rehabilitation of European DPs. These people were dedicated

to the cause and offered themselves completely to the Administration. Many of the UNRRA

21 Richard Mayne, The Recovery of Europe: from devastation to unity (London, 1970), p. 65 22 Jessica Reinisch, ‘Introduction: Relief in the Aftermath of the War’ in Journal of Contemporary History, 43

(2008), p. 381 23 Susan Pettiss and Lynn Taylor, After the Shooting Stopped (Trafford, 2004), pp 6-7.

11

teams were attached to various military divisions and would follow the soldiers across liberated

Europe in order to support the military in their attempts to care for the millions of victims.24

Nothing could have prepared the relief workers for what they would see on their journey but

people like Susan Pettiss persevered regardless in the hopes of completing UNRRA’s mission.

Throughout its existence UNRRA ‘invested nearly four billion dollars’ in its mission to

assist in Europe’s recovery.25 These funds were distributed all over the world but Europe

accounted for 2.5 billion dollars’ worth of the total.26 The extent of the damage in Europe as a

result of World War II is evident through the fact that UNRRA invested nearly seventy per cent

of its funds towards its reconstruction. The war left 40 million dead and almost 60 million people

had been involuntarily moved from their homes.27 UNRRA made the people of Europe their

priority and it was UNRRA who attempted to repatriate the displaced persons as well as

rehabilitate them to the extent that they were healthy enough to work again. It is difficult to

discuss the reconstruction of Europe in the post-war period without considering the

contributions made by the Administration and its workers. The supplies and relief distributed by

UNRRA was one of the largest international achievements completed by any world

organisation. UNRRA was unique in that ‘the world had never seen the likes of it previously’

and probably never will again.28 By the end of UNRRA it had administered 25 million tons of

supplies to devastated countries, it assisted in the repatriation of millions of refugees and was

instrumental in the field of health and welfare.29 The supplies and funds of all participating

24 Anna Andlauer, The Rage to Live: the international DP children’s center Kloster Indersdorf 1945-46 (Weichs,

2012), p. 15. 25 LGWA, 26B1.07, ‘Address to UN Second Committee of General Assembly by FHL’ (1946), p. 27 26 Reinisch, ‘Auntie UNRRA’, p. 73 27 Reinisch, ‘Introduction’, p. 374 28 Jessica Reinisch, ‘Internationalism in Relief: the birth (and death) of UNRRA’ in Past and Present, 210 (2011),

p. 259 29 LGWA, 26B1.07, ‘Address to UN Second Committee’, p. 64.

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nations made it possible for post-war Europe to begin reconstruction and gave the people a

means to rebuild their lives. The recovery of the displaced persons of Europe would not have

been possible without UNRRA’s assistance, care and supplies.

13

Chapter Two: The Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons

This chapter will be broken into two parts, the first will discuss the issue of adult displaced

persons (DPs), their rehabilitation and UNRRA's attempts to prepare them for life outside the

camps. The second will look at the rehabilitation of displaced children and their education in

civil etiquette before reintroducing them to civilization.

(i) The issue of displaced persons became significantly worrying at the end of the war

and the operations in caring for DPs became the ‘essence of international aid’ as it required large

numbers of relief workers, space and organisation.30 It was through the military that UNRRA

became involved in the DP situation as the military were unable to cope with the volume of

uprooted people that had begun to spread into Western Europe by 1944. In December the

military turned to UNRRA and issued an order for the Administration to ‘prepare two hundred

teams of thirteen members each’ to help control their arrival. It was the military’s job to set up

the camps that would house the refugees and UNRRA then ‘provided administrators with

various specialties.’31 UNRRA played a major role in the rehabilitation of displaced persons and

contributed hugely to their mental and physical well-being.

The sheer number of displaced persons was beyond anything that UNRRA could have

anticipated. Susan Pettiss stated that although UNRRA workers and leaders ‘understood the task

at an intellectual level’ they were not ‘prepared for the reality of the situation and the enormity

of the task.’32 In September 1945 UNRRA and other allied agencies were caring for 6,795,000

liberated civilians. The number of refugee camps in operation in Western Europe more than

30 Daniel Cohen, ‘Between Relief and Politics: refugee humanitarianism in occupied Germany 1945-1946’ in

Journal of Contemporary History, 43 (2008), p. 440. 31 Mark Wyman, DPs: Europe’s Displaced Persons, 1945-1951 (Ithaca: New York, 1998), pp 46-47. 32 Susan Pettiss with Lynn Taylor, After the Shooting Stopped (Trafford, 2004), p. 50.

14

tripled by 1947 as the number jumped from 227 to 762 in just two years.33 As outlined in the

Agreement, UNRRA was unable to enter an area or carry out relief activities in that area unless

they were invited in by the military or received their consent.34 It was important for the

Administration to maintain a good relationship with the military as it was a source of security

and transport for relief workers and displaced persons. In camps, such as Neustadt, UNRRA

relied on the troops to preserve the peace within the camp and to provide supplies such as

medicine, boots and other items of clothing.35 The DP situation was a direct result of the

occupation and war; people were uprooted from their homes, separated from their families and

alone. After liberation they were organised into camps and it was with the help of UNRRA that

many of these people were rehabilitated and were able to carry on and lead somewhat normal

lives.

There were numerous different types of camps spread across Germany but in order to

cope with the large numbers there were three main establishments used due to their ability to

house several thousands. The first were casern or ‘kaserne’ camps which were former military

centers that had ‘large permanent structures’ and were easily converted to house refugees. The

second were barracks camps and these included ‘former forced labour camps and concentrations

camps’. Finally the third were dwelling-house camps which ‘were made up of entire villages’.36

These establishments generally would have been run by UNRRA teams, but there were many

other forms of refugee camps or houses that were being run by allied organisations. Some people

even made their homes or holiday homes available to refugees. Lily Lipman, a social worker

33 Tony Judt, Postwar: a history of Europe since 1945 (London, 2010), pp 28-29 34 ‘Agreement for United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration’, November 9, 1943, Article VII. Also

see Appendix II. 35 Wyman, DPs, p. 40. 36 Ibid., pp 43-44

15

for UNRRA, remembered going to her uncle’s villa in Bavaria that housed survivor families in

each of its rooms.37 Several types of establishments were necessary to cope with the

unprecedented numbers of refugees. After the opening of DP camps a pattern quickly emerged

of ‘distinct ethnic groups composing the population of each camp.’ UNRRA teams did not

designate these nationalities to certain camps, it occurred as people began to hear what camps

certain groups had settled in.38 DPs formed such groups as a means of comfort, being amongst

their own people provided a sense of security.

