X V I I th

INTERNATIONA L

RED

CROSS

C O N F E R E N C E

Stockholm, A ugust 1948

REPORT
o f th e

I n te r n a tio n a l C o m m itte e o f th e R e d C r o s s
o n its a c tiv itie s
d u r i n g t h e S e c o n d ~ W o r l d "W "ar
( S e p t e m b e r 1, p S p - J u n e

3o ,

1947)

V O L U M E II

THE CENTRAL AGENCY FO R

P R IS O N E R S O F W A R

GENEVA
M a^y 1 9 4 8

N 0.2A

BIBLIOTHEQUE DU CICR
19, Av. de la Paix,
Tl. 022/734.60.01

1202 GENEVE
int. 2424

Prt limit 1 mois

Prolongation possible PAR ECRIT
DATE DE RESTITUTION

U .4 .
M ,42

T ) , ( , () Z Z S . 0 2 , .lo v l,

s , n

,
E M G -)

X V I I th

IN T E RN A T IO N A L

RED

CROSS

C O N F E R E N C E

Stockholm, A ugust 1948

REPORT
o f th e

International Committee of the R ed Cross

on its activities
during the Second W o rld W"ar
(September 1, gSg-June 5o, 1947)

V O L U M E II

THE CENTRAL AGENCY FOR

P R IS O N E R S O F W A R

GENEVA

Maj 1948
N 0. 2A

BIBLIOTHEQUE-CICR
19. AV DE LA PAIX

INTRODUCTION

ORIGIN AND FOUNDATION

The experience of th e In te rn atio n a l C om m ittee of th e Red
Cross (ICRC) in the service of prisoners of w ar is relatively
recent. W hereas th e C om m ittee encouraged and sanctioned the
form ation in Basle, in 1870, of an inform ation bureau for PW
in addition to th e official Agency for w ounded co m batants,
and while its B elgrade Agency in 1912 worked for prisoners
of w ar as well as for th e sick and wounded, it was th e In te r
natio n al Prisoners of W ar Agency, opened in Geneva in 1914,
which first gave th e C om m ittee th e o p p o rtu n ity of dealing
w ith th e vast a n d com plex problem of ensuring protection to
prisoners of war, civilian internees and civil populations, of
supplying inform ation about them and of reaching th em w ith
relief.
In 1914, th e only guide which th e ICRC had in th e new task
it was undertaking, was th e few lines of a resolution of the
N in th In te rn atio n a l Red Cross Conference held in W ashington
in 1912, which applied ra th e r to N ational Societies th a n to the
Com m ittee. F rom th is sm all beginning, th e Com m ittee went
forw ard into an enterprise, of which it was unable to suspect
th e scope and grow th. A few friends joined together under the
P resident, G ustave Ador, to sort th e mail. A year later, there were
1,200 w orkers a t th e In te rn atio n a l Prisoners of W ar Agency,
which occupied the prem ises an d basem ent of a m useum , and soon
spread into several neighbouring buildings.
This continuous expansion was m ade necessary by the
increase in th e num ber of countries draw n into th e war. To
th e initial Belgian, B ritish, French and G erm an N ationa
Sections were added B ulgarian, Portuguese, R um anian, Serbian,
5

Turkish and U nited S tates Sections. An A ustro-H ungarian

Section looked after A ustrian and H u n g arian m em bers of the
forces fighting on th e W estern front. An agreem ent between
Ita ly and A ustria ensured a direct exchange of inform ation
on PW , and m ade it unnecessary for there to be more th an a
skeleton Ita lia n Section a t Geneva. As regards the E astern
front, th e D anish R ed Cross had agreed, by request of the
ICRC, to be responsible for such m atte rs in this area, and an
Agency was set up for th e purpose in Copenhagen.
A Civilian Section dealt w ith cases relating to civilian internees
in various countries, and ensured an exchange of news w ith the
civil population of invaded territories.
Prisoner of war relief work rem ained outside the province of
th e Agency. A tra n sp o rt firm ensured free of charge the
forw arding in tra n sit of parcels coming th ro u g h Geneva ; the
greater p a rt of consignm ents for PW were in any case sent
th rough the N etherlands.
The experience gained by th e ICRC during the first W orld
W ar led it to propose to th e Powers th a t th e 1906 Geneva
Convention relative to the sick and wounded of the arm ed
forces should be revised. The C om m ittee fu rth er proposed the
fram ing of a detailed Convention defining the sta tu s and position
of PW in a far more com prehensive form th a n the R egulations
annexed to th e F o u rth H ague C onvention of 1907. In 1929,
th e plenipotentiaries of the S tates assem bled a t Geneva in
diplom atic conference and signed th e G eneva Convention in its
revised form , as well as th a t called th e 1929 Convention
relative to th e tre a tm e n t of Prisoners of W ar which, during the
second W orld W ar, was to safeguard millions of men. A rts. 77 and
79 of the 1929 Convention provide for the setting up in a neu tral
co u n try of a C entral Agency of inform ation regarding prisoners
of war, th e organization of which the ICRC m ay propose to the
Pow ers concerned.
On the ou tb reak of hostilities in 1939, the Com m ittee therefore
had a basis in law which h ad been lacking in 1914.
G ravely p e rtu rb ed by the th re a t of w ar which hung over
E urope, th e ICRC, although pursuing its h u m an itarian work,
for instance in Spain, prepared itself for the great ta sk which
6

it would have to shoulder if w ar occurred. The tre n d in E urope

led the Com m ittee to th in k th a t war would, indeed, break out
suddenly in countries adjoining Sw itzerland, and th a t it would
rap id ly spread. I t m ight therefore become necessary for the
Com m ittee to set up, w ithin a very short tim e, adm inistrative
m achinery on a scale to m atch events of such m agnitude, and
th e staff would have to be increased alm ost a t once from a
mere handful to several hundred workers, a t a tim e when
natio n al defence would be a m ajor problem and when m ost
Swiss citizens would be m obilized in th e arm y.
In May 1938, th e ICRC set to work. On Septem ber 15, 1938,
alm ost a year before hostilities began, it appointed from its m em
bers a special commission, called th e Commission for W ork in
W a rtim e (Commission des uvres de Guerre), whose chief d u ty
was to plan th e organization and functions of the C entral Agency.
The Commission for W ork in W artim e held tw enty-five
m eetings before w ar broke out. It consisted of six m em bers,
four of whom had played an active p a rt in th e m anagem ent of
th e Agency in 1914, and who therefore h ad considerable
experience of th e m any difficulties inherent in setting up an
inform ation agency.
The problem s confronting the C entral Agency were : (1) to
find th e necessary w orkers for th e ICRC ; (2) to have free
prem ises allowing im m ediate opening of th e Agency in case of
w ar ; (3) to d raft th e notifications inform ing th e G overnm ents
concerned of its opening ; and (4) to provide a rough outline of
its organization and plan of work.
In order to recruit th e requisite personnel in Sw itzerland, a
provisional list was draw n up in 1939 of form er workers in the
Agency of 1914, who m ight be asked to co-operate.
B y May, out of 50 people who were invited, 31 had agreed
to join. Steps were th en tak e n to engage people who had not
worked in th e 1914 Agency.
Negotiation's were u n d ertak en w ith th e Genevese authorities
in order to find available prem ises ; on Septem ber 2, 1939, the
ICRC was gran ted th e use of the Palais du Conseil Gnral ,
where Agency H ead q u arters were to be th roughout the w ar and
post-w ar period.
7

The plan of th e fu tu re Agency was sketched out. Five

Sections were provided for : M anagem ent, R egistry, Office and
A ccom m odation, V isitors R eception, and Finance Sections.
The heads of these various sections were appointed, and M. J.
Chenevire, a m em ber of th e ICRC, was asked to tak e over the
m anagem ent of th e new Agency.
The Commission for W ork in W artim e d rafted cables and
letters notifying belligerent S tates of the opening in G eneva of
th e C entral P W Agency, and circular letters for th e other States
signatory to th e Geneva Convention, as well as to all N ational
Red Cross Societies, to which th e ICRC m ight appeal for help
in its work.
From the ou tb reak of war, th e Com m ittee was th u s in a
position to offer th e belligerent Powers the services of the
C entral Prisoners of W ar Agency. On Septem ber 14, it was
officially opened, and th e notifications despatched to th e G overn
m ents a n d N ational Red Cross Societies of th e countries a t war.
A rrangem ents in th e Palais du Conseil Gnral were
im provised. The fu rn itu re consisted only of chairs and of
planks laid on trestles. L etters, already in large num bers, piled
up in cardboard boxes. Some fifty persons, m ost of them volun
ta ry workers, began w ith th eir sorting and classification. M ean
while, carpenters were p u ttin g up p a rtitio n s in th e m ain body
of th e building : a huge hall built for public m eetings had to be
divided into offices. It seemed as if the size of this hall, the gal
lery and annexes, covering 4,700 square m etres, should be ade
quate for all the A gencys needs, since in 1914 an area of 1,100
square m etres in th e Muse R a th had been alm ost enough.
However, th e spreading of the w ar expanded th e activities of
th e ICRC to a degree it had been impossible to foresee. Thus,
this great hall, which could accom m odate over five hundred
workers, nevertheless soon proved too small, not only to hold
all th e d ep artm en ts of th e Com m ittee, b u t even to cover the
needs of th e Central Agency alone. Though its headquarters
were m aintained in th e Palais , it was obliged to occupy
successively th e ' Muse R a th , a b an k and several flats in
Geneva, representing in all a w orking area of some 11,000
square m etres.

W hereas in 1914-18 th e personnel did n ot exceed 1,200,

m ainly v o lu n ta ry workers, by th e spring of 1945 it h ad reached
its peak num ber of 3,921 (1,741 v o lu n tary workers), of whom
th e C entral Agency em ployed 2,585 (1,676 v o lu n ta ry workers).
The last figure includes 1,400 persons working in about tw en ty
Swiss tow ns, who gave invaluable help.
The m agnitude of th e work th a t lay ahead when th e first
com m unications and requests for inform ation reached Geneva,
can b y gauged b y com paring two figures : a t th e close of th e
1914-18 w ar th e In te rn atio n a l A gencys card-indexes contained
seven million cards, whereas th e C entral Agency had 36 million
a t th e end of Ju n e , 1947.
*

In th e m ind of th e general public, th e C entral PW Agency

is often identified w ith th e In te rn atio n a l Com m ittee.
T h at these tw o organizations should be th o u g h t of as one, and
th a t th e Agency is so widely know n and appreciated, is easily
explained by th e fact th a t it was th e first stru ctu re to be set
up by th e ICRC during th e second W orld W ar, th a t its personnel
was by far th e largest in num ber, th a t other dep artm en ts of the
Com m ittee, while still in th e m aking 1, were also lodged in the
Palais du Conseil Gnral u n til th e spring of 1942, and
finally by the countless personal contacts it m ade th roughout
the world w ith P W and th eir relatives. These circum stances
explain the good rep u te in which th e Agency hass tood an d
still stan d s today .
I t will be shown late r in th is R eport how the liaison betw een the
Agency and o ther d e p a rtm e n ts 1 of the C om m ittee was ensured.
F o r a tru e appreciation of th e object and service of th e Agency,
one m ust keep in m ind th a t th e ICRC, in all its p arts, was a
single and hom ogeneous body.

1 T hese v ario u s d e p a rtm e n ts a n d th e ir a c tiv itie s (PW , In te rn e e s an d

C ivilians D ivision, R elief D ivision, D ivisions for A d m in istra tio n , D elega
tio n s A broad, etc.), are described a t th e b eg in n in g of Vol. I.

PART I

DUTIES, STRUCTURE AND GENERAL

METHODS OF WORK

D U T I E S OF T H E C E N T R A L P W A G E N C Y
The existence and activities of th e C entral PW Agency are
based in law on A rts. 77 and 79 of the G eneva Convention of
J u ly 27, 1929 relative to th e tre a tm e n t of PW , as follows :
A rt. 77. A t th e com m en cem en t of h o stilities, each of th e b ellig eren t
Pow ers a n d th e n e u tra l Pow ers w ho h av e belligeren ts in th e ir care, sh all
in s titu te an official b u re a u to give in fo rm atio n a b o u t th e p riso n ers of
w ar in th e ir te rrito ry .
E a c h of th e b ellig eren t Pow ers shall in fo rm its In fo rm a tio n B u reau
as soon as possible of all c a p tu re s of p risoners effected b y its arm ed
forces, fu rn ish in g th e m w ith all p a rtic u la rs of id e n tity a t its disposal
to en able th e fam ilies concerned to be q u ic k ly notified, a n d s ta tin g th e
official addresses to w hich fam ilies m a y w rite to th e p risoners.
T he In fo rm a tio n B u reau shall tr a n s m it all su ch in fo rm a tio n im m e
d ia te ly to th e P ow ers concerned, on th e one h a n d th ro u g h th e in te r
m e d ia ry of th e p ro te c tin g Pow ers, an d on th e o th e r th ro u g h th e C entral
A gency c o n te m p la te d in A rticle 79.
T he In fo rm a tio n B ureau, being ch arg ed w ith rep ly in g to all en q u iries
re la tiv e to priso n ers of w ar, shall receive from th e v ario u s services co n
cern ed all p a rtic u la rs resp e ctin g in te rn m e n ts a n d tran sfe rs, releases on
p arole, re p a tria tio n s, escapes, sta y s in hosp itals, a n d d ea th s, to g e th e r
w ith all o th e r p a rtic u la rs n ecessary for e stab lish in g a n d keep in g up to
d a te an in d iv id u a l record for each p riso n er of w ar.
T he B u reau shall n o te in th is record, as far as possible, a n d su b je ct
to th e p rovisions of A rticle 5, th e reg im en ta l n u m b e r, nam es an d su r

10

nam es, d a te a n d place of b irth , ra n k a n d u n it of th e p riso n er, th e s u r

n a m e of th e fa th e r a n d n am e of th e m o th e r, th e ad d ress of th e person
to be notified in case of a c c id e n t, w ounds, d a te s a n d places of c a p tu re ,
of in te rn m e n t, of w ounds, of d e a th , to g e th e r w ith all o th e r im p o rta n t
p a rtic u la rs.
W eekly lists c o n ta in in g all a d d itio n a l p a rtic u la rs cap ab le of fa c ilita tin g
th e id e n tifica tio n of each p riso n er shall be tr a n s m itte d to th e in te re s te d
Pow ers.
T he in d iv id u a l record of a p riso n er of w ar shall be se n t a fte r th e
conclusion of peace to th e P ow er in w hose service he was.
T he In fo rm a tio n B u rea u sh all also be req u ired to collect all p erso n al
effects, v aluables, correspondence, p ay-books, id e n tity to k e n s, etc.
w hich h av e been le ft b y prisoners of w ar w ho h av e been re p a tria te d
or released on parole, o r w ho h av e escaped o r died, a n d to tra n s m it
th e m to th e co u n tries concerned.
A rt. yg. A C en tral A gency of in fo rm a tio n reg a rd in g p riso n ers of
w ar shall be estab lish ed in a n e u tra l c o u n try . T he I n te rn a tio n a l R ed
Cross C om m ittee shall, if th e y consider it,n e c e s s a ry , propose to th e
P ow ers co ncerned th e o rg an iz atio n of such an agency.
T his agency shall be ch a rg ed w ith th e d u ty of collectin g all in fo rm atio n
reg a rd in g priso n ers w hich th e y m a y be able to o b ta in th ro u g h official
or p riv a te channels, a n d th e ag ency sh all tr a n s m it th e in fo rm atio n as
ra p id ly as possible to th e p riso n ers ow n c o u n try or th e P ow er in w hose
service th e y h av e been.
T hese provisio n s shall n o t be in te rp re te d as re stric tin g th e h u m a
n ita ria n w ork of th e In te rn a tio n a l R ed Cross C om m ittee.

Thus A rt. 79, in Sections i and 2, provides for th e form ation

and duties of th e C entral Agency ; A rt. 77, in Section 3, lays
down th a t belligerent Powers shall have recourse to it as an
interm ediary, concurrently w ith th e P rotecting Powers.
The 1929 C onvention covers PW only, whilst the position
of civilians, in 1939, was governed by no in te rn atio n a l conven
tion. The ICRC succeeded in obtaining from th e G overnm ents
th a t a t least such civilians as m ight be in enem y te rrito ry a t the
outbreak of war, and who were to be interned, should benefit by
th e 1929 Convention relating to PW . The Agency was th u s able
to tak e action in behalf of one class of civilians, th a t is civilian
internees 1, sim ilar to th a t which it exercised in behalf of PW .
1 To w hom should be a d d e d th e civilians w ho were in assig n ed re sid
ence or u n d e r police su pervision.
II

The basic duties of th e Agency m ay be defined as follows :

(1) To centralize all inform ation on P W and civilian internees
(announcem ent of capture, deaths, transfers, etc.).
(2) To act as in term ed iary betw een th e belligerent Powers
for th e transm ission of this inform ation.
(3) To serve as an inform ation bureau and on the basis of
the d a ta assem bled in its card-indexes or of researches m ade, to
answ er enquiries from public or p riv ate organizations and
p riv a te persons.
This last function was the outcom e of th e first : the Agency
k e p t a record on cards of all inform ation it received, which
enabled it to reply to queries about individual cases.
The definition given above of th e duties of th e Agency is not
restrictive. The a u th o rs of th e Convention, wishing to stress
th e spirit in which th ey h ad defined these duties, laid down
explicitly th a t th e provisions of th e C onvention should not be
in te rp re te d as restrictin g th e h u m an ita ria n work of th e ICRC.
The Agency was th u s in a position, w henever asked, to act
as in te rm e d ia ry betw een th e belligerents for the forw arding of
m ail, messages, photographs, official and business docum ents,
as well as th e transm ission of personal belongings which had been
found on th e battle-field, or on m em bers of the forces killed in
action or who had died in cap tiv ity .
The Agency was also concerned w ith civilians in occupied
countries, who were deprived of a n y effective m eans of legal
p rotection and were subject to th e a rb itra ry decisions of the
occupying Pow er and, in m any cases, had to undergo th e most
severe m easures of detention. The Agency m ade every endea
vour to help them in th e same way as PW , b u t was not able to
achieve th is to a n y th in g like th e e x te n t it wished.
Civilians who were a t lib e rty were able to com m unicate w ith
each other, even though sep arated by the war, by m eans of the
Civilian Message Scheme set up by the ICRC in the au tu m n of 1939.
In short, w herever a zone of operations m ade direct liaison
impossible, th e C entral Agency, so far as it was able, took
steps to ensure com m unications. It should be pointed out th a t,
12

in general, th e A gency looked after individual cases of com

b a ta n ts or civilians in enem y hands (or presum ed to be so),
whereas general questions relating to th e s ta tu s and tre a tm e n t
of these persons, as well as relief in kind for them , cam e w ithin
th e com petency of o th er d ep artm en ts of the ICRC.
A rt. 77 of th e C onvention provides th a t th e P rotecting Pow ers
shall act as in term ed iary for th e forw arding of inform ation on
PW to th e Pow ers concerned, concurrently w ith th e transm ission
carried o ut b y th e C entral Agency. In point of fact, th e
P rotecting Pow ers (during th e period in which th ey were acting),
received from th e belligerents copies of the lists of particulars
sent to th e Agency, and tra n sm itte d th em to th e opposing side,
w ithout, however, acting as an inform ation centre. In th e
event of th e belligerents not recognising a P rotecting Power, it
devolved on th e Agency alone to forw ard lists.
W hilst rem aining stric tly w ithin th e fram ew ork of activities
a llo tted to it, th e Agency c o n stan tly had to plan undertakings
and im provise new m ethods in order to carry out its tasks in
th e best conditions. The C entral Agency is, indeed, a w artim e
in stitu tio n : its m anagem ent therefore has to bear in m ind th e
fact th a t its work will be con stan tly ham pered or delayed by the
conditions of war.
In th e sphere of relief, as in th a t of m ilitary operations, no
achievem ents are final. Unforeseen circum stances m ay, a t any
m om ent, profoundly change the conditions in which the Agency
works, and com pel it to seek fresh solutions. It th en becomes
th e ta sk of the Agency, as it is of th e ICRC, to an ticipate events
or a d a p t itself to them w ithout delay. The Agency is appointed
b y th e Convention to act as liaison w ith the official inform ation
b u reau x set up in each country. The question arises as to
w hat course it should tak e when th e official bureau in any
given co u n try ceases to exist, or becomes unable to c arry on its
functions in a satisfactory way. In fact, th e Agency th en m ust
m ake every endeavour to fill th e gap, in order to prevent the
term s of th e Convention from becoming a dead letter. I t is
bound to tra n sm it th e inform ation in its possession. W hen,
however, norm al m eans of com m unication are cut by war, the
question arises w hether this a c tiv ity should be given up. This, of
13

course, is out of th e question, so th a t new m ethods of despatch

h ave to be devised, such as special couriers, express messages,
use of th e wireless, etc. The Agency also sets on foot collective
enquiries (for instance, application to all m en belonging to the
sam e m ilitary unit), in an effort to trace th e m en missing after
big engagem ents. Thus, each obstacle, far from leading the
Agency to abandon a task, inspires it to find fresh m eans of
achieving its aim.

