~ .....- it was in 1870 that the first official Friends War Victims Relief Committee (FWVRC) was set up. Through the agency of some forty Quaker commissioners, the FWVRC undertook relief work among the civilian population of towns and villages devastated in the Franco-Prussian War. This was the first time the Quaker star - the badge of the Quaker relief worker - was used, and the policy of no discrimination between the "sides" in war was formally adopted. War Victims Relief Committees were revived in 1876 for Eastern Europe and in 1912 for the Balkans. An official committee was also active in South Africa after 1900, particularly among Boers in internment camps. After the outbreak of war in 1914 the War Victims Relief Committee was revived to undertake overseas work of relief and later post-war reconstruction. Much medical work was done in France, including the founding of a maternity hospital at Chalons-sur-Marne. The work expanded, especially after America joined in the war in 1917, and the American Friends Service Council became involved. Relief work extended to Poland, Russia, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Russia, Germany, Austria, and Poland. ~ - full story - quaker.org.uk/helping-victims-war-1870-1939
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 02:39:52 +0000
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