Camp life was an improvement compared to previous living conditions but DPs still

encountered difficulties within the UNRRA camps due to the close proximity in which they

were living to one another. At the beginning in the Landsberg DP camp, although it was made

up of large blocks, the people ‘attempted to create private space’ by using large pieces of cloth

or blankets and hanging them between beds. Some camps like Förenwald had a more ‘home-

like environment’, but DPs were still forced to share the same apartment with several others.39

The numbers were increasing daily in the DP camps. Susan Pettiss recorded that in May 1945

it was not uncommon for fifteen to twenty trucks to arrive into Munich every day bringing over

a thousand people into the camp.40 Between the influx of DPs into the camps and the realisation

that repatriation may not be possible for several months, even years, ‘privacy and modesty’

became ‘secondary considerations’ as there were more pressing issues to deal with. DPs were

severely traumatised and this was becoming more and more evident to UNRRA workers within

the camps. There was a need for sensitivity and quite often the military officials within the

37 Visual History Archive online (VHA), Interview with Lily Lipman, 14. 31 August, 1996.

http://vhaonline.usc.edu/viewingPage.aspx?testimonyID=21751&returnIndex=0 38 Pettiss, After the shooting, pp 80-81. 39 Margarete Myers Feinstein, Holocaust Survivors in Postwar Germany, 1945-1957 (Cambridge New York,

2010), p. 19. 40 Pettiss, After the shooting, p. 58.

16

camp needed to be reminded of that. In the case of the Landsberg camp, Lieutenant W.B Smith

wished to install bunk beds as a solution to the shortage of space in the blocks, but the DPs

refused to sleep in bunks.41 The issue regarding the similarities between the DP camps and their

previous lodgings in concentration camps was common in many of the centers. Jacob Biber

commented on how the 'caged in environment forced a constant reliving of scenes' from their

past.42 UNRRA workers tried to eliminate aspects that would remind the survivors of their time

in concentration or labour camps the best they could. The health and wellbeing of the DPs was

top priority in the relief camps and so it was important that the DPs regain a sense of comfort

in their surroundings and activities. UNRRA personnel understood that this was crucial for

their rehabilitation and recovery.

Issues of ‘physical and mental health and welfare’ became the focus of UNRRA relief

workers in DP camps after 1945.43 It was evident that these people had been ‘beaten spiritually

and physically’ and were oblivious to rules of hygiene.44 The majority of displaced persons

showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and were often incapable of expressing

themselves emotionally. It was clear that repatriation was not going to be possible for many so

the refugees were forced to stay within the camps which caused many to become depressed.

Large numbers of displaced persons were alone and were unsure of the whereabouts of their

families. Even within camps many DPs married as they were consumed with grief and fear of

being alone.45 In November 1945, the UNRRA workers of Landsberg announced that ‘eleven

41 Feinstein, Holocaust Survivors, p. 22. 42 Jacob Biber, Rise from the Ashes: a story of Jewish displaced persons in the aftermath of World War II (San

Bernardino, 1990), p.16. 43 Peter Gatrell, ‘Trajectories of Population Displacement in the Aftermaths of two World Wars’ in Jessica

Reinisch and Elizabeth White (eds), The Disentanglement of Populations: migration, expulsion, and

displacement in post-war Europe, 1944-9 (New York, 2011), p. 16 44 Atina Grossmann, ‘Victims, Villains and Survivors: Gendered Perceptions and Self-Perceptions of Jewish

Displaced Persons in Occupied Postwar Germany’ in Journal of the History of Sexuality, 11 (2002), p. 297. 45 Feinstein, Holocaust Survivors, p. 128.

17

couples had applied for marriage licenses.’46 Hannah Modenstein was one such case as she had

been left alone at aged seventeen as a result of the war. She married shortly after liberation.47

Couples began to reproduce within the camps even though many were not physically fit but for

the Jews especially it became a ‘civic responsibility’ as the birth of Jewish babies was a sign of

triumph. They saw it as a form of ‘biological revenge’ as it proved the Nazis did not succeed in

their attempts to abolish all people of the Jewish faith.48 24 October, 1945 saw the first child be

born into the Förenwald camp. The father of the boy stated that he was a symbol of their

‘continuation’.49 UNRRA worker Kathryn Hulme expressed her concerns that there was little to

do but reproduce within the camps, this however was not always the case as vocational

opportunities and education were available to the refugees which are points I will address further

in this chapter.

The camps helped to reestablish gender roles amongst the survivors. The men and

women had been stripped of their physical attributes that defined them as male or female; many

had lost the distinction of secondary sex characteristics.50 In most camps the diet was just about

meeting caloric needs but for those who were coming from backgrounds of starvation the

portions were inadequate. The food was being provided by the ‘armies of occupation’, the

United States, United Kingdom and France.51 Since the DPs were being fed from military

supplies and not from local sources they were not gaining access to ‘vitamin-rich fresh meat,

eggs, vegetables and fruit’ that were essential to their development and growth.52 The issue of

46 Margarete L. Myers, ‘Jewish Displaced Persons Reconstructing Individual and Community in the US Zone of

Occupied Germany’ in Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook, 42 (1997), p. 306. 47 Biber, Rise from the Ashes, p. 36. 48 Feinstein, Holocaust Survivors, p. 134. 49 Biber, Rise from the Ashes, p. 47. 50 Feinstein, Holocaust Survivors, p. 107. 51 LaGuardia and Wagner Archives (LGWA), 26 B1.03. Fiorello LaGuardia, ‘Displaced Persons’ at the Second

Session of the 15th Annual New York Herald Tribune Forum on Current Problems, October, 1946, p. 2. 52 Feinstein, Holocaust Survivors, p. 23.

