كشكول جعفر الخابوري الاسبوعي ديسمبر ٢٠٢٢م

The invasion of Poland by German forces on September 2, 1939, was the embodiment of the main features of the post-Second World War that had just broken out. The war emerged from the trenches to witness automatic confrontations preceded by intensive aerial bombardment, targeting mainly the civilian population. These populations were also the main victims of the brutal occupation policies set by the Nazi German government and its allies before its defeat and then the victorious armies after that.


In the context of this global war, the International Committee of the Red Cross faced many challenges. First, it had to start extending the continuous humanitarian work to the five continents together, which compelled it to search for huge human energies and financial capabilities and employ them to perform this task. Thus more than fifty of its missions participated in that work during the conflict.


For the organization, the war also meant the diversity of its humanitarian work. In addition to the traditional activities that the ICRC supervised on behalf of prisoners of war, in particular through visits to concentration camps or the establishment of a central agency for obtaining information on prisoners (as was the case in the 1914-1918 war), the organization made great efforts to serve The civilian population affected by the chaos caused by the military situation. That is why the ICRC embarked on important relief operations to deal with the famine that raged in Greece, or the food shortages afflicting the Anglo-Narmandian islands.


Jaafar Abdul Karim Al-Khabouri