United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

Founding and authority

The First World War displaced more refugees than in Europeans' living memory, first from Belgium in 1914, later in eastern Europe, cf. the civil wars and new national boundaries of 1917–19. Relief was undertaken largely by private charities, often American as organized by Herbert Hoover. The Second World War seemed likely to create still more refugees, prompting governments to act: U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed the agency in June 1943, to provide relief to areas liberated from Axis Powers when the fighting ended. Roosevelt had already obtained the approval of the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China; he later obtained endorsements from 40 other governments to form the first "United Nations" organization.

The Agreement for United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration founding document was signed by 44 countries in the White House in Washington on 9 November 1943. UNRRA was headed by a Director-General and governed by a Council (composed of representatives of all state parties) with a Central Committee representing the United States, Britain, China, and the Soviet Union. The other countries who signed the agreement included: Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, the French Committee of National Liberation, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia.

Although the UNRRA was called a "United Nations" agency, it was established prior to the founding of the United Nations. The explanation for this is that the term "United Nations" was used at the time to refer to the Allies of World War II, having been originally coined for that purpose by Roosevelt in 1942.

Although initially restricted by its constitution to render aid only to nationals from the United Nations (the Allies), this was changed late in 1944, in response to pleas from Jewish organizations who were concerned with the fate of surviving Jews of German nationality, to also include "other persons who have been obliged to leave their country or place of origin or former residence or who have been deported therefrom by action of the enemy because of race, religion or activities in favor of the United Nations."

UNRRA operated in occupied Germany, primarily in camps for displaced persons, especially the 11,000,000 non-Germans who had been moved into Germany during the war, but did not render assistance to ethnic Germans.

In Asia, the organization provided assistance in the Dutch East Indies, Korea, and China (including Taiwan). China was the largest recipient of funds.

UNRRA Headquarters was in Washington, D.C., and the European Regional Office was set up in London. The organization was subject to the authority of the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) in Europe and was directed by three Americans during the four years of its existence:

• Herbert Lehman (1 January 1944−31 March 1946), former Governor of New York
• Fiorello La Guardia (1 April−31 December 1946), former Mayor of New York, who later learned that his sister Gemma and other relatives had been imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps
• Lowell Ward Rooks (1 January 1947−30 September 1948)

Operations

UNRRA funds became a point of tension in the relations between the United States and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government of China when Chiang pushed to control the disposition of funds in China to ensure that relief funds did not go to the Communist-governed areas of the country. These tensions worsened during the Chinese Civil War.

By 1947, UNRRA was running nearly 800 resettlement camps, housing over 700,000 people. Forty-four nations contributed to funding, supplying, and staffing the agency, of which the United States was the leading donor. The largest recipients of UNRRA commodity aid, in millions of US dollars were China, $518; Poland $478; Italy $418; Yugoslavia $416; Greece $347; Czechoslovakia $261; Ukraine (USSR) $188; and Austria $136. A number of academic assessments state that UNRRA was not perfect and was troubled by inefficiency, poor planning, shortages of supplies, and some incompetent personnel. On balance however, many argue that it was a major success in terms of delivering aid, food, and medicine, and helping Europe on the path to recovery, especially Eastern and Southern Europe.

In popular culture

The activities of the UNRRA, as well as the plight of displaced orphans in post-war Europe, is portrayed in Fred Zinnemann’s contemporaneous film The Search. The child actor in the film, Ivan Jandl, was awarded a special Academy Juvenile Award and a Golden Globe Award for his portrayal of Karel Malik. Jandl was prohibited from attending either ceremony by the Czech communist government.

Films

• U.N.R.R.A. presents In the Wake of the Armies ..., a 1944 National Film Board of Canada documentary about the U.N.R.R.A.
• The Search (Director: Fred Zinnemann, Starring: Montgomery Clift) 1948 Filmed in post-war Berlin: A story which brings to life UNRRA work in 1945 Germany.
• Sami swoi, 1967 - a Polish comedy on post-war peasant life, in which an UNRRA-delivered horse is an important action point.

References

References

1. "Legislação Informatizada - DECRETO-LEI Nº 6.987, DE 25 DE OUTUBRO DE 1944 - Publicação Original".
2. (February 15, 1947). "Fifty Facts about UNRRA".
3. "Agreement for United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration". Ibiblio.org.
4. Johnson, Robert H.. (1951). "International Politics and the Structure of International Organization: The Case of UNRRA". World Politics.
5. Hitchcock, 246–247
6. Reinisch, Jessica. (2011). "Internationalism in Relief: The Birth (and Death) of UNRRA". Past and Present.
7. "Agreement For Unrra". Ibiblio.org.
8. "Agreement for United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
9. (1965). "[[Formosa Betrayed (1965 book)". Houghton Mifflin.
10. "Netherlands East Indies - Relief Program - UNARMS".
11. Coble, Parks M.. (2023). "The Collapse of Nationalist China: How Chiang Kai-shek Lost China's Civil War". [[Cambridge University Press]].
12. "Archival Finding Aid of the UNRRA records". Archives.un.org.
13. Gemma LaGuardia Gluck. (15 Mar 2007). "Fiorello's Sister: Gemma La Guardia Gluck's Story". Syracuse University Press.
14. [https://www.nytimes.com/1973/05/12/archives/funeral-service-set-monday-for-maj-gen-lowell-rooks.html ''New York Times'', "Funeral Service Set Monday For Maj. Gen. Lowell Rooks"], 12 May 1973. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
15. (1950). "UNRRA: the History of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration". Columbia University Press.
16. "Colin Bundy, "Migrants, refugees, history and precedents." ''Forced Migration Review'', Jan 2016".
17. Numbers in Woodbridge. Quoted e.g. by Hitchcock 2008 p 220
18. e.g. Hitchcock, 225