18

food was beyond the control of UNRRA relief workers within the camps but they did have the

power to administer other forms of aid in helping the DPs regain a more normal and independent

existence. When UNRRA workers were faced with a problem such as the food crisis, they found

other ways to lift the spirits of the refugees. They were willing to exhaust all options to succeed.

UNRRA workers found that ‘killing monotony’ was essential to the rehabilitation of DPs

as many were suffering from inertia. In Munich, Susan Pettiss writes of a cafe that was

established within the DP camp, Cafe New York. It provided the people with a place to

congregate and mingle with other national groups. The cafe became an ‘antidote’ for

‘discomfort, nostalgia and boredom’.53 DP unemployment was at 90% in most areas and this

was common in all camps. Relief workers felt that it was essential that the refugees be kept busy

as a way of injecting a more natural routine into their lives.

As stated earlier in the chapter the influx of DPs into the camps was beyond anything

UNRRA could have prepared for, so as a coping mechanism the Administration hired DPs to

aid relief workers in managing the camps. UNRRA workers presented employment as the 'best

remedy against apathy and idleness'.54 UNRRA managed to improve their spirits by giving them

a reason to get up in the morning; it gave them purpose in their lives. By the end of 1946 each

DP camp had 'police, firemen, janitors and teachers in camp schools, doctors and nurses in camp

hospitals'.55 The US, British and French zones combined possessed 345,281 persons with

qualifications, all of whom were displaced. Within this group of skilled workers there were up

to one hundred different specific trades to be found.56 This form of rehabilitation was the

53 Pettiss, After the shooting, pp 84-86. 54 Silvia Salvatici, 'From Displaced Persons to Labourers: allied employment policies in post-war Europe' in

Jessica Reinisch and Elizabeth White (eds), The Disentanglement of Populations: migration, expulsion, and

displacement in post-war Europe, 1944-9 (New York, 2011), p. 215. 55 Wyman, DPs, p. 113. 56 LGWA 26B1.03, ‘Displaced Persons’, p. 4.

19

healthiest of all as it provided the people with an opportunity to leave the camps. Such vocational

opportunities were 'crucial for future resettlement'.57 DP camps began to set up their own

shoemaker shops, tailors, dressmakers and hairdressers. The employment of DPs was increasing

and by mid-1947, 70% of all DPs were hired inside and outside the camps.58 Through UNRRA

these DPs were rehabilitated and able to reestablish their lives outside the camps through

employment. UNRRA gave DPs the opportunity to improve their lives and although many were

suffering from grief and starvation, the ability to work and contribute provided them with hope

for the future. UNRRA set out with the goal to help the displaced persons of Europe to get back

on their feet by administering the supplies and services necessary to do so. It was through such

opportunities for employment that UNRRA achieved this.

(ii) One of UNRRA’s largest missions was that of displaced children. It had been

estimated that between June and November 1946, 13,878 children entered the American zone.

2,458 of these children were unaccompanied and by December the number had increased to

5,702, all of whom were under UNRRA care.59 In the case of displaced children relief and

rehabilitation was urgent as many of the children had not yet reached the age of five. ‘Newborns

and toddlers could be considered displaced’.60 Children that young required constant attention

and care and so it was UNRRA’s job to provide them with this. The establishment of children's

centers became priority as many felt that children could not be housed in the same camps as

adults due to safety reasons. UNRRA set up fourteen ‘centers in the British zone...six in the

American zone and five in the French zone’.61 Most children were grateful for the opportunity

57 Salvatici, ‘From Displaced Persons’, p. 215. 58 Wyman, DPs, pp 113-114. 59 Feinstein, Holocaust Survivors, p. 163. 60 Anna Andlauer, The Rage to Live: the international DP children’s center Kloster Indersdorf 1945-46 (Weichs,

2012), p. 39. 61 Wyman, DPs, p. 99.

20

to be housed in their own centers as if offered greater opportunities for learning and growth but

there were many children who refused to enter DP camps. There were numerous cases where

children had become accustomed to disorder and crime that they could no longer ‘settle into a

life designed for children’. These children did not agree with the rules and regulations put in

place by camp authorities and so continued their lives without UNRRA care.62

One of the most successful children’s center was Kloster Indersdorf which was run by

UNRRA team 182 and directed by Greta Fischer. The center was set up in an old monastery not

far from Dachau. Indersdorf was considered one of the more ‘luxurious’ centers. Although it did

not have the large space camps like Föhrenwald and Landsberg had, conditions were a lot better.

The building was capable of housing close to five hundred but rather than overcrowd the rooms

with children they utilised the space for ‘lessons and recreation’. Each child had a single bed

and the maximum per room was twenty five.63 Kloster Indersdorf was highly successful in the

rehabilitation of its children. UNRRA workers did everything they possibly could to improve

their living conditions. Although many supplies were scarce and UNRRA workers were ‘not

allowed buy locally’, team 182 and Greta Fischer felt that this should not apply in the case of

the children. Indersdorf workers bought and traded from local Germans as a means of providing

fresh produce to the children. The children were physically weak and malnourished but with the

nourishment provided by the fresh produce their recovery time was halved. In the Rosenheim

children’s center, US soldiers were actively involved in improving the conditions of the children

by building a play room and providing supplies.64 UNRRA workers were willing to try anything

to provide the children with a better standard of living.

62 Pettiss, After the shooting, p. 129. 63 Andlauer, The Rage to Live, p. 58 64 Feinstein, Holocaust Survivors, pp 168-169.

21

Many of the children were in very poor condition both mentally and physically. Thirty

Polish girl who entered Indersdorf after working in Nazi farms were suffering from severe

malnutrition and mental anxiety. They all had lice and a few of the girls had skin infections that

prevented them from wearing shoes; their bandages were soiled and covered in blood. UNRRA

workers were shocked by the decrepit state of the children. The traumas they suffered stunted

their ‘mental growth and nervous balance’.65 UNRRA understood it was important to protect

the children from any further trauma and so a plan was put into motion to remove children from

the larger DP community in which they were subjected to the ‘emotionally unstable and

criminally inclined’ displaced adults.66 The majority of these children had seen horrific scenes

of violence and often witnessed the murder of their parents and loved ones. These children had

been held at gunpoint and forced to work under conditions that left them starved and unstable.