14

S T R U C T U R E OF T H E C E N T R A L P W A G E N C Y
The extension of th e w ar m eant constant changes in the
fram e-w ork of th e Agency, which was obliged by its purpose to
ad ap t itself to events which could not be foreseen. There is no
space in this R eport to give a com plete picture of its stru ctu re
th ro u g h o u t during its constant evolution. I t has, therefore,
been necessary to confine com m ents in th e R eport to perm anent
features, and to describe its ac tiv ity a t the peak period, during
th e last years of th e W ar. In these pages, the reader should
not lose sight of th e fact th a t th e Agency was not static, b u t a
living organism which could only survive by change, and a t the
price of constant vigilance, innovations and sometim es fruitless
experim ents.
The C entral Agency, which was under the a u th o rity of the
Agency Commission, was m ade up of Sections, each under its
own director. At th e head was a co-ordinating and supervisory
body, th e M anagem ent.
The various com ponent sections of th e Agency m ay be divided
in three groups, according to th eir functions : General or Techni
cal Sections, working for th e Agency as a whole ; N ational
Sections, covering all persons of th e same n atio n ality ; and
Special Sections, who looked after certain classes of w ar victim s,
regardless of th eir nationality.

(i).

T h e A g e n c y Co m m issio n

This Commission consisted of three m em bers of the ICRC

who had tak en an active p a rt in th e m anagem ent of the 1914-18
In te rn atio n a l Agency, and of th e m em bers of th e M anagem ent.
One of the Com m ittee m em bers acted as chairm an.
The
15

Commission was th e essential liaison betw een th e B ureau of th e

ICRC and th e Agency, and its ta sk was to direct th e work of
th e la tte r and to supervise its satisfacto ry operation.
The general lines on which th e c u rren t work of th e ICRC was
proceeding were com m unicated to th e M anagem ent a t th e
m eetings, which took place once or tw ice m onthly. Im p o rta n t
questions concerning th e Agency were discussed b y the Com
m ission itself on th e basis of rep o rts tab le d by m em bers of the
M anagem ent. W hen questions were outside th e com petence
of th e Commission, th ey were forw arded, w ith its considered
opinion, to th e B ureau of th e ICRC.

(2 ) .

T he Managem ent

The stru c tu re and powers of the M anagem ent greatly expanded

betw een 1939 and 1945. A t the beginning of th e war, it consisted
of one or tw o m em bers, b u t from 1943 onwards, it gradually
em braced a num ber of heads of sections. The duties of the
m em bers were defined, and one of th em was appointed as chief.
The M anagem ent settled questions relating to working
m ethods, th e num ber of personnel, prem ises and supplies.
M eetings were held several tim es a week for general discussion
of im p o rta n t problem s, and to enable m em bers to exchange
inform ation in th eir respective fields of work : thus all were
fam iliar w ith th e essential features of cu rren t problem s. If any
questions lay outside its province, th e M anagem ent passed it on
to th e Commission.
Besides these general tasks, th e M anagem ent was responsible
for others of a specific kind. One was of particu lar im portance :
th e supervision of G eneral Sections dealing w ith m atters of a
technical kind, for which there was no single responsible head,
b u t which were how ever essential, for instance, PW lists,
p h o to sta ts, ty p in g and prelim inary classification. The M anage
m ent signed the lette rs for these Sections.
The M anagem ent, which included a secretariat w ith m anifold
duties, was com pleted by an A dvisory Group. This was con
cerned w ith th e stu d y and carrying out of plans, and always
16

included a t least th ree m em bers. D uring th e w ar years, th e

group applied itself to careful stu d y and research, in order to
im prove and standardize w orking m ethods ; it d rafted technical
notes advocating m ethods which had proved entirely satisfactory
in certain Sections 1. The use of sta n d a rd form s especially was
m ade general, and in th e course of tim e proved indispensable
for rapid and economic handling of num erous sim ilar cases.
The A dvisory Group fu rth e r issued these stan d ard s form s to the
various Sections an d to th e C om m ittees Delegations abroad.
Finally, and above all since th e end of th e war, m em bers of this
Group were e n tru ste d by th e M anagem ent w ith th e organization
of new tasks w ithin or outside th e work of th e Sections. They
set up, for instance, for th e G erm an Section, working units
am ongst G erm an internees in Sw itzerland and G erm an P W in
France. They also organized, after th e war, th e despatch of
G erm an P W m ail to th e ir relatives, th rough th e good offices of
th e ICRC.
The S tatistics Section was atta ch e d direct to th e M anage
m ent. This Section h ad a staff of tw o or three persons, and
drew up, on th e basis of particulars supplied by th e Sections,
m onthly schedules on th e work of th e ICRC.
As regards th e Agency, statistics were prepared of th e cardindexes, incom ing and outgoing mail, enquiries, personnel and
other branches.
The card-index statistics showed the num ber of cards and the
num ber of cases in the indexes of th e Agency. They also gave
1 F o r th e p u rp o se of th e se n o te s th e w ork of N a tio n a l S ections w as
su b -d iv id ed in tw elv e categories :
(1) S o rtin g of correspondence.
(2) D e sp a tc h a n d filing of correspondence.
(3) C ard-index (form ation, in stru c tio n , checking, sta tistic s ).
(4) C ard-index (team lead ers, filing).
(5) Checking.
(6) T ra n sm issio n of m essages.
(7) D ealing w ith in fo rm atio n , enquiries, tallies.
(8) I n itia tio n a n d follow -up of enquiries, co m m u n icatio n s to
enquirers.
(9) D ea th s.
(10) R e g im e n tal enquiries.
(11) T elegram s.
(12) Civilians.
II. 2

17

the num ber of tallies , th a t is to say when enquiry cards

tallied w ith inform ation cards.
The statistics for enquiries showed th e num ber of enquiries
opened, or com pleted, and th e num ber of those which had pro
vided new particulars.
Personnel statistics gave, in particular, th e distribution by
Sections of th e to ta l num ber of working days for th e Agency
staff.
These schedules proved extrem ely useful to th e M anagem ent
and heads of Sections. T hey gave them an exact idea of the
progress th e w ork was m aking, and supplied a useful m eans
of com parison for determ ining th e A gencys requirem ents in
personnel.
Finally, these sta tistic a l sum m aries represent an indispensable
source of inform ation for th e ICRC, since th ey give in figures a
survey of th e im m ense ta sk carried out by th e Com m ittee.
R egular m eetings to exchange inform ation, usually held
weekly, brought together a ltern ately th e representatives of all
th e Sections, and those dealing m ore especially w ith civilian
problem s. In th e course of these m eetings, which were open
to representatives of other d ep artm en ts of th e ICRC and
occasionally to delegates abroad passing through Geneva, those
present gave an account of th e w ork of th eir Sections, and the
M anagem ent supplied th e necessary inform ation. The m eetings
were often m ade more useful by detailed statem en ts from
heads of Sections, of th e tasks of a p a rticu la r Section, and by
accounts of missions abroad, etc.

(3).

G e n e r a l S ec tio ns

The General Sections, whose activities were solely technical,

were responsible to the M anagem ent direct. Their work will
be exam ined in detail in the ch ap ter on the A gencys m ethods
of work in general.

18

(4 ).

N a t io n a l S e c t io n s

The N ational Sections, concerned w ith PW , civilian internees

and civilians who were nationals of one S tate, were th e central
core of th e Agency. T hey were subdivided in to Services, the
num ber and n a tu re of which corresponded to th e requirem ents
of each p a rticu la r Section. They were based on th e n a tio n a lity
of w ar victim s, as defined b y th e frontiers in 1939, a t th e o u t
b reak of war. This division of work b y n atio n ality h ad already
been ad o p ted in p a rt b y th e In te rn atio n a l Agency of 1914-1918.
A t th e beginning of th e A gencys work, cases concerning
civilians, w hether in tern ed or not, were dealt w ith according
to each n a tio n a lity b y different Sections. L a ter on, these
Sections were m erged w ith th e corresponding m ilitary
Sections and becam e, as far as th e m ain Sections were concerned,
m erely p a rt of th e N ational Section. E ach N ational Section
thenceforth becam e a hom ogeneous service dealing w ith all cases
relating to th e same n atio n ality , w ith th e exception however
of certain classes of persons th a t called for th e setting up of
Special Sections. The la tte r rem ained, however, in close touch
w ith th e N ational Sections, and tra n sm itte d to them reference
cards concerning th e nationals w ith whom th ey were dealing.
Thus, N ational Sections had in th eir card-index, som etim es of
course m erely in th e form of a reference, all inform ation and
all enquiries concerning persons of th e same nationality.
E ach N ational Section com prised : (a) a card-index containing
in th e alphabetical order of nam es, all d a ta and all enquiries
received by th e Agency ; (b) a secretariat dealing w ith th e corres
pondence, usually including a checking subsection, and (c) a ser
vice having charge of th e forw arding of P W m ail in tra n sit.
The N ational Sections were set up as and when th e various
countries were draw n into th e conflict. I t even proved necessary
to set up services for nationals of some neu tral countries who
were PW , internees or refugees in belligerent countries. Thus there
was scarcely a country, however sm all, for which a t some stage
a national Section was n ot opened. F or practical reasons, sm all
Sections were often grouped together under one responsible head.
19

The criterion of n a tio n a lity alw ays provided th e m ost rea

sonable solution of m ost of th e m any problem s which arose
when natio n al Sections were set up. Such problem s were a
result of political and m ilitary upheavals, e.g. annexations,
occupations of territo ry , c u ttin g up of countries by fighting
zones or dem arcation lines, con stitu tio n of new S tates, or exile
of governm ents. We m ay quote th e cases of Poland, which
was p a rtitio n ed by th e occupation of G erm an and Soviet forces ;
of France, where there was an occupied and an unoccupied
zone, w hilst a Free G overnm ent and free arm ed forces were
form ed outside th e co u n try ; of Y ugoslavia, where two new
S tates were created (Croatia and Serbia), and where th e rest
of th e co u n try was occupied by G erm any a n d Ita ly , whilst an
independent governm ent was form ed abroad ; of Ita ly , divided
b y th e fighting zone in tw o p a rts under th e a u th o rity of rival
governm ents. Finally, it m ay be recalled th a t in m any national
fighting forces th ere were a num ber of nationals of countries
occupied by th e Axis.
I t m ight ap p ear logical to cover all w ar victim s belonging
to a single class in one Section, independently of th eir nationality.
A certain num ber of p a rticu la r Sections were set u p on these
lines during th e first years of th e A gencys existence. This
system , as will now be explained, had however a num ber of
disadvantages of a technical kind, and was late r given up.
The w orking m ethods of these N ational Sections and the
p a rt th ey played will be explained in the following chapters of
P a rt I. P a rt II will be devoted to the special characteristics
and developm ent of each.

(5 ).

S pe c ia l S ec tio ns

In the Special Sections, th e exceptional situ atio n of persons

w ithin a category was used as th e basis of classification, instead
of n ationality. There were five Special Sections : th e Medical
Personnel, covering individual m em bers of th e arm y medical
services and persons of equivalent sta tu s ; the Sundry Civilian
Internees (CID) ; Immigration to Palestine (IM PA), covering
20

special cases of Jew ish persons ; th e Section for Internment

in Switzerland, and th e Section for Dispersed Families.
The need for th e Medical Personnel Section was obvious ;
th e Geneva C onvention relating to the sick and w ounded places
th e A rm y Medical Service in a separate class, for which specific
problem s arise.
The CID a n d th e IM PA Sections were set up to deal w ith th e
difficulties encountered in applying th e test of n a tio n a lity in the
classification of individual cases. CID and IM PA h ad to deal
w ith persons whose n a tio n a lity was not alw ays clearly defined,
or who h ad lost it as a result of annexation, or of racial or political
persecution. The tw o last Sections (In tern m en t and Dispersed
Fam ilies) were set up because it seem ed convenient to deal in
one section w ith problem s relating to persons having common
s ta tu s or circum stances.
The existence of th e Special Sections parallel w ith N ational
Sections had m any disadvantages. There was th e risk of the
sam e case being dealt w ith in p a rt b y tw o Sections. I t was
therefore necessary to m ake out reference cards or com plete
copies for th e N ational Sections, and this involved loss of tim e
and congestion of th e card-indexes. I t proved extrem ely difficult
when card-indexing, to file surnam es belonging to different
languages, a n d th is obstacle could be overcom e only by
setting up several card-indexes w ithin th e same Section. I t
was also no easy ta s k to secure a sufficient num ber of personnel
who were fam iliar w ith all th e languages em ployed.
These draw backs increased as tim e w ent on, u n til it was
decided to do aw ay w ith th e Special Sections and to give th eir
work to th e N ational Sections. One exception was, however,
m ade for th e IM PA Section, which continued its work as
before.
Finally, there were tw o Sections of a different kind, b u t which
m ay nevertheless be grouped w ith the Special Sections : the
Civilian Messages and th e Personal Effects. These Sections
were not based on classes of persons, b u t on p articu lar tasks.
The w ork of the five Sections m entioned above will be tre a te d
in detail in P a rt II, th a t of th e Civilian Messages and Personal
E ffects in P a rt I, in th e c h ap ter relating to working m ethods.
21

N o m e n c l a t u r e o f S e c t io n s a t t h e Ce n t r a l A g e n c y

This classification includes those Sections th a t were per

m anent, b u t does not include those which were tem porarily set
up as a result of passing necessities.

General Sections.
Lists
P h o to stats
T yping
P relim inary Filing and E vening W ork
A uxiliary Sections
O utside W ork
R eception of Visitors
W atson Machines
S tatistics
National Sections

Date of Opening

Polish
French
B ritish
G e rm a n ................................... ....
S p a n ish .....................................................
P o r t u g u e s e ................................... .... .
C entral and South A m erican . . .
Scandinavian
Belgian . . .
L uxem burg .
D utch . . .
French Colonial
Ita lia n . . . .
22

1939

1940

G reek. . . .
1941
Y ugoslav . .
R ussian . .
Czechoslovak
Am erican
1942
Japanese . .
H ungarian .
1943
R u m a n ia n ......................................................

B u lg a ria n .............................................

F in n is h ........................................................ x

B altic S t a t e s ..............................................

Sundry 1 ......................................................

A u s t r i a n ............................................
1945
Special Sections.
Medical Personnel
Civilian Message
Sundry Civilian Internees (CID)
Im m igration to Palestine (IMPA)
In te rn m e n t in Sw itzerland
D ispersed Fam ilies
Personal Effects
*

Co-operation betw een th e C entral Agency and th e B ureau

of th e ICRC was achieved, as already m entioned, by th e Agency
Commission, which periodically brought together m em bers of
th e ICRC and m em bers of th e Agency M anagem ent. This
association becam e even closer from th e fact th a t several
m em bers of th e ICRC took an active p a rt in certain Sections,
or directed them (Medical Personnel, In tern m en t). Moreover,
th e Agency staff had the o p p o rtu n ity of m eeting th e m em bers
1 N a tio n a litie s n o t covered b y se p a ra te S ections : Ira n , S w itzerlan d ,
T u rk ey , S tateless holding N an sen passp o rts, a n d so on.

23

or principal assistants of th e ICRC during inform al talks

arranged periodically, on subjects which had a bearing on the
C om m ittees activities.'
Co-operation w ith th e S ecretariat of th e ICRC and later w ith
th e Division for Prisoners, Internees and Civilians (PIC), was
also m aintained w ith th e g reatest care. The Secretariat, and
later on this Division dealt w ith th e general problem s concerning
those classes, of which th e Agency covered th e individual cases.
I t was therefore necessary th a t th e work of th e tw o should be
in com plete harm ony. To th is end, a head of th e Agency was
present a t th e weekly m eetings of th e PIC Division, and a head
of this Division was present a t th e Agency Commissions
m eetings. Finally, m em bers of the PIC Division, whose work
covered a specific geographical sector, rem ained in contact w ith
th e heads of th e N ational Section covering th e sam e sector.
O ther d ep artm en ts of th e ICRC also dealt w ith individual
cases. Thus, th e Finance D ep artm en t forw arded m o n etary relief
to p riv ate persons, and th e Relief D epartm ent tra n sm itte d indi
vidual parcels and books. The N ational Sections of th e Agency
were of course inform ed of these activities, and from th e outset
a tw o-w ay flow of inform ation took place betw een the N ational
Sections and those D epartm ents.
Moreover, th e D elegations in various countries abroad devoted
a great p a rt of th eir tim e to individual cases, concerning which
th e y were in close touch w ith th e N ational Sections of the
Agency. One of th e m em bers of th e M anagem ent Agency took
p a rt regularly in th e m eetings of th e Delegations Commission.
These form s of direct contact were fu rth er supplem ented by
a Section for in tern al inform ation, th e Liaison Service, which,
in particular, w ent th rough the m ail register and passed on to
the Agency Sections copies of letters concerning them , b u t
which th ey did not deal w ith them selves.

