Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - The Ideals of the Red Cross
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reward for this work. It is worth stressing in this
connection that the significance of the work of the
Red Cross is in no way exclusively concerned with
war. This often heard opinion is totally false. The
Red Cross organization of every nation has a
continuous task to perform in peace and in war.
Especially during the Second World War, many
of the national Red Cross organizations had to face
very difficult situations. I am thinking in particular
about conditions in the occupied countries. The
national organizations had to decide if they should
continue their activities, which meant that certain
contacts were necessary with the occupying
authorities, or if they should discontinue their work. If,
under such conditions, a Red Cross organization
severs relations with those in power, the result
probably is that this organization ceases to function
in the form in which it has done hitherto. It is
transformed into an organization directed by people
willing to collaborate with the occupation
authorities. A refusal would seem the only natural thing
to do. It is an expression of an indomitable patriotic
feeling, of an honest attitude against the invaders.
This has, of course, its disadvantages, it makes it
impossible for the organization to continue its
humanitarian efforts and especially to come to the
assistance of such patriots as have been imprisoned
or otherwise tormented by the occupation
authorities. During the Second World War there were
many examples of Red Cross leaders continuing
their activities in an occupied country while, at the
same time, showing a firm attitude toward those
in power. In this way, and also through their con-
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