Through hard work and dedication UNRRA workers managed to save these children by

providing them with the means to survive and established comfortable living conditions in

which they could lead normal lives with other children in a family-type environment.

Kloster Indersdorf was very successful in rehabilitating the children physically and

mentally. As the workers sourced local supplies they were able to provide the children with

generous portions with each child receiving up to 2,000 calories if not more a day. UNRRA

observed that eating appeared therapeutic for the children. The children were in constant fear

that the meal could be taken away from them or that there may not be another so food became

precious to them; it acted as a comfort.67 Due to Indersdorf’s outside sources it was better

provisioned than most other camps, especially those housing adults. The rehabilitation of

65 Wyman, DPs, pp 88-89. 66 Feinstein, Holocaust Survivors, p. 160. 67 Andlauer, The Rage to Live, pp 46-48.

22

children was crucial as many were severely damaged that they would not survive in the world

outside the walls of the center. Indersdorf workers found that having children of all age groups

living together aided in their rehabilitation as it created a ‘family atmosphere’ and as well as that

it ‘fostered tolerance and respect’ amongst those of different nationalities.68 The workers within

the center found numerous ways for the children to cope with their traumatic pasts. Such thing

as simple as letting the children choose their own clothing ‘replenished their self-esteem’. It

allowed for the child’s individual taste to shine through and gave them a sense of dignity wearing

something that was aesthetically pleasing to them.69 Counsellors worked around the clock with

the children as UNRRA workers noticed that the children wanted to speak out loud about their

experiences. They wished to make the workers understand what had happened. Repetition

helped the children to distance themselves from what had happened as it became more of a story

rather than a past experience. As the rehabilitation of the children progressed they began to

dramatize their experiences. The children were allowed to put on plays in which they would

reenact certain procedures or events that were carried out within the concentration camps, many

workers were skeptical but it acted as a form of group therapy for the children. It allowed for

the children to confront their demons head-on.70 UNRRA succeeded in rehabilitating the

children physically and mentally but they went even further by providing these children with an

education and with skills that would aid them in their lives outside of the center.

Many of the UNRRA children’s centers established schools as a way of interjecting a

normal routine that many of the children would have been familiar with before the war. School

and education was seen as a key aspect to their recovery. It was used to ‘rebuild the community’

68 Feinstein, Holocaust Survivors, p. 170. 69 Andlauer, The Rage to Live, pp 53-54. 70 Ibid, pp 64, 73.

23

and it aided in the children’s rehabilitation by promoting self confidence in their abilities and

talents. Teachers were scarce so many UNRRA workers looked to adult DPs to help in the

education of the children. Ruth Sender was one such survivor that aided in UNRRA in the

Liepman DP camp by volunteering as a teacher.71 It became compulsory for children between

the ages of five and sixteen to attend school. LaGuardia reported that ‘90% of all children’ within

this age group were attending schools in the ‘assembly centers in Germany’.72 UNRRA managed

to organise classes for thousands of children in the centers and recruited trained teachers and DP

teachers to help with the masses of children entering the camps. The school at Förenwald had a

‘staff of 30 teachers’ that ‘served 320 students’ in October 1945. The following year the school

saw its numbers rise to ‘6,000 students and 1,200 volunteer teachers’.73 The lives of these

children had been completely disrupted by the war and many were now left with the

responsibility of carrying on family and religious traditions. Religion was thought in many of

the schools and as the children developed mentally and physically they began to celebrate

holidays. Jewish children dedicated themselves fully and fasted on Yom Kippur.74 These

developments were crucial for the children’s rehabilitation and would help with their transition

into life outside the camps. UNRRA felt that the children required a ‘re-education for life’ as

many were criminally inclined or aggressive. They were confused and were unsure of what to

do with the feelings they were experiencing. Education and relief from UNRRA gave them the

will to live, the ‘rage to live’ and this is what helped them break through emotional barriers and

to ‘overcome everything’.75

71 Myers, ‘Jewish Displaced Persons’, p. 318. 72 LGWA, 26B1.03, ‘Displaced Persons’ p. 4. 73 Myers, ‘Jewish Displaced Persons’, p. 318. 74 Andlauer, The Rage to Live, p. 74. 75 Ibid, pp 90-93.

24

UNRRA was at the center of the repatriation mission and in September 1945 the council

issued a statement that all teams should encourage the repatriation of all DPs. In 1946, ‘Order

No. 199 was passed’ which meant that UNRRA was in charge of returning as many refugees as

they could home as quickly as possible.76 The repatriation of DPs was not as simple as first

anticipated. It turned out many refugees did not want to return home to their country or city of

origin for ‘religious or political reasons’. UNRRA however were not to get involved in political

conflicts and Herbert Lehman stressed this to his teams that Polish refugees who refused to go

home would lose their DP status and were not to receive UNRRA care.77 There were ‘737,375

DPs in Europe’ by the end of 1945 , 60% of which were Polish but UNRRA came up with the

solution that they would offer a sixty day ration package to those who would return home. This

encouraged the return of ‘46,401 in October’ alone in 1946. UNRRA faced many challenges

regarding the repatriation of DPs but by giving the refugees the supplies to survive for the initial

few months of their return encouraged them to move. Many were reluctant to return because

they became dependent on UNRRA care but through the ration packages they had the means to

care for themselves. UNRRA workers wanted the DPs to be independent of relief supplies and

operations such as this did just that. DPs went home with hope for the future and the means to

feed themselves; it gave them the time to settle into their new lives outside the centers.

UNRRA and its teams across Europe helped displaced persons to rediscover themselves

and supplied them with the means to get their lives back on track. The setting up of DP camps

and children’s centers was critical in the rehabilitation of the refugees. UNRRA gave adults the

supplies and tools to rediscover themselves. They thought the children necessary skills and

lessons that would aid them in their transition into life outside the camps and centers. UNRRA

76 Wyman, DPs, p. 70. 77 The Times (London), 20 August, 1945.

25

provided these people with shelter, food, counselling, medical care and vocational training.

Without UNRRA and its relief workers many more would have died or lived their lives in a state

of poverty and starvation. UNRRA saved the lives of the displaced persons of Europe and gave

them the one tool they all needed to survive, hope.