24

G E N E R A L M E T H O D S OF W O R K

In its m ain lines, th e C entral Agency of 1939 was based on

m ethods which h ad proved their value in th e In te rn atio n a l
Agency of 1914-1918, b u t certain m echanical aids to efficiency
had m eanw hile developed, and these were p u t into use. F a ith
fulness to th e original docum ent was a principle from which
th e re was no deviation. The lists of PW sent by th e D etaining
Pow ers rem ained th e basic docum ents ; th ey were d a te d and
provided w ith reference num bers. In ste a d of ty p escrip t copies,
as sent in 1914-18, th e checking of which w asted m uch tim e,
p h o to sta ts were now established and forw arded to th e official
bureaux.
The lists and other docum ents received in Geneva were
m ethodically scrutinized and every nam e was recorded on a
card. The filling up of inform ation cards was, however,
m aterially altered. In 1914, and in th e early m onths of the
1939 Agency, certain essential indications were purposely
o m itted from th e card and th e researcher therefore alw ays had
to refer to the original list. The card-index th u s had only the
value of a reference catalogue. F rom 1940 onw ards, however,
all essential indications were recorded on th e card. A nother
im p o rta n t innovation was th e direct insertion in th e card-index
of original docum ents, such as cap tu re cards w ritten b y the
P W them selves, or enquiry cards filled in by relatives. The
card was therefore no longer m erely a guide referring to th e
source of inform ation, b u t itself contained first-hand inform a
tion. In 1939, as in 1941, the m eeting or jux tap o sitio n in
alphabetical order of inform ation card and enquiry card enabled
tallies to be m ade, and inform ation on th e person sought
to be sent to the applicant.
25

The m ethod of m aking enquiries was alm ost the same as th a t

used tw enty-five years before. In particular, th e system atic
questioning of PW as to m em bers of th e sam e units reported
missing, which had produced striking results in 1914-18, was
once m ore resum ed. Owing to th e use of statistical m achines
of th e In te rn atio n a l Business M achines Corporation, it was
possible to give these enquiries a far wider scope and to m ake
th em m uch m ore fruitful.
The c o n stan tly increasing difficulties of com m unication led
to th e use of express messages an d telegram s. The Agency
even h ad to resort to broadcasting, to ensure th e transm ission
of inform ation and news.

26

I. M AIL AND TELEG R A M S

(i). Receipt and Sorting

The M a il Sorting Service and th e Telegraph Service were

responsible for th e receipt of incom ing m ail and telegram s, and
d istrib u ted th em to th e various d ep artm en ts of th e ICRC.
These tw o Sections were therefore responsible to a great e x ten t
for th e sm ooth working of th e whole organization.
Since th e greater p a rt of th e letters and telegram s received
by the ICRC were intended for th e C entral Agency, th e working
m ethods of th e Mail Sorting and Telegraph Services will be
described in this chapter.
(A). Mail.
There were tw o successive phases of sorting : ( a) according to
ex tern al indications ; (b) according to contents.
(a) Sorting according to External Indications. The aim of
th is sum m ary selection was to e x tra c t from th e b ulk of th e m ail
everything th a t could be handed im m ediately to th e Sections
concerned. This referred chiefly to m ail in tra n sit to be forw arded
by th e C om m ittee : personal m ail of PW , civilian messages, and
docum ents which, like cap tu re cards, could be d istrib u ted
w ithout fu rth e r exam ination to th e Sections intended.
(b) Sorting according to Contents. All o ther m ail was sortee
according to contents. This more thorough sorting entailed th d
reading and num bering of letters. Mail item s were divided in to
a dozen categories. Three of these were given a special scrutiny,
27

which was preferably in charge of one person, owing to the

com plexity and im portance of these papers : (i) general com
m unications from G overnm ents and N atio n al R ed Cross Socie
ties ; (2) m ail from delegates abroad, which was specially entered
on index-cards ; and (3) so-called com posite item s, which
consisted of several docum ents and annexes, often m ixed up
by the censorship, which m ade careful checking necessary.
L etters concerning several Sections were handed to the
Copying (Transfers and E x tracts) Service, who m ade the
requisite a b stra cts or, if necessary, circulated th e letters. In this
case, th e various Sections added a brief note to each docum ent,
showing how th e y h ad dealt w ith it.
In each Section of th e Agency, one person was especially
charged w ith exam ining th e m ail reaching th e Section and distri
b u tin g it to the services concerned. This work was often done
b y th e heads of Sections, who could th u s obtain a com prehensive
idea of th e work of th eir d ep artm ent.
(B). Telegrams.
The Telegraph Service dated and entered in th e R egistry
all telegram s, and had additional copies m ade, if th ey concerned
several Sections.
On reaching th e responsible dep artm en ts, telegram s were
entered in a record showing th e date of despatch and arrival,
th eir origin and th e num ber given by th e sender, th e Sections
reference num ber, and som etim es a precis of contents, after
which th e y were handed to th e Sections concerned.

(2). Despatch
A. Mail.
L etters for despatch were handed by th e various Sections
to th e M a il Despatch Service, which had th em forw arded. An
exception was m ade, however, in th e case of ordinary mail
for th e D elegations abroad, which was h anded to th e Service
for collective despatch to Delegations. A fu rth er exception
28

was m ade in th e case of m ail sent by special bag, which was

handled b y th e Special Mail Service.
The C entral Agency, in v irtu e of th e Conventions in force,
enjoyed postal franchise for all incom ing and outgoing mail,
except for th a t which concerned civilians a t lib e rty (e.g. civilian
messages). One of th e im p o rta n t tasks of th e Mail D espatch
Service was to ensure co ntact of th e ICRC w ith th e Swiss P ostal
A dm inistration and the W orld P ostal Union, a n d to work out
w ith th em th e m ost suitable m ail routes.
The C om m ittees m ail was forw arded, according to its urgency
and th e sta te of com m unications, by overland or air mail, by
cable or b y special bag, reserved for th e C om m ittees correspon
dence. Perm ission in th e last case was obtained from th e postal
adm inistration in certain countries, to overcom e difficulties of
com m unication 1.
(B). Telegrams.
The Telegraph Service h ad charge of th e despatch an d receipt
of telegram s. I t h ad th ree sub-sections : A rrival, D espatch
and Accounts.
The ICRC did not have th e benefit of franchise for telegram s,
as it did for postal services, and was obliged to come to an
agreem ent w ith th e authorities and th e telegraph service of th e
countries concerned on a m ethod of settling the charges. These
were borne, as a rule, by th e organization or person m ost directly
concerned in th e transm ission by cable of inform ation or
messages. The ICRC assum ed th e often very heavy charges
for telegram s dealing w ith general questions, as it did for all
those sent on its own initiative. A lthough in principle telegram s
were not sent concerning individual cases, unless th e person
concerned could guarantee paym ent, th e ICRC on m any occa
sions paid th e charges when the addressees for any reason were
unable to do so.
All telegram s despatched bore, a t the end of th e message, the
reference Intercroixrouge , followed by a le tte r and the
1 A sim ila r fo rm of bag w as long in existen ce b etw een G en ev a an d
Cairo v ia A u stria, th e B alk an s an d A n k ara.

29

individual reference num ber of th e Section ; these served as a

reference for th e reply.
A few figures will give some idea of th e ex ten t of th e m ail and
telegram s received an d sent b y the ICRC. As from Septem ber i,
1939 to Ju n e 30, 1947, m ail item s received num bered 59,511,000
a n d these despatched 61,158,000. D uring th e same period
347,982 telegram s were received and 219,169 despatched.
Some of these cables ran to several th o u san d words.

30

II.

TRA N SM ISSIO N O F IN FO R M A T IO N TO O F FIC IA L

IN FO R M A T IO N B U R E A U X

The term s of the 1929 Convention charge the C entral Agency

w ith th e transm ission of inform ation regarding prisoners as
speedily as possible to th e m ens hom e country. To do this,
it was necessary to standardize th e registration and transm ission
of docum ents. A t th e 1939 Agency, th e receipt, registration and
transm ission of inform ation were carried out by the L ists Section
or by th e N ational Sections, as th e case m ight be. As a rule,
all docum ents providing th e Agency w ith inform ation were regis
tered, given a reference num ber, and a p h o to sta t was m ade of
them . The Agency kept the original and sent th e p h o to sta t to
th e official Inform ation B ureau of th e Pow er concerned.
A short description follows of the classification and filing
system in u s e 1. This was based on th e source and th e n a tu re
of th e docum ent and th e chronological order of its receipt.
E ach page was given an assigning m ark, com prising a reference
and a num ber. The reference was an abridged indication of
th e kind of docum ent (for exam ple, EB m eant E nq u iry about a
B ritish prisoner). These assigning m arks allowed th e filing
of docum ents in th e R egistry. They were also inscribed on th e
corresponding cards, which allowed easy and rapid reference
to th e original docum ents. This was done in case of doubt as
to th e proper reading of a card, as also for all cases of deaths.
Inform ation received by th e Agency was divided in two
categories : official and unofficial.
1 I t m a y be o b serv ed t h a t th e so-called decim al sy stem , o ften used
in large-scale a d m in istra tiv e system s, an d w hich has c e rta in a d v a n ta g es,
m ig h t also h av e been used a t th e A gency for th e filing of d o cu m en ts.

31

(i).

Transm ission of Official Inform ation

Official inform ation included th e d a ta supplied by th e

official Info rm atio n B ureaux (as provided for b y A rt. 77 of
th e 1929 Convention) an d b y certain o th er governm ent a u th o
rities. This inform ation m ight be in a n y of th e following form s :
telegram s, o rd in ary or microfilm lists, id e n tity cards, death
certificates or o rdinary letters. Of these official docum ents,
th e lists, id e n tity cards a n d d eath certificates were received by
th e Lists Section, whereas telegram s and ordinary letters were
dealt w ith b y th e N ational Sections.
(A). Transm ission by the Lists Section.
In order to c a rry out th e m andate conferred b y the 1929
Convention, th e Agency in stru cte d a special L ists Section to
forw ard th e official lists which included th e id e n tity cards and
d e a th certificates.
Official lists, owing to th eir au th en ticity , were th e chief basic
docum ents on which th e Agency worked. T hey consisted of
rolls giving inform ation of capture, deaths, transfers and re
p atriatio n s. They were received in every kind of form , some
tim es m anuscript, som etim es typescript, as no specific form
is laid down in th e Convention. This diversity had m any
technical disadvantages. As a rule, th e y gave th e following
d a ta : Surnam e and first nam e of m em bers of th e forces,
d a te of b irth , n atio n ality , a rm y num ber, PW num ber, address
of nex t of kin and s ta te of health. These lists bore th e heading
of th e official cam p address. I t should be m entioned here th a t
m ost belligerents declined to give th e geographical location of
cam p sites.
As m entioned above, th e Lists Section dealt w ith all official
papers, such as microfilm lists, id e n tity cards and d eath certi
ficates, in th e sam e w ay as w ith o rdinary lists.
In Ju n e 1944 th e A m erican Official B ureau sent the first
microfilm lists to th e Agency ; each reel contained about a
hundred negatives, each carrying as a rule particu lars of fifteen
32

men. These microfilms were p rin ted and enlarged by the

P h o to sta t Service b y m eans of an au to m atic enlarger.
I t is an interesting fact th a t th e Agency, during th e last
m onths of the war, h ad also begun to tra n sm it inform ation by
m eans of 35 mm. microfilms to th e B ritish and A m erican official
Inform ation B ureaux.
The id e n tity cards, which were sent b y various D etaining
Powers, such as G reat B ritain and France, were individual cards
usually filled in by th e P W them selves and supplying greater
d etail th a n th e lists. Of all types of docum ents received from
official B ureaux, these proved th e m ost suitable for tra n sm ittin g
inform ation.
There were various categories of docum ents certifying th e
d e a th of a PW , and th e Agency received a great n um ber of
these ; th e y included :
(1) Official copies of death certificates, equivalent to th e
original docum ent. These were rarely sent to the Agency.
(2) Various docum ents draw n up by th e official Inform ation
B ureaux of cap to r S tates ; th e y generally bore th e signatures
of officers, and often those of doctors or witnesses.
(3) Form s devised b y th e ICRC an d bearing its heading.
T hey were already used during th e first W orld W ar, b u t more
widely during th e recent W ar. Some official B ureaux m ade use
of th em exclusively.
These various types of d e a th certificate were sent to th e
Agency by official Inform ation B ureaux, N ational R ed Cross
Societies and cam p com m andants.
On th eir receipt in th e L ists Section, th e docum ents were
checked, given a reference and registered, and acknow ledgm ent
was m ade to th e sender. E ach page was provided w ith refe
rences corresponding to th e various nationalities m entioned.
R egistration was carried out on cards, on which were inscribed
th e reference given to th e docum ent, its origin an d date, d a te of
receipt, indications regarding p h o to sta ts m ade and tra n sm itte d .
The docum ents were th en passed to th e P h o to sta t Service,
and th e copies m ade were sent to th e Powers concerned. Two
33

copies of th e covering list were sent w ith each despatch, one

copy being retu rn ed as a receipt by th e addressees. From 1939
to Ju n e 1947, th e L ists Section registered 3,565,869 pages of
lists and other docum ents.
The Photostat Service, which worked in close co-operation w ith
th e Lists Section, reproduced th e original docum ents on sheets
of paper of th e same size, or slightly sm aller. The Section used,
on an average, during 1945, 4,000 square m etres1 of paper a
m onth. The a p p a ra tu s used were tw o Triplex m achines,
one of which th e ICRC had bought as a precaution before
th e war, and one K ontophot lent b y th e kindness of the
Swiss au th o rities and late r purchased by the ICRC. A heliop rin te r was also used for some tim e, b u t was late r given up as
it did not prove satisfactory. Betw een 1939 and Ju n e 1947,
3,719,814 p h o to sta ts were carried out for the Agency, of which
2,503,221 were m ade in th e P h o to sta t Service, and 1,216,593
in p riv a te workshops.
In 1914-18, it h a d been a relatively sim ple m a tte r to tra n sm it
inform ation received from cap to r S tates to th e official B ureaux
of th e countries of origin of PW . This inform ation was sent
chiefly by m eans of official lists and concerned a small num ber
of countries ; it was therefore possible to e n tru st the receipt
and transm ission to one central service, the Copy Section.
D uring th e second W orld W ar, th e Agency adopted th e sam e
procedure, b u t th e extension of the w ar gave rise to m any
difficulties. As m entioned above, th e S tates concerned used
several kinds of official docum ents (lists, microfilms, id e n tity
cards and d e a th certificates). M oreover, a great p a rt of th e d a ta
was sent by telegram s and these, for technical reasons, could not
be dealt w ith by th e Lists Section. The heads of th e Agency
therefore considered from tim e to tim e the abolition of the Lists
Section and th e division of the work on official docum ents
betw een th e various N ational Sections. I t was finally decided
not to have recourse to this m ethod, which would have entailed
far-reaching reorganization.
D uring th e war, th e duties of th e Lists Section were widened
as shown below, to include th e handling of unofficial docu
34

m ents which bore th e nam es of persons belonging to various

nationalities.
Replies to enquiries addressed by certain N ational Societies
to official B ureaux also c o n stitu ted official inform ation ; th ey
were, however, dealt w ith b y th e N ational Sections.
(B).

Telegraphic Transm ission by N ational Sections.

The general use of telegram s and radiogram s for tra n sm ittin g

inform ation on P W was one of th e new features of th e Agency
of 1939W hereas th e Lists Section forw arded p h o to sta ts of official
docum ents b y post, some N ational Sections, in order to speed
up th e arrival in countries overseas of especially im p o rta n t
inform ation (announcem ents of c ap tu re or of deaths) telegraphed
these d a ta to th e official B ureaux.
Official B ureaux of countries a t a great distance, or cut off
from G eneva by th e breakdow n of com m unications, also sent
th e Agency certain official d a ta by wire. P h o to sta ts of these
cables were sent to th e official B ureau of th e opposing side, or
the contents were cabled to d ista n t countries. In th e first case,
transm ission was carried out b y th e Lists Section, and in th e
second by N ational Sections.
In m ost instances, arrangem ents h ad been m ade w ith th e
organizations of th e countries of origin of PW , as to m ethods
of forw arding inform ation.
(2). Transm ission of Unofficial Inform ation
All inform ation from sources o ther th a n official B ureaux was
considered as unofficial . These sources were public bodies,
N ational Red Cross Societies, delegates of th e ICRC abroad,
cam p com m andants, cam p leaders, individual prisoners and
p rivate persons.
This inform ation usually cam e by post, b u t also by wire
and in very varied form s : cap tu re cards, lists, notifications of
death, unsolicited letters, replies to enquiries, statem en ts by
prisoners.
35

A m ongst unofficial docum ents th e notices of capture, called

cap tu re cards , deserve p articu lar m ention. This was a
docum ent filled in b y th e P W him self during th e first days
a fter his a rriv al in a perm anent cam p and addressed to the
Agency. This card should not be confused w ith th e card
giving notice of capture, which th e prisoner, in conform ity w ith
A rt. 36, Sec. 2 of th e 1929 Convention, sent to his next of kin
not la te r th a n a week after his arriv al in cam p. The ICRC
was responsible for th e idea of th e c ap tu re card and for its
being b rought in to general use b y th e belligerent countries.
A lthough th e C onvention obliges th e sig n ato ry Pow ers to
tra n sm it inform ation on PW w ithout delay, experience has
shown th a t conditions due to th e war, such as th e destruction
or lim itation of m eans of tra n sp o rt, th e congestion in official
bureaux, th e p rio rity given to w ork of n ational im portance, all
considerably delayed the forw arding of lists. These circum
stances led to th e in tro d u ctio n of th e c ap tu re card .
A t th e o u tb reak of war, th e D elegate in Berlin, in view of the
slowness in forw arding notifications, suggested to th e Germ an
au th o rities th a t each PW , a t th e tim e of sending a cap tu re
card to his n ex t of kin, should also send a sim ilar card to the
Agency, bearing all requisite indications to id entify him. These
cards w ould be placed in th e files a t Geneva, and there m eet
and correspond w ith enquiries m ade b y nex t of kin, enabling
replies to be sent. The G erm an au thorities accepted this
principle. On M arch 26, 1940, th e first cap tu re card, filled in
b y a B ritish airm an who was a prisoner in G erm any, arrived in
Geneva. D uring th e sum m er of th e sam e year, capture cards
from F rench and Belgian prisoners poured in.
A certain space of tim e h ad to pass and various hindrances
to be m et before this system cam e in to general use : questions
of reciprocity, in particular, delayed its coming into operation
in G reat B ritain and in Ita ly . However, th e system spread to
m ost of th e detaining countries, even if th e despatch of this
card was not a m a tte r of obligation like th a t of th e card to
n ex t of kin. A lthough cap tu re cards could in no way tak e the
place of official lists or id e n tity cards, th e y did prove extrem ely
useful. Owing to th e privileges given to th e ICRC for mail,

36

as regards ro uting an d censorship, th e y were forw arded more

quickly th a n cards sent to relatives, especially when postal
com m unications were uncertain. M oreover, as th e y were
w ritten or d icta te d by th e m an himself, th e y enabled th e correct
spelling of nam es w ith m ore c e rta in ty th a n did th e lists. Finally,
as P W often filled in c a p tu re cards when th e y were sent to a
new cam p or to hospital, th e Agency was inform ed w ithout
delay of changes of address, and passed them on a t once to
those concerned, which did aw ay w ith some p a rt of th e delays
or errors affecting PW m ail. F o r th is reason th e Agency, from
1940 onw ards, com m unicated inform ation provided b y cap tu re
cards direct to F rench n ex t of kin, and up to th e end of th e w ar
it telegraphed new d a ta received by m eans of these cards to the
B ritish and A m erican official B ureaux.
These cards were usually issued b y th e D etaining Powers.
Tow ards th e end of th e war, however, th e ICRC found itself
obliged to have th em p rin te d in Sw itzerland and to supply
them to countries which could no longer produce them , owing
to w ar conditions.
Am ongst unofficial docum ents received b y th e Agency,
m ention should be m ade, after cap tu re cards, of th e lists sent
by cam p leaders in G erm any. M any Sections found in these a
m ain source of inform ation. They were especially useful when
official lists were late in arrival.
W hen an unofficial list concerned m en of th e same n atio n ality ,
it was handed to th e N ational Section concerned, who gave it a
reference, tran sferred th e inform ation to cards, h ad a p h o to sta t
m ade and sent th is to th e official Inform ation B ureaux. On
th e o ther hand, when a list was m ix e d , th a t is to say when
it contained nam es of m en of different nationalities, it was
passed to th e L ists Section. In th is case, too, it was given a
reference, and a num ber of p h o to stats were m ade corresponding
to the nationalities. E ach copy was handed to th e N ational
Section concerned who dealt w ith and tra n sm itte d it.
As in th e case of official docum ents, some unofficial d a ta were
also com m unicated b y telegraph to ensure m ore speedy delivery.

