Reinventing French Aid
The Politics of Humanitarian Relief in French-Occupied Germany, 1945–1952

An original insight into how occupation officials and relief workers controlled and cared for Displaced Persons in the French zone.

Laure Humbert (Author)

9781108831352, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 May 2021

350 pages
15 x 23 x 2.5 cm, 0.67 kg

'Filling a gap in our understanding of the displaced persons' experience, Humbert's book convincingly explores how policy in the French occupation zone was shaped by postwar French domestic politics, French global ambitions, as well as the experiences of the interwar and Vichy periods, and how it impacted the displaced. Lynne Taylor, University of Waterloo

Laure Humbert explores how humanitarian aid in occupied Germany was influenced by French politics of national recovery and Cold War rivalries. She examines the everyday encounters between French officials, members of new international organizations, relief workers, defeated Germans and Displaced Persons, who remained in the territory of the French zone prior to their repatriation or emigration. By rendering relief workers and Displaced Persons visible, she sheds lights on their role in shaping relief practices and addresses the neglected issue of the gendering of rehabilitation. In doing so, Humbert highlights different cultures of rehabilitation, in part rooted in pre-war ideas about 'overcoming' poverty and war-induced injuries and, crucially, she unearths the active and bottom-up nature of the restoration of France's prestige. Not only were relief workers concerned about the image of France circulating in DP camps, but they also drew DP artists into the orbit of French cultural diplomacy in Germany.

Introduction
Part I. The Politics of Relief: 1. The Politics of Immigration: Unwanted Wartime Collaborators or Ideal White Settlers?
2. In the Shadow of Nazi Occupation: Making and Overseeing DP Camps
3. The Politics of Neutrality: Repatriating and Screening DPs in the Early Cold War
Part II. Reconstructing the Body, Rehabilitating the Mind: 4. The 'Broken' DP: 'Remaking' the Minds and Bodies of Refugees
5. 'Rehabilitation' through Work? Vocational Training and DP Employment
6. Transforming DPs into French Citizens? The Resettlement of DPs in France
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], European history [HBJD], Regional & national history [HBJ], General & world history [HBG], History [HB], Humanities [H]