26

Chapter Three: Medical Relief

This chapter I will discuss the medical relief distributed by UNRRA and the methods used in

controlling the spread of disease in Greece. It will also look at the nurses and other medical

personnel involved in the operations of the Administration. The health work carried out by

UNRRA accounted for ‘168 million dollars’ of the final budget of 3.7 billion dollars.78 Included

in this figure would have been vaccines, medical supplies and sanitation equipment. In the first

session of the Council it outlined the medical services that UNRRA would be expected to

provide:

These services include not only disease control and relief from malnutrition, but also

the reestablishment of medical services, hospitals, dispensaries, sanitoria, health

centers, laboratories, environmental sanitation, maternity and child welfare services,

the control of endemic diseases, particularly tuberculosis and venereal diseases, and

other essentials for health.79

Greece suffered greatly during the war and the situation when UNRRA arrived was chaotic. It

was clear that UNRRA would have to provide nearly all services outlined above due to the

condition of the country. Production had come to a halt, the monetary system was no more and

the people were in a critical condition. Their basic means for survival had been stripped from

them by the war. They had very little ‘food, clothing, fuel and shelter’.80 The need for UNRRA

78 Wilbur A. Sawyer, ‘Achievements of UNRRA as an International Health Organisation’ in American Journal of

Public Health, 37 (1947), p. 41. 79 First Session of the Council of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitations Administration, ‘Report of the

Subcommittee on Policies with Respect to Health and Medical Care’: Selected Documents, p. 140. 80 Flora Tsilaga, ‘‘The Mountain Laboured and Brought Forth a Mouse’: UNRRA’s operations in the Cyclades

Islands c. 1945-46’ in Journal of Contemporary History, 43 (2008), pp 527-528.

27

care in Greece was evident as the country was not only in a state of post-war destruction but

was also being ravaged by Civil War which broke out in 1945.81 All relief in Greece was to be

handled by UNRRA and so it became the responsibility of the Administration to open hospitals,

training centers, administer medical relief and to control contagion. Allison MacBride, the

public health nursing consultant, wrote in her article which outlined the medical staff

requirements of UNRRA that ‘for the time that UNRRA operated in a country’ it would be ‘the

official administrative agency’ and while it is in operation ‘voluntary agency personnel will

serve under the direction of UNRRA.’82 The level of destruction in Greece was very high and

so it was necessary for the Administration to draft in the help of other private organisations such

as the ‘British Red Cross, Mobile Hygiene and First Aid Unit’.83 UNRRA’s work across Europe

was monumental in size and in Greece the pressing issue of disease and contamination had to

be dealt with quickly and efficiently. The reconstruction and rehabilitation of Greece relied

heavily on the contributions of UNRRA and through an in depth analysis of the aid and relief

provided it becomes evident that disease and starvation would have prevailed without it.

As mentioned previously in chapters one and two, the shortage of food was affecting all

countries and initiated the spread of disease. Without vitamins and minerals the people had no

way of fighting infection; without food supplies the rehabilitation of Greece would not have

been possible. Many within the hospitals felt the only cure for the patients was food and not

medicine. Director General Fiorella LaGuardia made the situation quite clear in an interview

with the NBC in June 1946 that Greece was in a state of emergency. There were no bread rations

left in the country and without UNRRA food supplies the population had nothing else to live

81 Olive Baggallay, ‘UNRRA Nurses in Athens Hospitals’ in The American Journal of Nursing, 45 (1945), p. 635. 82 Alison MacBride, ‘Opportunities with UNRRA’ in The American Journal of Nursing, 44 (1944), p. 1064. 83 Baggallay, ‘UNRRA nurses in Athens’, p. 635.

28

off. In this interview he informed the presenter that due to supplies being ‘fifteen days late’ that

one out of every five peasants were found surviving on ‘roots and weeds’. Seventy five per cent

of food consumption in Greece was from foreign aid.84 It was not only Greece that relied so

heavily on UNRRA supplies either. Across the continent almost 150 million Europeans were

‘absolutely dependent on UNRRA’.85 These people had nothing to live on if they did not receive

food from the Administration. The battle against starvation and disease were one of the same as

there was no possible way of eliminating disease unless malnutrition and starvation were

eradicated. An expert on nutrition, Dr. Frank G. Boudreau stated that ‘the seeds of disease’ had

been ‘sown all over Europe’ and they had been ‘kept alive by hunger and malnutrition’.86 It was

crucial that UNRRA get to the people the sustenance and aid they required for rehabilitation and

so they made it their mission to tap the world’s surplus resources and make them available

wherever needed.87

Tuberculosis, typhoid and malaria were all diseases that the UNRRA teams came face

to face with on a regular basis. Sanitation procedures needed to be put in place immediately as

the issue of contamination was critical in Greece. Daniel E. Wright, the head of the sanitation

section of UNRRA, wrote to LaGuardia in June 1946 informing him that in order to control

typhoid, the rural water supplies would have to be decontaminated at the cost of $500,000.88

There were several water-borne diseases that needed to be controlled which meant UNRRA

teams and accompanying organisations had to work constantly in the purification of domestic

84 David H. Close, ‘War, Medical Advance and the Improvement of Health in Greece, 1944-53’ in South

European Society and Politics, 9 (2010), p. 20. 85 LaGuardia and Wagner Archives (LGWA), 26B1.03 ‘Our Foreign Policy: The World Food Crisis’, June 8,

1946, pp 4-7. 86 New York Times, 13 November, 1943. 87 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), ‘Fighting war disease; UNRRA film’ in The Pale

Horseman, 902, 1946. http://www.ushmm.org/online/film/display/detail.php?file_num=1374 88 LGWA, 26B1.13. Daniel E. Wright, ‘Memo to Director General Mr. LaGuardia’, p. 2

29

water supplies. It was necessary to make the ‘urban water supplies drinkable by protection of

their sources’ and so piping the water in areas close to the homes of the people became one

method of decontamination. The introduction of chlorination, especially in the port of Patras,

resulted in the ‘disappearance of typhoid by late 1946.’89 DDT powder was made readily

available to Greece through Wright’s campaign enforcing the need for the extensive use of the

disinfectant. DDT was used in small quantities for spraying people in camps and hospitals, but

was also used on a larger scale being spread by planes across the country. Greece received the

largest shipment of DDT compared to any other country under UNRRA care; in full Greece

obtained three hundred tons of pure DDT.90

In Europe twenty to thirty million children were undernourished and the hospitals were

full with tubercular children.91 On the Island of Siros, UNRRA members arrived in October

1944 and observed that many of the boys and girls in their mid-teens looked like children of

nine or ten. The effects of malnutrition and disease had stunted their development massively.92

The spread of disease became a global concern and it was the topic of many council meetings

in an attempt to eliminate the problem quickly and efficiently. In May 1946, the Post-War World

Council was addressed by Dorothy Thompson where she informed them that the ‘tuberculosis

rate’ was the ‘highest in history’ and that people were dying from ‘digestive disturbances’.93 Dr.