37

III.

APPLICATIONS AND ENQUIRIES

The Central Agency not only received inform ation, b ut also

a great m any applications. U n certain ty of m ind of those who
are separated from th eir near relatives is as grievous to bear as
physical suffering. The fact of w riting to the R ed Cross brings
some degree of relief, as th e applicant has a t least th e c e rtain ty
of someone sharing in the search, and to get a reply m eans
th a t intolerable suspense is brought to an end. M any were
w ithout news of th e missing, not shown on th e official lists,
and had no m eans of knowing if th ey were prisoners, wounded,
sick or dead. The R ed Cross was th eir last resource, and the
daily flow of letters to G eneva was proof of th eir confidence in
its powers.
The particu lars given by th e official B ureaux of the countries
concerned were often of a sum m ary kind ; this- led to m any
supplem entary applications to be sent by relatives direct to the
C entral Agency.
In order to m eet the situation, th e Agency had to adopt
a wide and accurate system which could be adjusted to all
extensions of th e conflict, b u t was easy to m anipulate : this was
th e C ard-Index. B y th e end of the W ar, th e Index contained
36 million cards ; these represented the continual p atien t
gleaning of all the d a ta and applications which for six years
had passed th ro u g h the Agency. These details were placed on
cards which, filed according to n atio n ality and in alphabetical
order, represented th e indexes of th e N ational Sections. A p
plications which corresponded to th e substance of d a ta already
in the Index were answ ered im m ediately : if no inform ation was
available, and w henever possible, an enquiry was set on foot.

38

In order not to burden this report, th e technical problem s

raised in form ing an d operating th e N ational C ard-Indexes have
been dealt w ith in a separate ch ap ter l.
The notes which follow show th e n atu re of applications
arriving a t th e Agency, and th e various m eans adopted for
replying to them w ith accuracy and speed.
(i). Applications
(A). Receipt.
A pplications arrived a t th e Agency in th ree form s :
(a) By m ail (letters, postcards, application forms).
(b) By wire. The num ber of telegraphic applications stead ily
increased, p articularly from countries overseas w ith which
th e telegraph was the only practical m eans of com m unication.
(c) V erbal applications m ade in person.
A pplications arrived a t th e Agency either direct from p riv ate
persons or th rough various organizations, official Inform ation
B ureaux, N ational R ed Cross Societies, Relief Societies, etc.,
often in th e form of lists. M ethods in this respect varied accord
ing to th e country.
A pplications from France, Ita ly and Sw itzerland usually cam e
direct from next of kin. On principle, th e Agency acknow ledged
receipt if an im m ediate reply was not possible. N otifications of
deaths, however, were sent th rough th e com petent organiz
ations of th e co u n try of origin of th e deceased, which undertook
the d u ty of inform ing th e relatives 2.
In th e case of the B ritish Com m onwealth, G erm any and the
U nited States, it was custom ary for th e N ational R ed Cross
1 See p p. 94 sqq.
2 In special circ u m sta n ce s ex c ep tio n s h a d to be m ade, for in stan c e,
in th e case of F ra n c e in 1940-1941, w hen c o m m u n ic atin g th e re su lt of
R e g im e n tal E n q u irie s (See page 49). T he official a n d p riv a te o rg a n
iz atio n s of t h a t c o u n try w ere so o v erb u rd en e d w ith w o rk t h a t th e
IC R C d ecided, w ith th e ir ap p ro v a l, to sen d a p re lim in a ry n o tific atio n
of d e a th to rela tiv e s, a t th e sam e tim e in fo rm in g th e Official B u rea u x
concerned.
39

Societies to assem ble th e applications addressed to th e ICRC

(in G erm any th e practice was due to form al instructions), and
to give th e replies to th e relatives. In such cases, no acknow
ledgem ent of the applications, was m ade to the n ex t of kin.
On th e whole, th e applications sent direct by relatives
stead ily decreased during th e W ar, whereas those sent through
official Info rm atio n B ureaux or N ational R ed Cross Societies
gradually increased, a t least u ntil the end of hostilities. In d i
vidual applications from Ita ly , however, continued to arrive at
th e Agency u n til th e end, owing no doubt to th e adm inistrative
difficulties in th a t co u n try during th e last years of th e war.
I t should be stressed th a t th e ICRC has always attached
m uch im portance to direct contact w ith relatives an d other
individuals m aking applications, as one of th e best m eans of
ensuring th a t th e services it could offer should become known.
This direct contact was also a m eans of securing greater accuracy
and speed in th e forw arding of d a ta ot the applicants. More
over, th e num erous particulars given by next of kin to th e
C om m ittee w ith regard to living conditions and m ail of PW
allowed it usefully to tak e steps w ith th e belligerents Powers,
and have defects p u t right.
Quite a num ber of p riv ate organisations collected applications,
which th ey were not in a position to deal w ith them selves and
therefore forw arded to Geneva, th u s adding to th e work.
The ICRC is not in fact bound to reply to all applications ;
it judges th a t this obligation only holds good w ith regard to
those received from official organizations or near relatives ;
however, whenever it considered legitim ate, it faithfully per
form ed this additional duty.
It should be recorded th a t some unscrupulous persons offered
to act as interm ediaries betw een individual applicants and th e
Agency, against paym ent for th eir services. Considering th a t
th e inform ation service of the Agency was entirely free of
charge, these proceedings m ight have been prejudicial to th e
ICRC. It was not alw ays easy to prevent such abuses, which
could only be detected through th e num ber and v a rie ty of th e
applications m ade.
A pplications received at th e Agency were very often inexplicit,
40

or lacked necessary detail. C orrespondents were not always

aware of th e need or value of th e various d a ta of identification,
such as nationality. . This detail v ita l was frequently om itted,
not only by individual applicants, b u t som etim es even by an
official B ureau, whereas th e n a tio n a lity of th e individual sought
was the very startin g -p o in t of th e A gencys search.
A nother source of perp lex ity was th e frequent confusion
betw een surnam es and first nam es. Some first nam es widely
used are also in com m on use as surnam es, and were difficult to
distinguish, failing due explanation.
The use of th e sta n d a rd card by individual applicants, and
of p rin ted form s by public or priv ate offices, prevented this
confusion, in so far as th e inform ation given was clear and
precise.
The essential d a ta norm ally required for dealing w ith an
application were as follows :
Surnam e and first nam e 1.
N ationality.
D ate and place of b irth.
F a th e r s nam e (for L atin countries in particular).
Religion or racial origin (for civilians).
R ank (for service men) or profession (civilians).
U nit and A rm y N um bers (for service men). L ast known
address (civilians).
D ate when missing, or date of last news received.
Address of next of kin.
Degree of relationship betw een applicant and person
sought.
D ate of application.
The Agency m ade a point, whenever possible, of acknowledg
ing all applications which could not be answ ered im m ediately.
Correspondents th u s knew th a t th eir applications were being

1 In L a tin co u n tries, especially in I ta ly , m a rrie d w om en s till use

th e ir m aid en nam es, w hich are placed before th e ir h u s b a n d s n am es,
or even used alone. I t w as th e re fo re n ecessary to in d ic a te clearly
w hich of th e tw o n am es w as in use an d , fo r com p o u n d o r h y p h e n a te d
nam es, to know w hich w as th e p rin cip al nam e.

41

dealt with, u n til th e Agency was in a position to give a

definite reply, som etim es a t a m uch late r date. This practise,
in spite of th e general use of prin ted acknow ledgm ent cards,
(Form 232 for instance), which saved m uch tim e an d labour,
nevertheless caused an appreciable increase of work.
The question arises w hether the C entral Agency cannot
in fu tu re dispense w ith such acknow ledgm ents. In this case,
th e public in all countries should of course be duly advised,
th rough the press and radio, as well as by a note on the p rinted
application cards.
The th ird ty p e of application, referred to above, was th a t m ade
a t first hand by persons, some living a t long distances, who
called a t th e Agency. F or these cases, a special Reception
Service was set up, where applicants were received by experienced
women assistants who were fam iliar w ith the A gencys powers
of action in this field. A fter hearing ap p lican ts requests, these
assistants w ent to the N ational Section concerned for inform
ation, which, if found, was handed to the applicant. If no inform
ation was forthcom ing, the applicants were requested to fill in
p rin ted form s which were passed to the N ational Sections for
fu rth e r search. Any inform ation received was then forw arded
to th e applicant, except when it involved the news of a death,
in which case th e notification was m ade through the national
agency concerned.

(B). W orking methods.

E ach application received a t th e Agency was given a reference
and serial num ber on delivery th u s D F signified application
concerning a F rench national EB signified application
concerning a B ritish national, calling for an enquiry . A ppli
cations were dealt w ith as follows :
(a)
The applications were im m ediately checked, i.e. the
cards concerning the subject of the application were looked
up in th e C ard-Index. This was known as the Prelim inary Check ;
a n y inform ation found there was a t once sent to th e applicant.
If none was found, an acknow ledgm ent was sent, sta tin g th a t
42

any d a ta received late r by th e Agency would be passed on. The

application was then tran sferred to a sta n d a rd w hite card,
called an A pplication Card, bearing th e same reference as th e
original application, unless the la tte r was m ade out on an
enquiry card of the sam e size, in which case it was filed direct,
no transfer being needed. I t will be seen below th a t enquiries
were set on foot in num erous cases.
The prelim inary checking was carried out by th e staff handling
th e applications, or by clerks in the checking services atta ch e d
to m ost of th e N ational Sections.
(b)
A pplications were filed in the C ard-Index a t once
w ithout the prelim inary check. W hen sent on stan d ard form s
or cards of th e sam e size as th e index cards, th ey could be
inserted forthw ith. F o r letters, the contents h ad first to be
transcribed to cards. A short acknow ledgm ent was sent to
applicants (Form 232) to confirm th a t application h ad duly
arrived a t th e Agency. One of two courses could th en be
followed :
(i) The application card, when filed in th e Index, m et w ith
cards giving inform ation, th u s producing so-called tallies
and th e inform ation was com m unicated to the applicant ; or
(ii) The application card, when filed in th e index, failed to
m eet w ith cards giving corresponding inform ation. In this
case, th e card rem ained in th e index u n til the receipt of
particu lars produced ta llie s and allowed the applicant to
be inform ed.
The two m ethods of prelim inary checking and of im m ediate
filing in the index were tried an d adopted according to circum
stances and the needs of th e Sections. P relim inary checking
was m ade use of when applications were a t first sight especially
urgent, for extrem ely in tricate cases, or when a pressing request
for search was made. A pplications by telegraph alw ays led to
prelim inary checking. Small Sections, which did not receive a
heavy mail, b u t where cases were often in tricate, also practised
43

th is m ethod. M oreover, it proved very suitable in cases concern

ing civilians.
The im m ediate placing in th e Index was p a rticu larly suited
to large Sections, w here great q u antities of m ail were received
an d m any applications for th e sam e persons. F or applications
en masse prelim inary checking was not possible. A lthough th e
m ethod of im m ediate filing in th e Index gained m uch tim e, it
was less strictly accurate th a n th a t of prelim inary checking, as
it involved th e work and varying abilities of a greater num ber
of staff, and consequently a greater liability to error.
The Agency replied to individual applicants by letter,
or p referably b y sta n d a rd forms. G reat caution was observed in
giving inform ation, and if all factors in identifying th e individual
did not correspond in detail, reservations were m ade, and
applicants advised to approach their national B ureaux.
Som etim es th e Agency had to refrain from giving relatives
inform ation which m ight have done them harm , for instance,
in th e case where th e person sought h ad enlisted in certain
arm ed forces, whereas his relatives were living in te rrito ry occupied
by th e enem y of these forces.
(2). Enquiries.
(A). Nature and general purpose.
B oth in 1914 and in 1939, th e in stitu tio n of enquiries
represented one of th e principal activities of the Agency. The
la tte r did not confine itself to aw aiting th e conjunction of
applications and inform ation in the Index. W hile this m ethod
was adequate in simple cases, it could not be applied for more
in tric a te applications or those which were of extrem e urgency.
In such cases, instead of w aiting for tallies in the Index
before inform ing th e applicants, the Agency w ent ahead in
seeking d a ta from o ther sources.
An enquiry was therefore opened, on th e request of applicants
(individuals, prisoners of war, priv ate or public bodies) when
th e d a ta available did not perm it a reply, and whenever
enquiry seemed justified.
44

In addition to these enquiries by request, th e Agency also

itself in stitu te d collective or individual enquiries for missing
a rm y personnel, or to obtain su pplem entary inform ation
concerning PW .
The principal circum stances determ ining th e opening of
enquiries were as follows :
(1) M ilitary personnel reported missing, or th e to ta l
absence of news from P W or internees.
(2) A nxiety of relatives regarding th e sta te of h ealth
of P W or internees, and frequent requests for th em to be
m edically exam ined (these cases were handled b y th e Medi
cal Section).
(3) R equests for details concerning th e d eaths of PW ,
(cause of death, last hours of th e deceased, sp iritu al aid given,
place of burial, personal effects).
(4) R equests b y relatives for evidence from m en in th e
sam e unit (circum stances a tten d in g disappearance, etc.).
(5) F req u en t need to com plete d a ta in th e records of
national Sections by securing from official B ureaux or cam ps
supplem entary details, or corrections to d a ta received (arm y
num bers, etc.).
(6) A nxiety of P W who were w ithout news from relatives,
and who worried about questions of every kind.
(7) A nxiety of relatives on behalf of P W who, long after
th e end of th e war, had still not retu rn ed home.
F or all these long and laborious enquiries, th e N ational
Sections applied to th e m ost varied sources. A ny public or
priv ate organization, or individuals likely to give useful inform
ation, were questionedofficial B ureaux, in stitu tio n s, m unicipal
authorities, N ational R ed Cross Societies, delegates abroad of
th e ICRC, cam p leaders and cam p com m andants, chaplains
and doctors, P W in cam p, rep a tria te d or shipw recked PW ,
refugees, a n d so forth.
These enquiries were often of a delicate or difficult n atu re, and
those responsible h ad to exercise judgm ent and discrim ination.
They knew th a t the result of th eir steps depended upon th eir
45

in itiativ e and perseverance in constant checking and questioning,

in th e sifting of d a ta and com paring of evidence, and in draw ing
conclusions from slight details. They h ad to have a thorough
knowledge of the languages used ; th e y h ad to be fam iliar w ith
th e general working m ethods of th e Agency and of each N ational
Section, and to be aw are of the m any characteristics of the
countries w ith which th ey were dealing, not only as regards
P W and th eir relatives, b u t also the public and p riv ate bodies.
W ith these provisions, th ey were allowed a great degree of
independence in th eir work, and the heightened in terest th ey
brought to it co n trib u ted to its efficiency. I t rem ained under
stood th a t doubtful cases should alw ays be su b m itted to th e
head of the Section for advice.
There was no fixed m ethod for handling enquiries, as each
N ational Section encountered problem s which had to be
solved according to circum stance. An outline m ay be given,
however, of th e general rules which were com m on to all
Sections.
The particu lars of the successive stages of an application, the
subsequent enquiry and th e details obtained were concisely, but
fully entered on the application card (date of application, date
of receipt, date of opening th e enquiry, its n atu re, positive or
negative results, date of reply, particulars of th e applicant, and
of the individual or bodies asked for inform ation). It was thus
possible to see a t a glance, a t any m om ent, how th e enquiry was
proceeding, w ithout g etting out the records. In addition to
keeping application cards up to date, m ost of th e Sections
entered the positive replies on inform ation cards : this was the
rule when th e reply gave th e notification of a death.
In order to carry on enquiries more easily, and to tak e the
necessary follow-up action, the national Sections set up
sm all follow-up " indexes, in which current enquiries were
filed in chronological order.
P rin te d forms, which had considerably simplified the handling
of applications, were also used for enquiries sent out, and led to
more speedy and accurate results.

46

(B).

