Overview
- Description
- Selected files of the Executive Office, Office of Country Mission Affairs, and European Mission Affairs: Agreements to establish various country missions, postwar relief plans, reports, polices and analysis on displaced persons, health and medical requirements, field and intelligence reports and statistics on country field missions, European mission affairs, and miscellaneous correspondence.
- Date
-
inclusive:
1943-1949
- Collection Creator
- United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)
- Biography
-
The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was an international relief agency representing 44 nations, but largely dominated by the United States. Founded in 1943, it became part of the United Nations (UN) in 1945, and it largely shut down operations in 1947. Its purpose was to "plan, co-ordinate, 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." Its staff of civil servants included 12,000 people, with headquarters in New York. Funding came from many nations, and totaled $3.7 billion, of which the United States contributed $2.7 billion; Britain $625 million and Canada $139 million. The Administration of UNRRA at the peak of operations in mid-1946 included five types of offices and missions with a staff totaling nearly 25,000: The Headquarters Office in Washington, The European Regional Office (London), the 29 servicing offices and missions (2 area offices in Cairo and Sydney; 10 liaison offices and missions in Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Trieste; 12 procurement offices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and later Peru, Cuba, India, Mexico, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela; 6 offices for procurement of surplus military supplies in Caserta and later Rome, Honolulu, Manila, New Delhi, Paris, Shanghai), the sixteen missions to receiving countries (Albania, Austria, Byelorussia, China, Czechoslovakia, the Dodecanese Islands, Ethiopia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Korea, the Philippines, Poland, Ukraine, Yugoslavia), and the Displaced Persons Operations in Germany.
UNRRA cooperated closely with dozens of volunteer charitable organizations, who sent hundreds of their own agencies to work alongside UNRRA. In operation only three years, the agency distributed about $4 billion worth of goods, food, medicine, tools, and farm implements at a time of severe global shortages and worldwide transportation difficulties. The recipient nations had been especially hard hit by starvation, dislocation, and political chaos. It played a major role in helping Displaced Persons return to their home countries in Europe in 1945-46. Its UN functions were transferred to several UN agencies, including the International Refugee Organization and the World Health Organization. As an American relief agency, it was largely replaced by the Marshall Plan, which began operations in 1948. [Source: UN Original finding aid of records of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)]
- Reference
- Citing UN Archives: https://archives.un.org/content/citing-un-archives
UN finding aid: https://archives.un.org/sites/archives.un.org/files/files/Finding%20Aids/2015_Finding_Aids/AG-018-004.pdf
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Genre/Form
- Cables. Charts. Correspondence. Manuals. Reports. Statistics.
- Extent
-
55,029 digital images : JPEG ; 39.8 GB .
- System of Arrangement
- Selected files arranged in three series: 1. Executive Office (S-1241 to S-1243); 2. Office of Country Mission Affairs (S-1244 and S-1245); 3. European Mission Affairs (S-1246 and S-1247).
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- This material can only be accessed in a Museum reading room or other on-campus viewing stations. No other access restrictions apply to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- The United Nations Archives is a holder of the copyrights of this collection.
- Copyright Holder
- United Nations Archives and Records Management Section
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- World War, 1939-1945--Civilian relief. World War, 1939-1945--Refugees. War relief--United States--History--20th century. War relief--Europe--History--20th century. International relief. Emigration and immigration--Europe--History--20th century. Refugees--Legal status, laws, etc. Missions, Medical--Europe--History. Humanitarian assistance--Statistics. Reconstruction (1939-1951)--Europe. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Sources.
- Geographic Name
- Albania--Social conditions--20th century. Algeria--Social conditions--20th century. Argentina--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century. Austria--Politics and government--20th century. Belgium--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century. Brazil--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century. Bulgaria--Economic conditions. China--Politics and government--20th century. Ethiopia--Social conditions--20th century. Europe--Social conditions--20th century. France--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century. Germany--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century. Greece--Social conditions--20th century. Italy--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century. Middle East--Social conditions--20th century. Netherlands--Emigration and immigration--20th century. North Africa--Social conditions--20th century. Norway--Emigration and immigration--20th century. Poland--Social conditions--20th century. Sweden--Emigration and immigration. Switzerland--Politics and government--20th century. Yugoslavia--Emigration and immigration. United States--Politics and government.
- Personal Name
- Lehman, Herbert H. (Herbert Henry), 1878-1963.
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United Nations Archives and Records Management Section
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Source of acquisition is the United Nations Archives and Records Management Section (UN-ARMS), UNRRA records AG-018-004. The collection was digitized through a cooperative agreement between the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Mémorial de la Shoah, France and the UN-ARMS. The USHMM Archives received the filmed collection via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum International Archival Programs Division in 2016.
- Record last modified:
- 2024-01-05 13:34:26
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn539536
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