J.B McDougall was at the head of the tuberculosis programme in Greece and it was to him, and

other professionals like him, that UNRRA consulted on the conditions of the country.94 He wrote

89 Close, ‘Improvement of Health in Greece’, p. 18. 90 Katerina Gardikas, ‘Relief Work and Malaria in Greece, 1943-1947’ in Journal of Contemporary History, 43

(2008), pp 503-504. 91 LGWA 26B1.03, ‘World Food Crisis’, p. 5 92 Tsilaga, ‘Operations in the Cyclades’, p. 531. 93 LGWA 26B1.03, ‘Speech by Dorothy Thompson to the audience of the Invisible Guest Dinner held by the

Post-War World Council’, May 1946. 94 Close, ‘Improvement of Health in Greece’, p. 12.

30

in 1946 that Greece suffered ‘20,000 deaths per annum’ due to tuberculosis and there were

100,000 patients in urgent need of treatment. He highlights the fact that without UNRRA

specialists, the equipment UNRRA made available to the antituberculosis campaign would have

been ‘lost to Greece’. His report states that there were no technicians in Greece to make use of

such apparatus.95 Reports such as these make it evident that without UNRRA personnel and

relief workers, the population of Greece would have found it next to impossible to survive

without such aid.

Malaria was a very serious issue in Greece, and even before 1941 there had been masses

amount of work done on mapping the disease. The Rockefeller Foundation had been working

with the School of Hygiene and had set up the spraying programme in 1937.96 In their attempts

to remove the threat of malaria it was necessary that they get the mosquito problem under

control. There were several methods used which Wright outlined in his report to LaGuardia in

July, 1946. In the decontamination of houses and stables they used a ‘5% mix of DDT’ for

spraying, including ‘all breeding places’. They sprayed all ‘swamp areas...by airplane, using

20% DDT mix’.97 These organised sprayings continued until the 1960s which led to the

disappearance of the disease in the 1970s.98 By making sanitation equipment and medical aid

supplies so readily available in such vast quantities to countries such as Greece, UNRRA

manage to contain the spread of disease and eliminate the threat much quicker than would have

ever been possible had it been left up to the Greek authorities.

95 LGWA 26B1.13, Dr. J.B. McDougall, ‘Notes on the Tuberculosis Programmes in Greece’ in United Nations

Relief and Rehabilitation Administration Greece Mission. 96 Close, ‘Improvement of Health in Greece’, p. 16 97 Wright, ‘Memo to Director General Mr. LaGuardia’, p. 2. 98 Close, ‘Improvement of Health in Greece’, p. 16.

31

The nursing and medical staff played a pivotal role in UNRRA’s success as an

international health organisation. In Greece the nursing staff did a fantastic job in reopening

hospitals and training centers for young graduate nurses. They managed to carry out

unimaginable tasks of caring for considerably large groups of patients with very little equipment

and staff. In March 1946, UNRRA employed 3,137 people ‘of whom 516 were categorized as

Class 1. This group would have consisted of ‘professional physicians, sanitary engineers,

hospital administrators, nurses and nutritionists.’99 Before the arrival of the UNRRA Balkan

Mission in March 1944, Margaret G. Arnstein reported that there may only have been one nurse

in charge of an eighty five bed hospital and their duties would also include the operating room

and the out-patient clinic. This nurse may then only have been aided by one other graduate nurse.

Arnstein however, complimented the job being carried out in these hospitals as the nursing staff

were very efficient.100 More often than not these women had little or no choice but to carry out

the job they were assigned to do to the best of their abilities. The nursing staff was known for

its efficiency as UNRRA looked for certain desirable attributes in its nursing staff. MacBride

outlines that it was important that the nurses have ‘excellent professional references’, that they

have the ‘ability to pass a physical examination’ and that they had certain qualities regarding

their personality as they would be expected to deal with very sensitive and disturbing matters.

These nurses were expected to be able to ‘promote good relationships’ as they came into contact

with several different nationalities, some of whom may not have always seen eye to eye.101

These women were instrumental in the success of UNRRA’s operations in Greece and other

European countries. They were capable of undertaking tasks beyond their own training, they

99 Close, ‘Improvement of Health in Greece’, p. 12. 100 Margaret G. Arnstein, ‘Nursing in UNRRA Middle East Refugee Camps’ in The American Journal of Nursing,

45 (1945), p. 379. 101 MacBride,’ Opportunities with UNRRA’, p. 1064.

32

were able to adjust to their surroundings and they provided the very best medical care their

supplies would allow.

Many camps and hospitals were set up in the Balkans and Greece by UNRRA to cope

with the number of undernourished people suffering from numerous types of illnesses. Arnstein

writes that there were several different camps and the numbers often varied. The largest camps

that were in operation during the Balkan Mission were Nuseirat in Palestine and Moses Wells

on the Gulf of Suez. Both these camps cared for Greek refugees who had been dislocated during

occupation. El Shatt was the largest camp and housed 20,000 people. Tolumbat was a camp

specifically for the care of mothers and children. In total these camps held up to 40,000

refugees.102 These refugees required round the clock attention from UNRRA medical staff and

one of the most common requests made by nurses at this time was for more staff. There were

very few local nurses and it was important to have a staff that could speak the language of the

refugees, or to at least have adequate English to get by with. Arnstein highlights the issues in

the camps that many of the nursing staff encountered. Language was certainly one problem as

many of the staff and refugees were from different parts of the world, she found that even the

American and British nurses had a different dialect. This led to issues regarding the length of

time nurses had to spend in the hospitals and camps as written orders could not be left behind

and many of the aides were unable to chart. Other issues included the location of these centers;

many were located in the desert or former military hospitals. One of the hospitals in Arnstein’s

report of the conditions was an ex-army hospital which had its buildings situated far apart in the

case of bombings which led to nurses having to walk a lengthy distance for supplies or

medication. The camps set up in the desert caused problems for the European refugees as they

102 Arnstein, ‘Middle east refugee camps’, p. 378.

33

were unaccustomed to the heat and many young children and infants died from dehydration.103

Readjustment was difficult for many but nurses coped and tackled the issues as quickly as

possible.