Various categories of enquiry :

in Sections.

corresponding organization

E nquiries opened by the Agency were either individual,

grouped or collective, according to the case.
Individual enquiries were m ade in clearly determ ined
cases, arising from various causes.
" G r o u p e d enquiries concerned persons in sim ilar circum
stances, and were generally m ade as a result of collective or
group applications. Thus, group enquiries were set on foot
in th e case of air crews shot down or missing, and in th a t of
crews of vessels th a t had been sunk. These applications came
from th e co u n try of origin of the missing men and were addressed
to th e official B ureaux of the captor States.
The nam e collective enquiry was given to a group
enquiry when it was w arranted by its ex ten t and th e great
num ber of persons involved. This applied to the search for
evidence, usually called regim ental enquiry.
The enquiries were th e responsibility of th e correspondence
services of th e N ational Sections. No sta n d a rd procedure could
be laid down for th e Agency as a whole. The problem s which
arose were so varied, and changed so frequently during th e war
th a t each N ational Section organized its own correspondence
service independently. An outline follows of th e general p rin
ciples in use :
The allocation of correspondence and enquiries, and the
organization of efficient services were m ade on three bases of
classification : (i) th e geographical factor, (2) th e category of
th e individual or of th e cases concerned, (3) the origin of the
application.
(1)
In th e first instance, one service could dealt w ith all corres
pondence which had th e same geographical factor in common,
e.g. one language, or one th e a tre of war. Thus, th e French
Section included services for N orth Africa and Indochina, and
the B ritish Section for G erm any and the F a r E ast. (The lastnam ed dealt w ith all cases connected w ith the w ar in the F a r
E ast, w hether m ilitary personnel or civilians).
47

(2) In the second instance, all cases of individuals who had

a comm on sta tu s or cam e under one category, were grouped
together, for instance, services for Civilians and D eaths, which
were com m on to m ost of the Sections ; Prisoners, and W orkers
a n d D eportees in th e French Section ; Seam en and Airmen in
th e B ritish Section.
(3) In th e th ird instance, one service handled all applications
from th e same source : this system was applied by th e German
Section in its early days, for applications sent in by the OKW
(Germ an High Command) and the G erm an R ed Cross.
One or several of th e three bases of classification could be
applied, according to circum stances or the requirem ents of th e
Section.

(C). Enquiries concerning deaths. Services for Deaths.

The Agency was a t all tim es especially concerned w ith
inform ation ab o u t m en who h ad fallen in action an d had
been buried b y th e enem y, or who had died in captivity.
Enquiries on this subject form ed a considerable p a rt of the
activities of th e N ational Sections, and it was found necessary
to set up a Service for D eaths in each.
The difficulty of the ta sk of these Services will be realized, if
one considers th e deep im portance a ttach ed by relatives to all
the circum stances atten d in g a death, especially th e following
points : c e rtain ty as to id en tity ; the cause of death; a tte n d a n t
details, such as th e last hours, spiritual aid given, funeral cere
m ony, m ilitary honours observed, photographs of th e funeral
cerem ony and th e grave, locality and care of th e grave,
personal belongings, etc.
The m ost difficult enquiries were those concerning m en killed
in action, or who had died in field hospitals. Inform ation in
regard to PW , on th e other hand, was more easily secured ; in
m ost cases, th eir nam es were already recorded in the N ational
Sections, and deaths usually occurred in th e presence of w it
nesses.
48

(D).

E nqu iries by evidence or Regim ental E nquiries

A nother ty p e of enquiry, adopted by th e Agency of 1939 as a

m ain feature, and which had already furnished good results in
1914-1918, was th e R egim ental E n q u iry
This consisted of
th e system atic questioning of P W to obtain inform ation on
m issing m en of th e sam e unit.
The te rm Enquiries by evidence would perhaps be more
fitting for this type of investigation : th e nam e R egim ental
E nquiries was however adopted a t the outset, w hether the
enquiry was based on the regim ental u n it or not.
This ty p e of enquiry was introduced by the ICRC a fter th e
B a ttle of France. I t will be realized how wide a field h ad to be
covered if the events of May and Ju n e 1940 are recalled. A rm y
G roups disorganized w ithin a few weeks ; nearly tw o million men
tak e n prisoner ; the civil population scattered by th e flood of
troops on th e m arch ; th e interests of individuals reduced to
negation by the exigencies of to ta l w arfare ; and everyw here
along th e lines of im provised defence, th e dead left lying where
th e y fell.
The Central Agency was overw helm ed by a daily influx of
letters of application and official lists ; every effort was m ade
to answer applicants from the inform ation on h an d a n d by
the usual m eans available to th e Agency. In th e F rench Section,
however, when every nam e h ad been filed and all tallies
had been registered, there still rem ained 40,000 nam es for which
no inform ation was forthcom ing.
Thus, a whole year after these events, there were still 40,000
men missing, from whom th eir next of kin h ad received no
news and whose nam es did not appear on th e official P W lists
sent in by the G erm an m ilitary authorities. The Agency ad apted
its means to th e task facing it. Since no results h ad been got
through routine m ethods, it was decided to a tte m p t to trace the
missing men by applying to the F rench PW who h ad been in the
same units, for evidence a t first hand.
Complete lists of the F rench personnel posted as missing had
first to be draw n up. By m eans of the press and wireless, the
4

49

ICRC called upon all F rench families who were w ithout news of
missing m en to notify the Central Agency. All inform ation
received was placed on index cards by the W atson M achines
S e c tio n 1. The following details were noted : surnam e and usual
C hristian nam e, date of b irth , ran k and unit (regiment, com
pany, platoon, etc.). W hen th e cards had been sorted, lists were
m ade of th e m issing in each un it. F rom th e c ap tu re cards receiv
ed from G erm any, th e French P W were listed according to units
by m eans of th e W atson Machines. Once these tw o series of
' lists were established, which included th e nam es of 570,000 PW ,
a system atic questioning of prisoners could be set on foot,
for inform ation regarding missing m em bers of the sam e unit.
A circular le tte r was sent to each m an, enclosing a list of all
m en missing in his u n it, and a p rin ted form for th e reply.
More th a n a hundred thousand replies giving inform ation
reached th e F rench Section. These were forw arded to the
F rench A rm y authorities, and enabled them to clear up the
circum stances in which more th a n 30,000 m en had been missed.
The num ber of m en still missing of which there were no details,
was th u s reduced to about 10,000.
In a num ber of cases, by m eans of evidence giving precise
details of th e spot where a m an fell, the F rench regim ental
enquiries enabled relatives to arrange for exhum ations and
reburials, and to settle questions of inheritance or m atters of
pension in abeyance. I t should be recalled th a t according to
French law, th e dependants of a missing m an are en titled to a
pension, as soon as tw o witnesses are produced whose evidence
as to his d eath is conclusive and in agreem ent.
Sim ilar enquiries were also in stitu ted by the Agency on behalf
of missing B ritish arm y personnel. As circum stances were differ
ent, in stead of enquiries being voluntary, as was the practice
for missing m en of the F rench arm y, th ey were only m ade on
individual application, or following on collective applications
from official or p riv ate bodies, such as the W ar Office or the
n a tio n a l Red Cross Societies of th e B ritish Com m onwealth.
This ty p e of enquiry was m ade by p rin ted form s sent to the
1 See p p . 108 sq q .

50

camps, each form bearing th e nam e of th e supposed eye-w itness,

the nam es of th e missing m en and a space for the reply. W hen the
nam es of th e witnesses were k n o w n , the form s were addressed
to them in person. W hen no nam es of witnesses were known, or
those called upon could give no inform ation, the enquiry was
still carried on through the cam p leaders, who circulated lists
of the missing classified by th eir units. Some enquiries, although
leading to no definite result, proved very useful, because the
m en nam ed as witnesses and unable to give th e evidence required,
often volunteered th e nam es of com rades who could supply
inform ation, a n d th e enquiry was continued. This last m ethod,
term ed snowballing , gave prom ising results, an d was also
used for missing m en of the F rench Arm y.
The same ty p e of p rin te d form was used for missing m en of
th e Arm y, Air Force or N avy. W hen retu rn ed to th e B ritish
Section, th e statem en ts were carefully exam ined to determ ine
which could be considered conclusive , and which were a t least
" prom ising , The first definition applied to statem en ts by
eye-witnesses which left no doubt as to a m an s d e a th ; the
second applied to statem en ts which gave useful particulars,
b u t which did not reveal any definite facts as to th e death.
Only these two classes of evidence were used as a basis of infor
m ation sent to applicants.
Enquiries by evidence were also in stitu te d by th e G erm an
Section after th e end of hostilities, to gath er inform ation on
. a num ber of m issing G erm an arm y personnel.
Mention should also be m ade of the enquiries by evidence
which were m ade am ongst the survivors of vessels lost a t sea,
about missing seam en of all nationalities, especially B ritish,
German and Greek. In order to ease th e w ork in this ty p e of
enquiry, an index had been m ade in the Agency, containing over
three thousand cards concerning vessels of all nationalities which
had been sunk, wrecked, scuttled, dam aged or interned.
All particulars supplied by G overnm ents or published in the
press are filed in this index : particulars of ships, lists of crews
and survivors, their landing places, and other details.
All inform ation obtained by evidence was of course transferred
to cards, filed in the indexes of the N ational Sections, and
51

forw arded to applicants according to the arrangem ents m ade

w ith each country.
(E).

Enquiries concerning Civilians.

From the preceding rem arks it will be seen th a t th e C entral

Agency assum ed in behalf of civilian internees 1, and those of
sim ilar sta tu s (in assigned residence or under supervision), th e
same duties in all respects as those practised for P W tra n s
mission of inform ation to official bureaux, tracing and enquiries,
forw arding of m ail, messages, docum ents and personal belong
ings. The description in th is rep o rt of th e A gencys work in
behalf of PW also applies for these civilians.
As regards o ther civilians, however, such as political detainees,
enem y national a t liberty, and civil populations in general, the
Agencys activities were confined to opening enquiries and
forw arding messages, as the belligerent Powers exchanged no
inform ation concerning them .
The following rem arks therefore deal w ith th e C entral A gencys
work in favour of these other civilians. It has seemed necessary to
divide the report into two p arts, one relating to political detainees
and the other to enem y nationals a t lib e rty and civil populations.
(i). Political Detainees. This term covers (i) nationals
deprived of liberty by their own S tate for political reasons, or
following on racial persecution, and (2) in h ab ita n ts of occupied
countries arrested by the occupant a n d im prisoned, tak en as
hostages, or deported to the te rrito ry of th a t Pow er and interned
in concentration camps. All these civilians, lacking an y pro tec
tion under the Conventions, found them selves delivered up to
a rb itra ry decisions by the D etaining Powers, and were often
subm itted to the m ost rigorous m easures of coercion and deprived
of all m eans of giving news of them selves. They were as a rule
subject to the supervision of the police authorities.
1 T he te rm civ ilian in te rn e e s " refers to th o se n a tio n a ls of
c o u n try who were in b ellig eren t te rr ito r y a t th e o p ening of
w ho h ad been in te rn e d , an d to w hom th e D eta in in g P ow er,
th e proposal of th e ICRC, had agreed to ex ten d , b y an alo g y ,
c a tio n of th e 1929 P riso n e r of W a r C onvention .
52

an en e m y
h o stilities,
a c tin g on
th e a p p li

I t can easily be realized th a t the A gencys w ork in behalf of

these political detainees was more difficult and more delicate
th an for any o ther category of persons. The com plete absence of
any legal p rotection reduced th e m eans of action in th eir behalf
and any chance of success in its intervention alm ost to vanishing
point. The relatives of these u n fo rtu n ate people m eanwhile,
who were a prey to increasing distress and anxiety, sent
constant appeals for inform ation to Geneva. The obstacles
encountered, far from discouraging th e m anagem ent of the
Agency, only served to increase th eir concern and their
endeavours to help these sorely tried victim s of the war.
Enquiries concerning civilian detainees in countries occupied
by Axis forces were usually sent to th e G erm an Red Cross.
W hen the applicants could indicate the place of detention,
enquiries were sent to cam p com m andants for preference. Most
of th e steps tak e n in this way u n fo rtu n ately had only negative
results.
In order to im prove this situation, the a tte m p t was m ade to
get in touch w ith the detainees them selves. For th is purpose,
one or other of th e cards or form s available a t the Agency were
used (in p a rticu la r Form 61 and Card 542). As there was a
space on these two form s for a reply, th e addressee could retu rn
them to Geneva, if allowed to do so.
The Agency did not have recourse to this m ethod, if there
was a n y likelihood th a t th e applicant had knowledge of the
place of detention b y clandestine m eans ; th e detainees or
their relatives would otherwise have been exposed to police
measures. In th is ty p e of case, the ab ility to read betw een
th e lines of the application was of m ajor im portance and
required on the p a rt of th e Agency staff b o th care and judgm ent.
In some cases these enquiries allowed valuable inform ation
to be gained on changes of address, departures for an unknow n
destination, or deaths.
H ere too, th e utm ost caution was
necessary in m aking use of the inform ation received.
The held of action open to th e Agency, more particu larly
w ith regard to civilians interned in th eir own country, or per
secuted for racial reasons, was even more restricted, as the
responsible authorities consistently refused to supply any
53

inform ation about them . These cases were dealt w ith by the
N ational Sections and by two special Sections, who m ade
every endeavour to intercede, th e one in behalf of stateless
civilians, and the other for Jew ish fam ilies in countries under
Axis control 1.
The only regular source of inform ation concerning political
detainees which was available to th e Agency consisted of
receipts retu rn ed to the ICRC for parcels sent to concentration
camps. These receipts som etim es contained, in add itio n to the
addressees own nam e, those of fellow detainees who had
seized upon this unhoped-for o p p o rtu n ity of giving news of
th eir existence. Thus, betw een N ovem ber 1943 and th e end of
hostilities, 105,300 nam es of detainees becam e known to the
Agency.
(2). Enem y Civiliansn ot deprived of liberty, and civil populations
of Belligerent Countries. The Agency dealt w ith countless
enquiries relating (1) to enem y aliens in th e co u n try of a
belligerent or in te rrito ry occupied by him, b u t who had been left
a t liberty, and (2) to civilians living in th eir own country, when
these two classes were separated from th e ir relatives by a zone of
operations, or prevented from corresponding w ith th em by
obstacles due to th e war. It was in behalf of these people th a t
the Civilian Message scheme, described in detail below 2, was
introduced. A pplications concerning civilians of this category
were generally passed to the Civilian Message Section, who
dealt w ith them by despatching a Message F orm 61, w henever
the natu re of the application allowed the conditions of this
system to apply 3.
Owing, however, to the vast m ovem ents of population in
belligerent countries, either v o lu n ta ry or enforced, th e response
to civilian messages was often a m a tte r of chance. Yet it was
owing to these very circum stances th a t relatives were m ost
anxious to obtain news. Moreover, as num bers of civilians
1 See p. 299 an d 301.
2 See p. 63.
3 I t m a y be recalled th a t th e te x t h a d to deal s tr ic tly w ith m a tte rs
of fam ily in te re st, an d n o t to exceed 25 w ords.
54

were entirely cu t off from th eir countries of origin and were

w ithout m eans of existence, it was often necessary to solicit
th e help of expert organizations on th e spot in th eir behalf.
H ere too, the system was found inadequate to m eet a num ber
of applications.
Such applications were th en passed to th e
N ational Sections of th e Agency, who endeavoured to give
them a proper answer. To th is end, th ey applied to th e N ational
Red Cross Societies and to th e adm inistrative authorities of
countries where these civilians were living, to the C om m ittees
Delegations abroad, or when the problem required the help
of a welfare w orker, to expert organizations such as the In te r
national Social Service. These institu tio n s were approached
especially in order to reunite families, to facilitate rep atriatio n
or em igration, to assist applicants to c a rry out form alities and
to support th eir applications.
The class under review also covers civilian workers , who
enlisted vo lu n tarily or were recruited by force in occupied
countries to work in G erm any,
and PW converted into civilian
workers. As a rule, these workers, w ith certain reservations,
could correspond w ith th eir next of kin. The services of the
Agency were, however, called upon when for one reason or
another, co ntact was in te rru p ted . It then acted as an in te r
m ediary in forw arding news, or opened enquiries a t the request
of relatives. E nquiries of this ty p e were usually m ade from the
G erm an Red Cross, from local m ayors, and from employers,
and good results were obtained on the whole. W hen civilian
workers of some countries were suddenly cut off from th eir
relatives owing to m ilitary operations, the transm ission of
news took on a great expansion. F rench civilian workers cut
off from th eir own co u n try by the new zone of operations es
tablished b y th e Allied forces in 1944, were a case in point.

