Європейські історичні студії (Nov 2018)
Major vectors of cooperation of the War Refugee Board with non-governmental organizations (1944 – 1945)
Abstract
The article analyzes one of the areas of the operational work of the War Refugee Board, an American governmental agency that emerged at the end of the World War II. The purpose of the new US government structure was to plan and implement relief and rescue actions for Jews and Nazi minorities persecuted in wartime. This organization appeared in early 1944 due to the efforts of the Secretary to the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. and with the support of President Franklin Roosevelt. The WRB complemented the international organizations system on refugees, the active participant of which was the US government. The article shows that during the sixteen months of its existence the researched governmental structure was able to carry out specific tasks in the territory of the neutral and occupied countries as it was subordinated exclusively by the American administration. On the other hand, the WRB appeared more flexible in its operational activities in comparison with International institutions and entities (the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation initiative) which needed overall consensus in decision-making process. It is revealed that the important part of the work of the War Refugee Board was to cooperate with public non-governmental organizations. The range of American Jewish and Christian structures that established close partnership with the War Refugee Board has been identified. Considerable attention is paid to the analysis of the main directions of bilateral cooperation. An important element in the implementation of US aid policy in the European armed forces was the involvement of a number of financial resources licensed by the US Department of Defense, of non-governmental organizations, mainly Jewish. It was reached that financial and diplomatic work in the neutral countries of Europe was an indispensable part of the work of the WRB, which was augmented by the cooperation with agents of non-governmental organizations on the occupied territories.
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