Similarly to the DP camps in Western Europe, the UNRRA staff provided training for

refugee aides in the hospitals and camps. After several months these aides were the solution to

many of the problems the nurses had been facing. These aides were able to provide ‘very good

elementary nursing care’ and many of whom who had completed several months of training

were given the responsibility of taking charge of a ward with assistance from UNRRA staff.

This gave the refugees a sense of independence and it also gave the medical staff more time to

spend with patients who required emergency aid. Arnstein stated that these aides were not just

being trained to aid in the running of the camps and hospitals but that the objective was to

prepare ‘them for life and work in their own country’ when they returned.104 UNRRA’s policy

of helping the people obtain the skills they would need to further their careers after rehabilitation

was evident in all center’s across Europe. In the Athens hospital Olive Baggallay described the

conditions as stabilized but that this was not done by UNRRA staff but ‘it was all done by the

Greeks themselves’ with the help of UNRRA.105 During the initial meetings of the

Administration the objective was to help the people to help themselves and through this service

UNRRA was able to not only provide relief, but was able to rehabilitate the people of post-war

Europe, physically, mentally and vocationally. Medical relief was a decisive aspect in the

reconstruction and rehabilitation of Greece and the Balkans. The need to curtail such an

epidemic was crucial in the survival of the people and for the prevention of worldwide

103 Arnstein, ‘Middle east refugee camps’, pp 378-380. 104 Ibid, p. 380. 105 Baggallay, ‘UNRRA nurses in Athens’, p. 636.

34

contamination. With such large numbers of refugees travelling across the continent the spread

of disease was inevitable, but through the relief and supplies administered by UNRRA the threat

was diminished quickly and efficiently; UNRRA’s efforts were instrumental in

35

Conclusion.

UNRRA was one of the largest international relief organisations seen in history and what this

project set out to do was to argue that it played a significant role in the rehabilitation of the

displaced persons of post-war Europe. Without UNRRA, would it have been possible for the

refugees to recover from their horrific experiences during the war? Would they have been

rehabilitated to the same extent if UNRRA aid had not been made so readily available to them?

Through the evidence provided it appears that UNRRA’s role was not only significant, but it

was necessary. This project began by introducing UNRRA as an international organisation but

as it progressed it was evident that the Administration was seen as much more than a relief

organisation to the displaced persons of Europe, UNRRA became their life source.

UNRRA set out to provide a large quantity of aid in a short period of time. It was known

from the outset that UNRRA would not be in operation ten years after its establishment. With

this goal in mind, even though there were numerous setbacks, the organisation still administered

24 million tons of relief supplies and provided funding of almost four billion US dollars. This

may have been a smaller figure than they had anticipated when drawing up the plans but it

cannot be denied that the sheer quantity of supplies and services provided assisted considerably

to the rehabilitation of DPs across Europe. UNRRA sought out the untapped sources and made

them available to those who were suffering from the effects of the war. Malnutrition and

starvation were a consequence of the war and Herbert H. Lehman set out to feed the hungry

peoples of the Europe. Fiorello H. LaGuardia continued this work as Director General and

through his speeches and conferences with the media and council the reality of the task became

more evident. He commented on the condition of the people, the land, and the resources. He

36

made it clear that the DPs in Europe had little or nothing and it was through the work of UNRRA

that this was able to change.

This project was concerned mainly on the DP situation in Europe and the

rehabilitation process that was put in place by UNRRA. The erection of DP camps across Europe

was a combined effort of UNRRA and the military. These camps however could not have been

successful without the trained personnel that the Administration made available. Several

hundreds of fully qualified and experienced personnel were amongst the 25,000 UNRRA relief

workers. These professionals included doctors, nurses, social workers and sanitary engineers.

The camps were vital in the rehabilitation of DPs as they provided clean clothing, medical care

and safety. The camps were often cramped and many resembled previous concentration camps

but through the efforts of the relief workers a sense of normality was injected into the lives of

the refugees. Many found comfort in being around people of their own ethnicity or religious

groups, others found comfort in education or work, and some even found comfort in marriage

and reproduction. UNRRA provided DPs with a purpose which was reinforced further by

providing vocational opportunities for those who were already skilled in a certain trade and

training for those who were not. In providing such opportunities UNRRA became crucial to the

survival of DPs, not only inside the camps, but outside as well. Occupational training was vital

for the resettlement of DPs who were not repatriated.

In the case of children it is clear that UNRRA played a significant role in their

recovery and development. Through the establishment of centre’s such as Kloster Indersdorf

UNRRA was capable of providing round the clock care for the younger children and babies.

Social workers that had been employed by UNRRA came to see that the children not only

needed food to feed their souls but they needed purpose as well. Many of these children had

37

been subjected to torture and cruelty from a very young age and so had been physically and

mentally beaten for most of their lives. They needed nurturing, but more importantly they

needed an education. Most were unfamiliar with social protocol and so had to be taught morals

and manors; simple tasks such as table etiquette were enforced. UNRRA provided DP children

with a family environment which was essential for their rehabilitation and development. Many

of these children were so deprived of food and love that many of them would not have survived

if it had not been for UNRRA care. UNRRA relief provided these children with the means to

survive and through the workers within the centre’s they were rehabilitated to the extent that

they could be reintroduced back into society. UNRRA did not only play a significant role in the

rehabilitation of the children but it played a significant role in their future. The children were

given a safe environment in which they could come to terms with the events that had unfolded

before them. They received the counselling and provisions necessary for their recovery.

As outlined in the UNRRA Agreement it was necessary for the Administration to

provide aid that of food and clothing, and this is exactly what the organisation did in Greece.