55

IV. F O R W A R D IN G O F MAIL,
MESSAGES, DOCUM ENTS AND SU N D R Y A R T IC L E S

The Agency, as already described, acted as an interm ediary

betw een th e belligerents, not only for th e transm ission of
inform ation on P W and civilian internees, b u t also for the
forw arding of m ail, messages, official and other docum ents,
photographs of PW , of internees and of graves, and, finally,
personal effects.
(i) M a il (Letters and cards)
Article 36 of the 1929 P W Convention, which governs the
transm ission of PW personal m ail, provides for th e exchange
of m ail by post and by the shortest route. The p a rt of in te r
m ediary played by the ICRC was therefore not a m a tte r of
obligation. In practice, however, the Agency was alw ays ready
to act as interm ediary when asked to do so.
The belligerent countries arranged am ongst them selves,
generally by the channel of the P rotecting Powers, for the
exchange of P W mail. In respect of E urope (Germ any, ocupied
territories and Ita ly in p articular), thro u g h o u t the greater p a rt
of the war, the exchange took place th rough th e Swiss postal
services, in p articu lar in Basle ; the m ajor portion w ent straig h t
through, by w ay of the Basle office, from the co u n try of the
sender to th a t of the addressee. Occasionally, however, p riv ate
persons or postal ad m inistrations had reason to th in k th a t the
Central Agency would be b e tte r placed for forw arding m ail, as
it m ight have more com plete or more recent addresses and
th a t its help would th u s ensure more reliable delivery. Such
56

m ail was handed to th e Agency, either because the sender

clearly specified on th e envelope " care of th e In tern atio n al
Com m ittee of th e Red Cross , or because th e postal ad m in istra
tion in th e co u n try of despatch, or the Swiss Postal Services,
them selves passed on whole bags of m ail to th e Agency. Bags
of m ail were som etim es sent by m istake to th e Agency by tra n sit
post offices of n eu tral countries.
B y th e end of 1946, the Agency had th u s received and for
w arded nearly 20 m illion letters and cards. This figure, which
in itself represents quite a considerable volume, was only a
small proportion of th e to ta l m ail handled for PW and civilian
internees.
This exchange of personal m ail, working b o th ways, went
on continuously all th ro u g h th e war. At p articu lar tim es,
however, its scale increased very considerably. Thus, a fter the
operations in Ita lia n E ast A frican and Cyrenaica, all mail
from Ita lia n s c ap tu red a t th a t tim e was sent by th e special
bag betw een Cairo and Geneva, which was the only possible
route. The Agency had also to deal w ith a considerable increase
of m ail when Ita ly was invaded by the Allies in 1943 and B ritish
PW in th a t co u n try were rem oved to Germ any. In these cir
cum stances, m ail from next of kin was held up and th e Swiss
Postal Services, th ro u g h which it was sent, decided, in agree
m ent w ith th e B ritish postal authorities, to han d it to the
Agency in Geneva. The Agency then undertook to readdress
th e m ail when notifications cam e through from G erm any as
to the new q u a rte rs of these men. Over 800,000 letters and
cards were th u s forw arded in 1943 and 1944.
N otifications of cap tu re telegraphed by N ational Sections
to th e official Inform ation B ureaux of the countries concerned
frequently bore no indication of th e detention cam p. For this
reason, m any relatives, especially in the U.S.A., sent m ail for
these PW to th e Agency, which m eanwhile had been inform ed
of th eir addresses by th e G erm an authorities, and was able
therefore, to forw ard th is m ail to its destination. In this way,
the first co ntact betw een next of kin and PW was often m ade
over a m onth sooner.
The Agency also received a large am ount of mail for m em bers
57

of the forces who had been reported missing by the official

B ureaux. The next of kin hoped th a t inform ation received
in Geneva m eanwhile would m ake possible th e forw arding of
m ail to these men, before th e y them selves had been inform ed
of the addresses.
As far as possible, addresses on letters and cards to PW
were checked by reference to d a ta in th e card-indexes. The
N ational Sections which received an ever increasing volum e
of PW m ail, such as th e B ritish, G erm an and Ita lia n Sections,
set up separate sub-sections for the handling and despatch of
letters. In other Sections this work was done b y th e card-index
staff or by the checking clerks.
W hen, however, exceptionally large q u an tities of m ail came
in, e.g. in the Italian Section in 1943, it was a physical im possi
bility for the Agency to check all the m ail. A lim it h ad to be
set and only tria l scrutinies were m ade before forw arding letters.
Some N ational Sections m ade extensive use of PW p riv ate
m ail as a source of inform ation. L etters sent b y PW to their
relatives were likely to provide reliable indications, p articu la rly
of the w riters w hereabouts, and often enabled th e Agency to
supply valuable inform ation to the official B ureaux. Inform ation
cards, supplem entary to those alread y in th e index, were set
up on the basis of these data.
The Ita lia n Section m ade m ost use of this source of inform a
tion. Owing to the slow arrival a t G eneva of cap tu re cards
and lists of Ita lia n PW , the cam p addresses on th e letters
w ritten by these men to th eir relatives often provided the
first inform ation received by the Agency. Over a m illion infor
m ation cards were m ade out by this Section from d a ta contained
in these letters, during th e E ast A frican cam paign in 1941.
Several successive cards were often m ade out relating to the
same m an, as he himself was m oved to new cam ps.
Obviously, this m ethod could not be used w ithout certain
judgm ent, as it delayed transm ission of P W m ail.
I t was
em ployed only when other inform ation was recognizably and
consistently lacking.
Finally, the transm ission through the Agency of a p a rt of
PW and civilian internee m ail provided valuable inform ation
58

from th e o u tset on the general efficiency of PW post. The

N ational Sections carefully assem bled all d a ta on this subject,
p articu la rly on th e tim e required for m ail to get through, and
handed th em to th e A dvisory Group atta ch e d to the Agency
M anagem ent, who were th u s able to supply the necessary
m aterial upon which th e C om m ittee could act.
(2) Messages
N either th e recom m endations of the ICRC, nor the endea
vours of the countries involved, nor th e considerable help given
b y th e Agency, could alw ays ensure th e norm al transm ission
of P W and civilian internee m ail. D espite the co-operation
of th e postal ad m inistrations of n eu tral countries or of the
Agency, th is transm ission depended p rim arily on th e working
of th e p o stal service in belligerent countries.
So m any obstacles ham pered this trafficdestructions of
m eans of tra n sp o rt, congestion of censors officesth a t new
m ethods of transm ission had to be brought into general use.
T here was, fu rther, a large class of people the ICRC could not
neglect, nam ely, th e free civilians who wished to com m unicate
w ith th eir relatives in an enem y country. These people had
no hope of m aking th e co ntact them selves, as original letters
could not pass hostile frontiers. No convention and no agree
m ent gave these people th e right to get in touch w ith each
other.
The ty p es of Messages in stitu ted to give P W and civilian
internees a sure m eans of m aking co n tact w ith th eir relatives
and g etting news from them were the Telegraphic Message and
th e Express Message.
F or free civilians in enem y countries, th e Com m ittee set up
th e system of Civilian Messages.
Before describing these types of messages, m ention should
be m ade of a last m eans of tra n sm ittin g news from P W a n d
internees to th e ir relatives, which grew n a tu ra lly out of the
circum stances. The C om m ittees delegates were in the habit,
when visiting cam ps, of collecting short messages from PW who
were w ithout news of th eir relatives and of sending them w ith

59

the delegation m ail to the Central Agency, whence th e y were

tra n sm itte d to the next of kin. In some countries and a t certain
periods, th is service was becam e very extensive. This was
particu larly the case in B ritish In d ia in respect of Ita lia n PW
transferred there in 1940 and 1941. D espatch of cap tu re cards
and lists from B ritish official Inform ation B ureaux had suffered
considerable delay.
T hanks to th e C om m ittees delegates,
initial contact was m ade, and was kept up for m any m onths.
The delegates, when draw ing up lists of P W th e first inform a
tion tra n sm itte d to th e Agency were also given long lists of
messages by the cam p leaders, in p a rticu la r from w ounded and
sick PW . These messages were sent to th e Agency, which then
forw arded them to th e Ita lia n R ed Cross.
In other cases, th e PW or internees who could not get into
touch w ith their relatives because of th e lack of postal com
m unications, sent letters or messages of th eir own accord to
the Agency. The la tte r sorted and listed th em ; th ey were th en
tra n sm itte d to the delegations or to th e authorized offices in
th e country concerned, w ith th e request th a t th e y be sent on
to the relatives. This m ethod was of p a rticu la r service to th e
natives of the French colonies who were PW in G erm any
(N orth Africans, M alagasies, A nnam ites and others) 1.
Finally, cam p leaders often sent to the Agency, of th eir
own accord, lists of PW who had been some tim e w ithout
news of th eir relatives. These lists were usually checked and
an y useful d a ta were recorded on cards. The lists were then
sent to the N ational Red Cross, or to some o th er responsible
organization in the co u n try of destination, who ensured contact
w ith the fam ilies concerned. This was done in th e case of
Germ an PW in Canada and th e U nited States, and of PW
from India in Germ any.

1 Som e of th ese tra n sm issio n s w ere m ade b y w ireless. T h u s, m essa g es

for Indo-C hina w ere tr a n sm itted b y th e F ren ch b r o a d ca stin g a u th o rities
in th e form of 25-w ords m essages, draw n up b y th e A g e n c y s C olonial
S ection on th e b asis of p riso n ers le tter s to th eir rela tiv e s. T h is sy s te m
w as of very g rea t service.
60

(A). Telegraphic Messages.

These are th e only messages m entioned in th e 1929 Conven
tion (Art. 38, Sec. 3), which provides th a t PW m ay, in cases
of recognized urgency, be authorized to send telegram s on
paym ent of th e usual charges. In practice, this perm ission was
gran ted very grudgingly b y m ost belligerents. The C entral
Agency, how ever, tra n sm itte d several th ousand telegram s
containing messages from P W or internees to their families 1,
and sent on th e replies received. These telegram s were never
sent direct by the P W them selves, b u t alw ays through a N ational
Red Cross, for G erm an P W in th e U nited States ; th rough the
C om m ittees delegation for Ita lia n PW in India, or th ro u g h th e
cam p leaders in th e case of B ritish and A m erican PW in Ger
m any. These message telegram s, ju st as th e letters and cards
of the PW m ail, were often checked in th e Agency card-index.
An extensive use of telegraphic messages was m ade tow ards
th e end of th e w ar for the benefit of detainees in Japanese hands.
Correspondence betw een Allied PW and internees in Japanese
hands and th e ir relatives was, from the very beginning of th e
war, a very difficult question. N ot only was this m ail strictly
controlled b y the Japanese m ilitary authorities, b u t postal
com m unications, which had alw ays been fau lty and slow,
finally came near to breaking down altogether. The system atic
use of th e postal E xpress Messages, too, had been opposed by
th e Japanese authorities. In these conditions, great relief was
felt when, in 1944, th e Japanese G overnm ent proposed the
exchange, th rough the interm ediary of th e ICRC, of telegraphic
messages betw een PW and civilian internees in Ja p a n and in
territories under Japanese control, and th eir relatives, on th e
basis of one outw ard -an d -retu rn telegram per head and per
year. The proposal was im m ediately accepted by th e B ritish,
Am erican and N etherlands G overnm ents, and the system was
p u t into practice a t th e beginning of 1945. The N a tio n a l Red
1 A p art from cab les se n t under th e T elegrap h ic M essage S ch em e for
th e F ar E a st, of w h ich m en tio n w ill be m ade later.
61

Cross Societies of th e countries concerned assum ed responsibility

for th e cost.
On arrival a t th e Agency, th e telegram s were first sent to
the R egistry Section for th e costs to be recorded and then handed
to the B ritish Section for transm ission, as the m ajo rity of PW
in Japanese hands were B ritish nationals.
The forw arding
was done by m eans of sep arate telegram s for each person con
cerned.
In practice, the scheme only w orked satisfactorily for tele
gram s sent by relatives to PW . The Agency received 61,000
messages of this kind and sent th em on to the Japanese official
B ureau.
The arrangem ent, however, for telegram s from PW to next
of kin, did not come up to expectation : th e Agency received
only 2,400 messages from J a p a n for transm ission.
(B). Express Messages.
This type of message, in itia ted by the ICRC in th e sum m er
of 1942, was exclusively reserved for PW and civilian internees
who had had no news from th eir relatives for over th ree m onths,
and for families sim ilarly placed. I t was designed to m eet the
delays and failures of the PW m ail, and ab o u t tw e n ty countries,
including G erm any and Ita ly , agreed to its use.
The Express Message took th e form of a sheet p rin ted
on air-m ail paper, bearing the C om m ittees heading and com
prising two detachable leaves, one bearing th e message, and
the other to be used for the reply. Each leaf bore in front th e
nam es and addresses of th e senders. The num ber of words to
be sent was not lim ited, b ut the whole te x t had to be contained
in five lines, on th e back.
The Express Message forms were issued to PW and internees
by the cam p leaders, and to relatives by th e N ational Red Cross
Societies. The sender w rote out th e message and passed it
on to the same interm ediary. Messages were forw arded by the
most rapid m eans, whenever possible by air, to the Central
Agency, which sent th em on also b y th e quickest route.
In the countries which had agreed to th e schem e th e censor gave
62

them p rio rity over o rdinary m ail. As for th e P W m ail, messages

were exem pt from postal charges, w ith th e exception of air
postage dues.
B y Ju n e 30, 1947, the Agency had handled 1,355,000 E xpress
Messages, in and out. The schem e was, on the whole, satisfac
tory, b u t it m ust be borne in m ind th a t these messages were
only in tended as a palliative against delays in th e PW m ail, and
were not m eant to serve as a su b stitu te for the ordinary post
operating in norm al conditions. They served to particularly
good purpose betw een E urope and countries overseas, and were
used to a great ex ten t by G erm an PW in Am erica and their
fam ilies in G erm any. In other circum stances, however, the
tim e gained by th eir use was negligible and, in such cases, the
au th o rities concerned were very guarded in th eir view of the
scheme, which proved costly for th e senders when th ey had
to p ay a ir postage, as in th e case of B ritish PW in G erm any
and th e ir relatives.
As th e y w ent th ro u g h the hands of th e Agency, th e Express
Messages were carefully exam ined by th e N ational Sections, to
prevent a n y abuse of the scheme. As in th e case of ordinary
PW m ail, th e messages were checked in th e card-index whenever
it seem ed useful. This was p articu larly done when th ey came
from a cam p as yet unknow n to the Agency, or from one which
was believed not to have announced all th e PW it held, or in
cases where th e addresses were incom plete. Inform ation of
in terest was placed on cards and indexed. E ach message received
th e ICRC stam p before dispatch, and was recorded, so th a t
th e p rin tin g costs and postage dues (airmail) m ight be recovered.

(C). C ivilian Message Scheme for the transmission of messages

between free civilians.
The o u tb re a k of war a t once in te rru p ted postal com m unica
tions betw een belligerent States. A great num ber of civilians
who where th u s cut off from th eir families applied to the ICRC
in the hope th a t it could help them . The Agency th en received
a very large num ber of letters for free civilians in enem y count63

ries. No agreem ent could be cited to ensure th eir being for

w arded. Previous experience in these m atte rs enabled th e ICRC,
in the au tu m n of 1939, to set up a separate d e p a rtm e n tthe
Civilian Message Sectionwhich had to sum m arize th e letters
received into 25-word messages, upon p a rticu la r form s, called
Civilian Messages or F am ily Messages.
D uring th e first W orld W ar, th e C om m ittee had observed the
deep a n x iety of fam ilies who were w ithout news of th e ir relatives,
and it gave m uch tho u g h t to finding m eans of contact betw een
next of kin separated by w ar operations. Thus, in 1916, th e
first service was organized for tra n sm ittin g civilian messages on
behalf of th e populations of certain occupied territories (Nor
th ern France, Balkans). In May 1918, the Com m ittee established
a message service, reserved how ever for civilian internees,
betw een the U nited S tates and th e Central Powers, on forms
established by th e Am erican R ed Cross, and from which, in
fact, the present Civilian Message form derived.
The ICRC had also m ade a careful stu d y of the question
during the Spanish Civil W ar, and had arranged a system of
25-word messages for use by civilians separated by the fighting
areas. These messages were assem bled b y th e delegates and
forw arded to G eneva ; from there th ey were sent on to the
addressees. Over five million messages were th u s tra n sm itte d
from one area to another.
The original Message F orm which came into use in 1939,
called Form 61 according to its reference num ber, bore the
heading of the ICRC. On one side were inscribed the nam es and
addresses of the sender and receiver, and the te x t of the message ;
the reply was w ritten on the back. B oth messages and replies
were lim ited to 25-words each, and only news of a p riv ate or
fam ily natu re was allowed. The whole system was based upon
th e strict observance of these two p a rticu la r restrictions, and
th e Civilian Message Section carefully checked the tex ts of all
messages which passed through its hands.
D uring the first m onths of the war, this Section sum m arized
as m any as one thousand letters per day. The staff of four rapidly
increased to 150. L etters arrived, however, in such large q u a n
tities th a t it was no longer possible to avoid increasing delays
64

in tran scription. The Com m ittee was consequently obliged to

propose to G overnm ents and N ational Red Cross Societies of
belligerent S tates th a t th e Civilian Message Scheme should be
m odified to allow senders to w rite th eir own messages on Form
61 1. The G erm an and B ritish G overnm ents were th e first
to accept th e suggestion, and gave over to th eir N ational Red
Cross Societies th e ta sk of contriving th e technical m eans for
m aking th e scheme work, w ith due regard to the censorship
regulations. The first messages in this form arrived from
G erm any on D ecem ber 26, 1939, and from G reat B ritain on
F eb ru ary 15, 1940. Following th eir exam ple, m ost of the other
countries ad o p ted the C om m ittees suggestion, and b y th e end
of th e w ar, over one hundred different bodies (N ational Red
Cross Societies and o ther agencies) had issued p rin ted forms
sim ilar to Form 61, bearing th eir headings, for d istribution to
p riv ate individuals 2. A fter being filled in by the senders, th e
form s were assem bled by th e N ational Red Cross Societies 3 and
dispatched to th e C entral Agency, which saw to th e tra n s
mission to th e various countries, w ithout having to go through
th e labour of transcribing th e texts.
A lthough correspondence by this m eans was strictly reserved
for th e exchange of news betw een civilians resident in enem y
countries, an exception was m ade in favour of civilians living in
n eu tral countries, when postal com m unications w ith the exterior
were in te rru p te d b y th e war.
The threefold object of th e Civilian Message Section was as
follows :
(1) To transcribe requests for news from letters to Form 61 ;
(2) To receive, check and despatch Form s 61 arriving from
abroad ;
1 A n a cco u n t of th e n e g o tia tio n s w ill be fou n d in V ol. I.
2 See p. 72 sh o w in g th e lis t o f N a tio n a l R ed Cross S o cie ties w h ich
a d o p ted th e C ivilian M essage Schem e.
3 In no case w ere p riv a te in d iv id u a ls allow ed to sen d civ ilia n m essages
d irect to th e C entral A gen cy . T he m essages had to be se n t b y w a y of
N a tio n a l R ed Cross S o cietie s or th ro u g h th e d eleg a tes of th e ICRC w hen,
for a n y reason, th e S o cieties w ere u n ab le to carry o u t th is service, for
in sta n ce a t S h an gh ai in resp ect of o ccu p ied China.

