The Red Cross and the Holocaust

This book presents a startling assessment of the role of the Red Cross in the Holocaust.

Jean-Claude Favez (Author), John Fletcher (Translated by), Beryl Fletcher (Translated by)

9780521415873, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 November 1999

388 pages, 1 map
23.5 x 16.1 x 3.1 cm, 0.77 kg

'Favez is the first historian to have been granted complete access to the records of the Red Cross, and he has mined them well … The Red Cross and the Holocaust ably documents a crucial chapter in the history of the Shoah and constitutes an important contribution to the historiography of international responses to this unprecedented tragedy.' Studies in Contemporary Jewry

The Red Cross and the Holocaust presents a startling assessment of the role of the world's most famous charity in World War II. Was the Red Cross aware of the appalling sufferings of the victims of the concentration camps? How much did its International Committee know about the deportation and extermination of the Jews in Europe? Did it try to protect the persecuted Jews? In what ways could it have helped them, given the neutrality which was the basis of its foundation? These questions have remained unanswered for more than fifty years and have sparked off bitter debates. Jean-Claude Favez here presents a fundamental reappraisal, informed by unrivalled access to the archives of the Red Cross. This magisterial work includes a chronology, indices, biographical notes, and a statement by the charity's current leaders: anyone interested in the complexity and tragedy of the Holocaust will find this compelling reading.

Introduction
Part I. The Background: 1. The Red Cross, political prisoners and racial persecution before 1939
2. Secrecy, rumour, information
3. The door that stayed shut
4. Ways and means
Part II. The ICRC and Political and Racial Persecution in Hitler's Europe: 5. The occupied countries
6. The satellites
7. The Axis allies
Part III. Another Turn of the Screw: 8. The drama of retreat, persecution and action played out in Hungary
9. Aid and protection on the eve of liberation
10. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Second World War [HBWQ], European history [HBJD]