Disease threatened the lives of the DPs in the East and if the problem of contagion had not been

controlled by the UNRRA sanitation team it would have become a world-wide issue as refugees

were travelling across the continent in large numbers. UNRRA played a significant role in the

elimination of typhoid, malaria and tuberculosis. The Administration made three hundred tons

of DDT available to Greece throughout its mission and it implemented regular sprayings on a

large scale. Without such supplies and services the spread of disease would have been inevitable.

The military aided UNRRA in its mission to chlorinate the water and to make fresh water

available to people living in remote areas by piping a source close to their settlement. UNRRA’s

control of disease in Greece was instrumental in the survival of several thousand DPs. Nurses

38

and doctors in Greece were unable to cope with the numbers of infirmed refugees, and so in

keeping with UNRRA’s goal to help the people to regain self-sufficiency they hired them as

nursing aides. UNRRA provided opportunities for training and gave DPs a purpose in life, they

gained independence and self-confidence. There were very view local medical professionals

available to work in hospitals or camps so it is made clear through reports from Daniel E. Wright

that DPs would have been left to die if it had not been for the UNRRA staff which had been sent

to prevent pestilence and control contagion.

UNRRA’s work as an international aid organisation was successful in that it provided

relief to those who were suffering and aided them in their rehabilitation. Many DPs were

physically and mentally unwell and UNRRA understood the importance in providing a future

for these people. The goal was to provide them with the tools necessary to rebuild their own

lives and to help them obtain self-sufficiency. It was understood that it was important for there

to be no further declines in the population of Europe, for both cultural and economic reasons.

The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration proved its significance in the

rehabilitation of the displaced persons of Europe by allowing them to re-enter society with the

hope, training and the skills necessary for a prosperous, self-sufficient future.

39

Appendix.

I

Article I

There is hereby established the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

1. The Administration shall have power to acquire, hold and convey property, to enter into

contracts and undertake obligations, to designate or create agencies and to review the activities

of agencies as created, to manage undertakings and in general to perform any legal act

appropriate to its objects and purposes.

2. Subject to the provisions of Article VII, the purposes and functions of the Administration

shall be as follows:

(a) To plan, coordinate, administer or arrange for the administration of measures for the relief

of victims of war in any area under the control of any of the United Nations through the provision

of food, fuel, clothing, shelter and other basic necessities, medical and other essential services;

and to facilitate in such areas, so far as necessary to the adequate provision of relief, the

production and transportation of these articles and the furnishing of these services. The form of

activities of the Administration within the territory of a member government wherein that

government exercises administrative authority and the responsibility to be assumed by the

member government for carrying out measures planned by the Administration therein shall be

determined after consultation with and with the consent of the member government.

(b) To formulate and recommend measures for individual or joint action by any or all of the

member governments for the coordination of purchasing, the use of ships and other procurement

activities in the period following the cessation of hostilities, with a view to integrating the plans

and activities of the Administration with the total movement of supplies, and for the purpose of

40

achieving an equitable distribution of available supplies. The Administration may administer

such coordination measures as may be authorized by the member governments concerned.

(c) To study, formulate and recommend for individual or joint action by any or all of the member

governments measures with respect to such related matters, arising out of its experience in

planning and performing the work of relief and rehabilitation, as may be proposed by any of the

member governments. Such proposals shall be studied and recommendations formulated if the

proposals are supported by a vote of the Council, and the recommendations shall be referred to

any or all of the member governments for individual or joint action if approved by unanimous

vote of the Central Committee and by the vote of the Council.

II

Article VII

Notwithstanding any other provision herein contained, while hostilities or other military

necessities exist in any area, the Administration and its Director General shall not undertake

activities therein without the consent of the military command of that area, and unless subject

to such control as the command may find necessary. The determination that such hostilities or

military necessities exist in any area shall be made by its military commander.

III

Article IV

1. The executive authority of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration shall

be in the Director General, who shall be appointed by the Council on the nomination by

41

unanimous vote of the Central Committee. The Director General may be removed by the

Council on recommendation by unanimous vote of the Central Committee.

2. The Director General shall have full power and authority for carrying out relief operations

contemplated by Article I, paragraph 2 (a), within the limits of available resources and the broad

policies determined by the Council or its Central Committee. Immediately upon taking office

he shall in conjunction with the military and other appropriate authorities of the United Nations

prepare plans for the emergency relief of the civilian population in any area occupied by the

armed forces of any of the United Nations, arrange for the procurement and assembly of the

necessary supplies and create or select the emergency organization required for this purpose. In

arranging for the procurement, transportation, and distribution of supplies and services, he and

his representatives shall consult with the appropriate authorities of the United Nations and shall,

wherever practicable, use the facilities made available by such authorities. Foreign voluntary

relief agencies may not engage in activity in any area receiving relief from the Administration

without the consent and unless subject to the regulation of the Director General. The powers

and duties of the Director General are subject to the limitations of Article VII.

3. The Director General shall also be responsible for the organization and direction of the

functions contemplated by Article I, paragraphs 2 (b) and 2 (c).

4. The Director General shall appoint such Deputy Directors General, officers, expert personnel,

and staff at his headquarters and elsewhere, including field missions, as he shall find necessary,

and he may delegate to them such of his powers as he may deem appropriate. The Director

General, or upon his authorization the Deputy Directors General, shall supply such secretariat

and other staff and facilities as shall be required by the Council and its committees, including

the regional committees and subcommittees. Such Deputy Directors General as shall be assigned

42

special functions within a region shall attend meetings of the regional standing committee

whenever possible and shall keep it advised on the progress of the relief and rehabilitation

program within the region.

5. The Director General shall make periodic reports to the Central Committee and to the Council

covering the progress of the Administration's activities. The reports shall be made public except

for such portions as the Central Committee may consider it necessary, in the interest of the

United Nations, to keep confidential; if a report affects the interests of a member government in

such a way as to render it questionable whether it should be published, such government shall

have an opportunity of expressing its views on the question of publication. The Director General

shall also arrange to have prepared periodic reports covering the activities of the Administration

within each region and he shall transmit such reports with his comments thereon to the Council,

the Central Committee and the respective regional committees.

43

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