65

(3)
To receive, check and despatch by telegram or by Form
61 telegraphic messages received a t th e C entral Agency.
(1). Transcription of letters.
B y the end of Ju n e 1947,
425,500 letters had been transcribed on Form s 61. This work,
which a t first was very heavy, gradually decreased as th e use
of Form 61 by correspondents them selves becam e more general.
On arrival a t th e Agency, letters for tran scrip tio n were first
sorted according to language. The contents of each le tte r were
then sum m arized inot 25 words on F orm 61 by persons w ith a
sound knowledge of th e language. A receipt on Form 232 was
forw arded to each sender, and the message was th en dispatched.
In this process, th e sam e reference num ber was inscribed
on th e original letter, on the Form 61 and on th e acknow ledg
m ent. The original le tte r was then filed and could be easily
traced through the reference num ber.
(2). Civilian messages received from abroad. A fter assem bling
th e forms filled in by the senders, the N ational Red Cross
Societies forw arded them to Geneva, to g eth er w ith a list in
duplicate of the messages. One copy of th e list was retu rn ed as
a receipt, and the other kept a t G eneva for m aking out a record,
indicating the origin, date of d e p artu re and arrival of the
batch, and the num ber of messages by co u n try of destination.
This was the only record kept by the Agency of Form 61 messages
which passed th rough Geneva.
The enquiry and reply form s were separated and sorted
according to language. Then the staff fam iliar w ith the p a r
ticular language checked th e te x t of each message, deleting
all allusions to political, m ilitary, or economic m atters, th u s
keeping th e scheme strictly w ithin its prescribed scope, i.e.
messages lim ited to purely personal and fam ily m atters. The
difficulties encountered by the staff will be realized from the fact
th a t the messages were w ritten in alm ost every language. E ach
message was then stam ped w ith th e C om m ittees stam p, to
show th a t the te x t had been checked. The addresses were also
checked and com pleted, when necessary.
A fter being sorted for each country, th e messages were sent
66

to th e N ational R ed Cross Societies, each parcel being accom

panied by a list in duplicate of the contents, one copy of which
to be retu rn ed to Geneva as an acknow ledgm ent. The Societies
th en d istrib u ted th e messages to th e addressees, indicating
how th e replies should be sent.
Civilian messages, unlike PW mail, were not exem pt from
postage dues, and the forw arding charges were the responsibility
of th e senders. The Civilian Message Section sent regular debit
notes to th e N ational Societies concerned, based on the num ber
of messages forw arded a t a fixed ra te per message.
Am ong the civilian messages received by th e Agency from
Red Cross centres, some were sent by, or were intended for
PW , civilian internees or deportees. These categories of persons
were allowed b y th e ICRC to use the Civilian Message Scheme
when th ey had no m eans of corresponding by PW mail. These
forms were not handled by the Civilian Message Section, but
b y th e N ational Sections who, when dealing w ith them , noted
th e requests expressed therein, m ade out cards and opened
enquiries when necessary. As already m entioned \ the N ational
Sections also dealt w ith requests from free civilians which could
not be handled by the Civilian Message Section.
It was considered m ost im p o rtan t th a t messages which for
some reason could not be delivered should be sent back to
Geneva. To avoid causing an x iety to the enquirers by sending
back the message w ith the bare rem ark Gone aw ay , the
ICRC requested all N ational Red Cross Societies to m ake
individual enquiries when th e addressees could not be found.
B y th is m eans, it was som etim es possible to find the persons
concerned, or at least to obtain inform ation concerning them .
If the addressee had died, the enquiry so m ade often led to
inform ation regarding the date and cause of death. D eaths of
near relatives were reported to N ational Red Cross Societies
by th e Civilian Message Section on a special form (No. 1155).
(3). C ivilian Messages by Telegram.
In order to meet the
delays in postal com m unications, the Com m ittee adopted a
1 See p. 54.
67

scheme for exchanging civilian messages by telegram .

In
D ecem ber 1941, a d ep artm en t was set up w ithin the Civilian
Message Section w ith th a t object ; its work increased as com
m unications becam e more and m ore affected by the havoc of
the war.
Messages sent b y telegram were, as a general rule, forw arded
b y telegram to addresses overseas, in countries w ith which
postal com m unications were im paired, or by special request.
If, however, telegraphic com m unications w ith th e co u n try of
destination were in te rru p ted , or if th is was sufficiently near
Sw itzerland to render a telegram superfluous, the messages
were forw arded by Form 61. R equests for transm ission by
telegram received by le tte r or by F orm 61, were of course
alw ays m et by th e despatch of a telegram .
As the working of th e Telegraphic Message Scheme followed
th e same lines as for F orm 61, the organization of the two
d epartm ents was sim ilar ; no fu rth e r explanations are therefore
necessary under this heading. I t m ay be observed, however,
th a t the charges for telegram s forw arded were debited to the
N ational Red Cross Societies from whom th e requests were
received.
In order to m eet th e m ilitary censorship requirem ents, tele
graphic messages and replies were alw ays sent in th e official
language of the co u n try for which th e y were intended, w hatever
the language of th e original tex t.
Up to Ju n e 1947, th e Telegraphic Message Section forw arded
over 134,600 messages.
Sum m ary of the Development of the Civilian Message Section.
The work of the Civilian Message Section was in close relation
to the events of war. From the o u tb reak of hostilities, the
Section transcribed on Form s 61 a great num ber of letters
addressed to Poles by anxious relatives. The B attle of France,
in the spring of 1940, also brought ab o u t the first heavy influx
of messages. It soon becam e necessary to sort th e messages
addressed to France according to th e zone (free or occupied)
for which th ey were intended, and th en to send them on to
Lyons and Vichy, or to Paris. A considerable p a rt of the work
68

was done for th e exchange of messages betw een French refugees

in G reat B ritain and th eir relatives in France. A great m any
messages were also exchanged betw een th e Belgian, D utch and
Norwegian refugees in G reat B ritain and th eir home countries.
M ention should also be m ade of th e organization, in the au tu m n
of 1940, of an exchange of messages betw een G reat B ritain
and th e Channel Islands, th rough th e Germ an Red Cross ; a
large p a rt of th e population had taken refuge in E ngland a t the
tim e of th e invasion, a n d these messages therefore increased
very m uch in num ber.
The fighting in the B alkans (spring of 1941) and the entrance
of th e U nited S tates into war (December 1941), brought about
a very large inflow of messages to Geneva. In the spring of
1942, m ost of the South Am erican countries adopted th e scheme.
So did Ja p a n ; in J a n u a ry 1943, the Agency began to receive
from the Japanese R ed Cross civilian message forms, w ritten
in Japanese.
The severance of contact betw een m em bers of the same
fam ily was felt m uch more when a S tate was divided by the
fighting line. Thus, in Novem ber 1942, the Allied landing cu t
off N orth Africa from m etropolitan France w ith which, as
regards fam ily ties, it form ed one single area.
The Allied landing led to a fixed fighting line, which persisted
over a long period and could be com pared to the French front
in 1914-1918. Over a million and a half messages passed through
Geneva u ntil norm al postal com m unications betw een France
and N orth Africa were resum ed. There was no sim ilar situation
in France itself in 1940, nor yet in 1944 when, on each occasion,
th e pace of th e w ar was too rapid to allow tim e to organize
the exchange of messages betw een areas separated by the front.
The Com m ittee did its best to cope w ith the situation but,
before the scheme could begin to work, the purpose for it had
disappeared, as th e fighting area no longer existed. From June
1940 to N ovem ber 1941, when France was divided by the
dem arcation line, the French Governm ent itself was responsible
for the transm ission of messages from one zone to another.
The work of the Civilian Message Section was, however, con
siderable seeing th a t th e num ber of civilian messages despatched
69

in France and handled by Geneva up to Ju n e 30, 1947, exceeded

four and a half million.
W hereas the rapid changes in the m ilitary situation had not
left sufficient tim e to organise the exchange of messages in
France, the situ atio n was otherwise in Ita ly . H ere the country
was divided by th e fighting line from J u ly 1943 u n til the end
of the war, a fact th a t explains the large num ber of civilian
messages handled on behalf of I ta ly some three million up to
Ju n e 30, 1947.
In 1944, the Allied advance th rough France and Belgium
suspended postal com m unications w ith G erm any. The French
and Belgian civilian w orkers in G erm any, who had been able
to correspond freely w ith th eir families, were now cut off by
the fighting line. From th e beginning of October 1944, the
Agency received large q u antities of letters which could not be
sent through norm al channels. The Com m ittee therefore m ade
fresh efforts to have th e fam ily message scheme extended to
civilian workers.
Its endeavours were successful, and over
four million Form s 61 w ent th ro u g h the Agency w ithin the
following m onths. The Agency was once m ore faced w ith a
heavy task, due to the enorm ous num ber of messages received
and also to th e fact th a t m ost of the relatives had given ad
dresses th a t were insufficient or incorrect, frequently lacking
the postal district num ber. The addresses had to be com pleted
or rectified a t Geneva, and th e letters sorted, by d ep artm en ts
for France and by postal districts for G erm any. The messages
sometim es accum ulated to such an ex ten t th a t some of the
N ational Sections p u t th eir own work aside to help th e Civilian
Message staff.
D uring the Allied advance in G erm any, in 1945, the m arch
of events was so rapid th a t there was no tim e to organize the
exchange of messages betw een civilians living on either side
of the fighting zone.
Such were the chief stages of the work of the Civilian Message
Section during the recent war. C ircum stances prevented it
from handling th e exchange of news betw een the G erm an
civilian population and th eir connections abroad, u n til regular
postal services were re-established. Even when th e war had
70

ended, postal com m unications were restored only by slow

degrees : th e work of th e Civilian Message Section therefore
continued a t relatively high pressure, b u t slackened during the
following m onths.
W hen the frontier betw een France and Spain was closed in 1946,
an exchange of civilian messages betw een the two countries took
place : about 14,000 messages w ent through the Central Agency.
It m ay be claim ed th a t th e Civilian Message Scheme rep re
sents one of the m ost interesting achievem ents of th e Com
m ittee. The Civilian Message Section was one of the m ost
im p o rtan t dep artm en ts, if we consider the num ber of cases
dealt w ith, and one of th e m ost significant in the work of the
Agency as a whole. B y Septem ber 1943, some ten million
civilian messages h ad been handled in Geneva : up to June
30, 1947, the to ta l was roughly 24,000,000. D uring th e last
years of the war, th e average num ber of arrivals exceeded
20,000 daily. The results obtained are all the more w orthy of
rem ark, since th e principle of forw arding correspondence b e t
ween free civilians of enem y countries alw ays m et w ith great
opposition.
I t is comm on knowledge th a t States a t war are extrem ely
afraid of any secret transm ission, leakage or divulgence of
inform ation and th a t th ey inflict the heaviest penalties for
such offences, branding them as " intelligence w ith th e enem y .
In a co u n try a t war, the powers of the censorship are unbounded :
an y deflection from th e rule of silence is regarded as dangerous
or crim inal. In spite of these facts, th e Com m ittee succeeded
in inducing the G overnm ents concerned to accept the principle
of correspondence betw een relatives and friends separated by
th e b a ttle front, and it ensured the working of the scheme
w ithout a n y controversy throughout the course of the war.
Over one hundred associations (N ational Red Cross Societies
or branches of th e Red Cross, etc.) took p a rt in the exchange
of news betw een families. The principle of such an exchange
already has the sanction of national legislation in certain count
ries, pending its em bodim ent in an international Convention.

N um ber of C ivilian Messages forwarded

26

Germ an R ed Cross

B erlin

15

B ritish R ed Cross
S ou th A frican R ed Cross
R h od esian R ed Cross
N ew Z ealand R ed Cross
D a n ish R ed Cross
A m erican R ed Cross
L ith u an ian R ed Cross
B razilian Red Cross
R u m an ian R ed Cross
C anadian R ed Cross
ICRC D eleg a tio n , E g y p t
H u n garian Red Cross
Ita lia n R ed Cross
L a tv ia n R ed Cross
P ortu gu ese R ed Cross
S lo v a k R ed Cross
Y u g o sla v R ed Cross
N eth erla n d s R ed Cross, C uraao
A rgen tin e R ed Cross
C hilian R ed Cross
E cu ad orian R ed Cross
F ren ch R ed Cross, M iddle E a st
N eth erlan d s R ed Cross
F ren ch R ed Cross
N orw egian R ed Cross
B elgian R ed Cross
S panish R ed Cross
P olish R ed Cross
E sth o n ia n R ed Cross
U ru gu ayan R ed Cross
B elgian R ed Cross, B elgian Congo
Irish R ed Cross
Icelan d ic R ed Cross
A u stralian R ed Cross
B ritish R ed Cross, Sudan
Serv. Soc. A id e a u x E m ig ra n ts
S iam ese R ed Cross

L on d on
Jo h a n n esb u rg
S alisb u ry
W ellin g to n
C openhagen
W a sh in g to n
V iln a
R io de Jan eiro
B u ch a rest
T oron to
Cairo
B u d a p est
R om e
R ig a
L isbon
B r a tisla v a
B elgrad e
W illem sta d
B u en o s A ires
S a n tia g o
Q u ito
B ey ro u th
T he H a g u e
P aris
Oslo
B ru ssels
M adrid
W arsaw
T allin
M o n tev id eo
L eo p o ld v ille
D u b lin
R e y k ja v ik
M elbourne
K h artou m
P aris
B angkok

i6

19
11

13
18
21
24
24

15
15
15
15

15
i
6
6
20
27
27
10
10

i?
17
24
24

!4
10

18
24
29
29
11

12
12
12

72

First
messages

Total as
on 30-6-47

N o v . 12
28
28
D ec. 10

23
23

C uban R ed Cross
B r itish R ed Cross, P a le stin e
L u xem b u rg R ed Cross
G erm an R ed Cross, C hannel Isla n d s
G erm an R ed Cross, G eneral G ov.
G reek R ed Cross

H avana
Jeru salem
L u xem b u rg
B erlin
B erlin
A th en s

S w ed ish R ed Cross
F in n ish R ed Cross
J ap an ese R ed Cross
A lb an ian R ed Cross
N eth erla n d s R ed Cross, G uiana
B u lga rian R ed Cross
B urm ese R ed Cross
B ritish R ed Cross, N ew fo u n d la n d
M exican R ed Cross
In d ian R ed Cross
C roatian R ed Cross
N eth erla n d s R ed Cross
Serbian R ed Cross
B ritish R ed Cross, T rinidad
F ren ch R ed Cross, Indo-C hina
F rench R ed Cross, M orocco
N eth erla n d s R ed Cross
P eru vian R ed Cross
ICRC D eleg a tio n , T u rk ey
B ritish R ed Cross, K en y a
F ren ch R ed Cross, A lgeria
French R ed Cross, T u n isia

S to ck h o lm
H elsin k i
T okyo
T irana
P aram aribo
Sofia
R an goon
S t. John
M exico
N ew D elh i
Zagreb
B a ta v ia
B elgrad e
P o rt o f Spai
S aigon
C asablanca
L on d on
L im a
A nkara
N airobi
A lgiers
T unis

B ritish R ed Cross, F aroe Islan d s

B ritish R ed Cross, C eylon
B ritish R ed Cross, B ah am as
B ritish R ed Cross, U ga n d a
B ritish R ed Cross, M alay S tra its
B ritish R ed Cross, M auritius
B ritish R ed Cross, B erm u d as
Ita lia n R ed Cross, It. W . A frica
B ritish R ed Cross, J am aica
G erm an R ed Cross, E a stern Area
ICRC D eleg a tio n , China

L ondon
C olom bo
N assau
K am p ala
Singapore
C urepipe
H a m ilto n
M ogadiscio
K in g sto n
B erlin
Sh angh ai

2,451
3 63,777

9,838
760,348
127,255

203,412

1941
Jan.

9
12
21
Feb. 12
28
Apr. 9
18
21
22
24
M ay 15

15

July i
Sept.

Oct.

N ov.

D ec.

3
4
14
2
15
19
21
24

7,474
15,489
4 2 ,7 5 0

16,724
7,704
21,092
117
206

10,085
23,166
12,614
1 1 1 , 1 9 3

12,546
834

6,080
5 6 3 ,6 8 2
1 6 5 ,8 6 1

9,555

12,202
14,070
9 2 6 ,6 6 7

145,333

1942
F eb. 2

8
26
M arch 5

6
12

24
Apr. 22
June 8

17
28

11,378
1,720

108
2,123

292
1,639
397
3 38,324

301
24,974
103,947
73

First
messages
July 7

Total as

on 30-6-47

O ct. 8
Dec. 14

F re n ch R ed Cross, F r. W . A frica
C olum bian R ed Cross
P an am ese R ed Cross
H a itia n R ed Cross
San S alv ad o r R ed Cross
V enezuelan R ed Cross
B olivian Red Cross
C osta R ica R ed Cross
R ed Lion a n d Sun, Ira n
F re n ch R ed Cross, F r. E . A frica
G u ate m a lan R ed Cross
Ira q i R ed C rescent
P a ra g u a y a n R ed Cross
T u rk ish R ed C rescent
P o rtu g u e se R ed Cross, P o rt. W . A frica
D om inican R ed Cross
F re n ch R ed Cross, S om aliland
N icarag u an R ed Cross
H o n d u ra s R ed Cross
ICRC D elegation, C hina

D akar
B o g o ta
P anam a
P o rt-a u P rin c e
San S alv ad o r
C aracas
L a P az
San Jos
T eh eran
B razzaville
G u ate m a la
B a g h d ad
A suncion
A n k ara
L oureno-M arques
S an to D om ingo
D jib o u ti
N ica rag u a
T egucigalpa
H o n g -K o n g

1943
M ay

Ju n e

J u ly
N ov.
Dec.

F re n ch R ed Cross,
B ritish R ed Cross,
F re n ch R ed Cross,
Chinese R ed Cross
B ritish R ed Cross,
I ta lia n R ed Cross,
F ren ch R ed Cross,
B ritish R ed Cross,
F re n ch R ed Cross,
F re n ch R ed Cross,

T a n a n a riv e
B a th u rs t
N ou m ea
C hungking
A ccra
T rip o li
F o rt-d e -F ra n c e
F reeto w n
B a stia
P ap ee te

A ug.

3
7

10

10

10

10

11

12

S ep t.

13
14
14
24
28
9
22
22

21
31
30
30
30
21
29
9
22
23

1944
J a n . 20

20

1945
J u ly 23

M adagascar
G am bia
N ew C aledonia
Gold C oast
L y b ia
M artin iq u e
S ierra Leone
Corsica
T a h iti

F ren ch R ed Cross, G uadeloupe

F re n ch R ed Cross, G uiana

P o in te - -P itre
Cayenne

IC R C D elegation, A u stria

V ienna

O th e r o rganizations, also m essages b y cable, m essages tra n sc rib e d from

le tte rs, etc.
T o ta l as on Ju n e 30, 1947

74

1 6 0 ,1 0 4

8,691
1 ,2 1 1

1,136
1,788
7-449
3.999
453
6,871
5,494
1,885

1,426
2,141

1,830
1,597
586
3,239
190

980
1,233

9,999
3
1,140
6,205

817
52,537
1,927

123
38,917

405
1,065
732

185,222
1,154,847
23,922,013

(3)

Transm ission of official or legal documents

The transm ission of official or legal docum ents generally

devolves upon th e P rotecting Powers. The C entral Agency was,
however, called upon to perform these duties when no P rotecting
Pow er was available. This was th e position for G erm an PW
in N orth Africa in French hands, as th e Germ an G overnm ent
had not recognized the Provisional French G overnm ent. N um e
rous public and p riv ate offices who were called upon to send
official or legal docum ents to the opposite side often tra n sm itte d
th em th ro u g h Geneva.
D ocum ents of m any descriptions were th u s sent through
th e N ational Sections of th e Agency ; th ey were for the most
p a rt powers of a tto rn e y and co n tracts of all kinds, including
m arriage contracts, p a te rn ity certificates, divorce papers, wills,
bills of sale, bank statem en ts and other business papers, as
well as allotm ent form s 1.
In general, th e Agency kept no records of these transm issions
except th e duplicates of th e accom panying lists. Im p o rta n t
docum ents, however, were registered by th e N ational Sections
'on index cards. P h o to sta ts were also m ade of docum ents such
as wills, which could not be replaced in case of loss. Some
Sections found it necessary to have p h o to stats m ade of all the
docum ents which passed through th eir hands, when the risk
of loss appeared p articu la rly high. The Ita lia n Section took
this precaution, from 1944 to the end of the war, for all docu
m ents intended for N orthern Ita ly . The risk from air bom bard
m ents becam e so great tow ards th e end of this period th a t it
was decided to keep all originals in th e Ita lia n Section and to
forw ard only th e p h o tostats.
A v a rie ty of agencies sent docum ents to th e Agency, or receiv
ed th em from this source ; th ey included the official Inform ation
B ureaux and N ational Red Cross Societies, further, cam p
leaders and delegates of the ICRC. The docum ents usually
1 A n a llo tm e n t form " is a d o cu m en t b y w h ich a m an on serv ice
g iv e s a u th o r ity for th e p a y m e n t to h is fa m ily , or th ird persons, of all
or p art of h is arm y pa y .
75

reached Geneva in parcels, w ith accom panying lists of contents.

W hen forw arding docum ents, some Sectionse.g. th e F rench
Sectiona tta ch e d ex p lanatory notes as to th eir use, together
w ith accom panying vouchers, of which th e counterfoils, signed
b y the receivers and retu rn ed by th e cam p leader, served as
receipts.
(4)

Transm ission of photographs

Large num bers of photographs of PW and internees, also

photographs of funerals and graves, were sent to Geneva by cam p
leaders, N ational Red Cross Societies and delegates of the ICRC.
These were forw arded to th e official Inform ation B ureaux, or the
Red Cross Societies of th e countries of origin, for transm ission
to next of kin. In th e sam e m anner, the Agency forw arded to
cam ps large num bers of photographs received from relatives.
The exchange of photographs betw een PW and th eir relatives
raised no p articu lar difficulties, as it was, in fact, p a rt of the
PW mail. The question of exchanging photographs of funerals
and graves, however, led to negotiations betw een the belligerent
Powers, through th e interm ediary of the ICRC, th is exchange
being considered as a m eans to check th e application of th e
Articles of the Convention relating to th e burial of PW who
died in cap tivity, and to th e upkeep of th e graves. W hile
agreem ent was unanim ous concerning photographs of graves,
some objections were raised, on principle, by certain belligerents
w ith regard to photographs of funerals.
Among th e great num ber of photographs which passed through
the Agency, m ention should be m ade of th e photographs of
German PW in G reat B ritain, deceased since 1944, which were
forw arded by the B ritish Red Cross in neat individual folders.
This exam ple was a t once followed by the G erm an Red Cross,
which had photographs taken of the graves of B ritish PW and
sent these on w ith th e sam e care.
(5)

Transm ission of personal effects

The 1929 Geneva Convention relating to th e wounded and

sick provides th a t belligerents shall collect and tra n sm it to
76

each other all articles of a personal natu re found on th e b a ttle

field or on th e dead, in p articu la r one half of th e id e n tity disc.
The PW Convention provides th a t the Inform ation B ureaux
of th e belligerent Powers shall arrange sim ilar exchanges w ith
regard to personal effects, valuables, correspondence, paybooks, id e n tity tokens etc., found on deceased PW . Most of the
belligerents, tak in g th e view th a t one of the p articu lar duties of
the C entral Agency was to c arry out these transm issions, of
th eir own accord began sending to Geneva the objects found on
battle-fields or in hospitals.
In order to ensure the receipt, custody and transm ission of
these effects, th e Agency was obliged to set up a separate
d e p a rtm e n tthe Personal Effects Section. The work of this
Section was p a rticu la rly affecting as it called up the m em ory
of the fallen. The large num bers of letters received a t Geneva
showed th e great sentim ental value atta ch e d to these objects,
in m any cases sm all, well-worn personal possessions, which
when th e y arrive break th e silence th a t falls a fter th e bare
notice th a t a m an has died.
I t should be m entioned here th a t th e num erous cases handled
by the Personal Effects Section covered, as far as can be ascer
tained, only p a rt of th e to ta l q u a n tity of objects found, and
which th e belligerents were called upon to exchange. A great
p a rt of th e personal belongings collected was exchanged direct
betw een the various countries, th rough the Protecting Pow er
or following special agreem ents concluded betw een th e occupying
Powers and the countries of origin of th e deceased. This was
th e case, from 1940 to 1944, betw een G erm any and France,
and for th is reason very few of th e objects received a t Geneva
had belonged to m em bers of th e French forces.
At o ther tim es, lack of tra n sp o rt and m eans of com m unication
prevented a norm al exchange of personal belongings. In the
F ar E ast, for instance, no exchange could be organized whilst
the war still continued, and the m a tte r was dealt w ith a fte r
the w ar by th e Allied authorities.
It should also be borne in m ind th a t in m any cases no belong
ings were found on those killed in action, m em bers of the
air forces shot down, or bodies washed up on shore : th ey
77

m ight have been lost or destroyed during action, or stolen a t

th e tim e.
The Personal Effects Section first form ed p a rt of th e general
services of the ICRC, u n til it was a tta ch e d to th e Central Agency
in 1943. Closer contact w ith the N ational Sections was found
necessary, since these were b e tte r placed for pursuing individual
enquiries, in response to requests of next of kin for th e retu rn
of personal belongings. I t was also decided th a t th e Personal
Effects Section should only deal w ith the custody and tra n s
mission of personal possessions. This work involved th e receiving,
registration and dispatch of such pro p erty . All cases handled
were recorded in a card-index, and reference cards were m ade
out for all the N ational Sections concerned. The established
rule was th a t th e arrival of personal belongings did not w arrant
th e Agency giving a notification of death. The business of the
Agency was confined to sending on th e effects, whilst leaving
it to th e official B ureaux to m ake th eir own deductions a fter
receiving the articles.
As the personal effects of m em bers of the Ita lia n forces had,
by reason of events, to be kept in G eneva from 1943, the Ita lia n
Section m ade use, when it had occasion, of the source of inform a
tion provided by these objects and the papers a tta ch e d to
them .
This inform ation was especially valuable when the
p ro p erty was th a t of a m an killed in action, of whom the Section
had no other inform ation, or only in adequate details. W ith
these intentions th e Section carefully exam ined m any hundreds
of collections of personal effects ; by th a t m eans it was able to
com plete or am plify the infirm ation supplied by th e Allied
authorities, and to establish num erous identifications 1.
Most of the belongings received came from official In fo rm atio n
B ureaux, either direct or through th e channel of diplom atic
representatives in Sw itzerland, or of delegations of the ICRC
(personal effects of deceased Germ ans retu rn ed from the U.S.A.).
Individual or collective dispatches were also m ade by other

1 T he fa m ily ad d resses fou n d am o n g p erson al b elo n g in g s a llo w ed ,

in p articular, to m ake d istin c tio n s b etw een p arcels b earin g th e sa m e
nam e.
78

organizations (N ational Red Cross Societies, relief societies, etc.),

and b y p riv ate persons.
W hilst th e w ar was still going on, transm ission was m ade
either through th e official B ureaux direct, by the delegations
of the ICRC in various countries, or through the consular
offices in Geneva, to which the p ro p erty was handed over by the
Agency.
Among the principal transm issions carried out during the
war was a consignm ent sent to London in 1944, containing
three th ousand collections, packed in th irty-nine cases weighing
over three tons. The consignm ent was sent b y rail to Marseilles
and from th ere b y one of th e ships in the service of the ICRC to
Lisbon, where it was handed over to the B ritish consular au
th o rities for the rem ainder of the journey.
A fter th e end of th e war, the Agency received large quantities
of personal belongings, th e p ro p erty of deceased German service
men, chiefly forw arded by the Am erican official Bureau. W ithin
a short tim e, over 60,000 collections had reached Geneva :
th e y could not be forw arded, as th e Germ an official B ureau was
no longer in existence. In 1946, it was therefore decided th a t
the Agency staff should itself undertake the search am ong the
objects for home addresses, so th a t th e effects m ight be sent
on to next of kin when circum stances perm itted.
In order to carry out this considerable task, the staff of the
Section had to be increased : a team of fifteen persons had to
be p u t on to the work, which took several m onths to accomplish.
D uring th e sum m er of 1947, all personal possessions for
which the home address had been found were sent on to the
Germ an agency which had, meanwhile, been instructed by the
Allied Control Council in Berlin to act as a centre for the
collection of th e effects of German service-men, and to see th a t
th ey reached the next of kin.
To give an idea of th e difficulties m et by th e Section in the
course of this work, th e following practical details m ay be of
interest.
The articles to be checked were usually personal
p ro p erty in daily use, such as wallets, purses, watches, penknives,
combs, rings, religious tokens and masses of papers of all des
criptionsm ilitary or civilian id en tity docum ents, letters,
79

photographs, etc. The principal m eans of identification was,

of course, th e stu d y of m ilitary or civilian id e n tity papers. In
very m any cases, however, these docum ents were missing and
o ther evidence had to be sought. A single nam e and address in
a note book or on th e back of a photograph were sometim es
sufficient ; th e contents of letters som etim es showed the ran k
a n d arm y post office of the deceased, and th e nam e and address
of the sender.
The w ork was m ade v ery arduous on account of the bad
condition of th e articles exam ined. In m any cases, papers
had, for weeks or m onths, been exposed to all w eathers, buried
under debris or in th e ground ; th e y were often to rn , ta tte re d ,
soiled w ith oil or d irt, som etim es half-burnt, bore traces of
blood, or pus, were soaked w ith rain or besp attered w ith mud.
D ocum ents which could not be deciphered were handed to a
chem ist, who m ade a special stu d y of th is work of deciphering
illegible papers in a sm all lab o rato ry a t th e Agency. Al
though his equipm ent was elem entaryan ultra-violet lam p,
a sm all supply of reagents, and a few sheets of green and yellow
cellophanehe m anaged to m ake out nearly all the docum ents
which first seem ed illegible.
Papers soiled by e a rth or m ud spots were first washed in
alcohol. F or spots of other descriptions, all th e usual solvents
were tried in tu rn ; blood spots were generally tre a te d w ith
peroxide of hydrogen.
To decipher illegible w riting th e docum ents were either
placed in a tin te d light to show up faded p a rts, or in an u ltra
violet ra y ; this brought out th e te x t which had been dam aged or
discoloured by dam p. According to th e n a tu re of the ink used,
various reagents were used to show up the te x t. Finally, when
all other m ethods had failed, th e docum ents were su b m itted
to heat tests.
Metal id e n tity discs were usually in good condition and
becam e legible a fte r slight cleaning. The m ost dam aged were
placed in a solution of soda or potassium h ydrate, which restored
th em com pletely w ithin a few m inutes.
Germ an id e n tity discs only bore regim ental num bers and
units, which were not sufficient for Geneva to establish nam es
80

and addresses of next of kin. W hen sorted, therefore, the

Agency forw arded a list of id e n tity disc num bers to the office
where the record of the G erm an personnel by regim ental num
bers and units was held.
The Personal Effects Section handled, up to Ju n e 30, 1947,
some 90,500 collections, of which 76,000 were Germ an, 7,300
British, 3,500 Italian and 500 French. Of th a t num ber, it had
been possible to forw ard 89,400 collections.

81

V.

T H E U SE O F BROA DCA STING

BY T H E CE N TR A L AGENCY

In 1943, th e ICRC took up th e question of th e use of th e

wireless to m eet th e deficiencies in postal and telegraphic
com m unications. It appeared obvious th a t th e radio could be
p u t to useful purpose in th e transm ission over long distances
of lists, messages, com m unications to delegations of th e ICRC
in d ista n t countries, and in sending out replies to applications
from individuals.
The broadcasting of messages from PW and civilian internees
to th eir relatives m et w ith so m any difficulties of a political and
technical n a tu re th a t it could not be organized in a system atic
fashion during th e W ar, one of the principal obstacles being the
difficulty of obtaining replies to messages.
N evertheless, th e broadcasting of lists and messages received
by th e C entral Agency, and of com m unications to th e delegates
of th e ICRC abroad, which as a rule required no replies, began
to operate from May 1945, by special broadcasts from the
B roadcasting Section 1.
Inform ation received by the C entral Agency was broadcast
for th e first tim e on May 2, 1945, th e subject being a list of
French PW in tra n sit through Sw itzerland : this first special
broadcast of th e ICRC had been im provised in a few hours and
was given on one of the w avelengths of the Swiss S tation at
1 S in ce it w as sta r te d in M arch 1945, th e B r o a d ca stin g S ectio n has
m ade regular b ro a d ca sts on S w iss m ed iu m an d sh o rt w a v e len g h ts,
g iv in g general in fo rm a tio n r e la tin g to R ed Cross w ork, eith er in d e p e n
d e n tly or in co n n ec tio n w ith p rogram m es of th e G en eva R a d io S ta tio n ;
it also tr a n sm itte d th e sp ecia l b ro a d ca sts here m en tio n ed .
82

Sottens.
Following on th is experim ent, th e Swiss Federal
authorities, as an exception, allocated a special short w ave
length to th e ICRC, and re-transm ission was ensured from
Prangins and Schw arzenburg Stations. The period of these
broadcasts was extended by degrees to tw elve hours a day,
S aturdays and Sundays included ; th ey were m ade according
to th e subject m atte r, in seventeen different languages, and
according to a carefully a rran g ed tim e-table.
The Swiss F ederal broadcasting au th o rities and th e RadioGenve Com pany g ran ted th e ICRC the use of all the technical
installations required (studio and equipm ent, telephone lines
and tra n sm itte rs), free of charge, th e actu al program m es being
carried out b y th e ICRC.
The first transm issions were m ade under the signal " R adio
C aritas , afterw ards changed to Intercroixrouge
The
lists of nam es and th e messages being sent out were read in
tu rn by two speakers, a m an and a wom an, in th e language of
those whose nam es or messages were broadcast, a t an average
rate of 150 nam es an hour, or in a day of 12 h o u rs transm ission,
about 1,800 names.
These special broadcasts of th e ICRC were picked up in
th e countries concerned (France, Ita ly , G erm any, A ustria,
H ungary, Yugoslavia, etc.), either by priv ate listeners, or by
th e N ational Red Cross Societies or th e ir local branches. As
th e Swiss postal au th o rities had placed a telephone cable to the
A ustrian frontier a t th e disposal of the ICRC, th e broadcasts
for A ustria could be relayed over the whole netw ork in th a t
country, com prising th irte e n short-w ave stations.
In addition to the broadcasting of inform ation and messages
for relatives in various countries, a weekly service was set up for
th e benefit of certain delegates of th e ICRC, who could not be
reached by post w ithout long delays, for instance, in Vienna,
Prague, B udapest, Belgrade, Rom e and Naples ; by th is m eans,
it was possible to send inform ation and instructions.
The broadcasting of inform ation was not intended by the
ICRC to tak e th e place of com m unications to the official Inform a
tion B ureaux as provided by th e 1929 PW Convention. It
was m erely a rapid m eans of reaching next of kin, when official

83

B ureaux were difficult to notify, as in th e B alkan States, or no

longer existed, as in the case of G erm any and A ustria. The
N ational Sections were still bound to send th eir com m unications
to the official B ureaux in the prescribed way. Indeed, unless
acknowledged in th e form of a m onitored te x t of the program m e,
it is not possible to verify th a t a broadcast has reached those
concerned, and a faultless transm ission cannot be guaranteed.
M oreover, th e lim ited o u tp u t of a broadcasting service (150
nam es an hour, or 3,600 in a tw enty-four hour day for one
station), greatly reduced the scope of this m eans of com m unica
tion. I t was therefore necessary to m ake a selection of the
docum ents received by th e Agency.
In each Section, one
m em ber of th e staff was en tru sted w ith th e choice of the docu
m ents suitable for broadcasting.
These consisted usually of lists of nam es, above all of PW ,
m ainly Germ an and Italian , who were still held in th e cam ps, and
of dispersed civilians (adults or children) of m any natio n al
ities. A t first, th e nam es of PW a n d internees rep a tria te d
th rough Sw itzerland were also broadcast.
Lists which were clearly draw n up and classified in alphabetical
order were broadcast in th eir original form a n d card-indexed
afterw ards. O ther lists were first card-indexed and th e nam es
read out a t th e m icrophone from th e cards placed in alphabetical
order. The longest list, received in A ugust 1945 from the delega
tion in N orthern Ita ly , contained 132,000 nam es of Germ an PW
in th e area of Rim ini.
M ention should also be m ade of th e lists of dispersed
children, chiefly G erm an and A ustrian, received from the
delegations of th e ICRC a t B ay reu th and Linz. The nam es and
addresses were broadcast for th e benefit of th e parents, also
dispersed , who had been searching for th em u n til then
w ithout success.
Besides th e lists m entioned above, th e C entral Agency also
broadcast th e contents of a great num ber of cap tu re cards.
Individual applications for search received in great num ber
by the C entral Agency were also broadcast ; full p articulars
of th e person for whom th e search was being m ade were read
out, together w ith th e address of the applicant.
84

Fam ily messages from French civilians and native w orkers

in France were also broadcast to th eir fam ilies in Indo-C hina :
the messages from th e native workers were broadcast in Annamese.
From May i , 1945, to Ju n e 30, 1947, th e special broadcasts
of th e ICRC reached a to ta l of 4868 hours, and included the
reading of some 570,000 names.

85

VI.

G E N E R A L A U X IL IA R Y SECTIONS

The rapid grow th of th e w ork of th e C entral Agency m ade

it necessary, from 1940 onw ards, to relieve the pressure in
some sections b y handing over spade work , such as m aking
out cards and the prelim inary sorting, to staff team s whose
services were a t th e disposal of all Sections. In this m anner a
num ber of services were set up under th e nam e of General
A uxiliary Sections : th e y included th e T yp in g Section, Preli
m inary Sorting Section to g eth er w ith th e E vening Section, the
A u x ilia ry Sections and Outside Work.

(1). T yp in g Section
This Section was set up in the early sum m er of 1940, when
lists of inform ation on French and Belgian PW sta rte d arriving
a t th e C entral Agency and th e inform ation had to be tra n
scribed on to cards. F rom th e beginning, th e Section was form ed
of ty p ists who m ade out the cards an d a team of assistants
who checked the cards w ith th e original docum ents.
The T yping Section grew rapidly-b y th e end of 1940, there
were 100 ty p ists and 150 checkers, th e la tte r v o lu n ta ry workers.
The work done b y these volunteers corresponded to th a t of about
50 m em bers of th e perm anent staff. The pressure of work during
1941 and 1942 was so great th a t it was found necessary to set
up an auxiliary section in a neighbouring tow n w ith a dozen
ty p ists em ployed on the same work as th e team s a t Geneva.
The T yping Section was organized w ith th e in ten tio n th a t
it should be a pool where all the cards for th e indexes of the
86

C entral Agency could be m ade. However, inform ation arrived

in such masses th a t th e T yping Section inev itab ly got into
arrears in th e delivery of th e cards to th e N ational Sections.
In order to gain tim e, these Sections sta rte d m aking out th eir
own cards, transcribing on to th em th e details in which th ey
were p a rticu larly interested. They did this in the w ay best
suited to th eir needs, and th e result was lack of uniform ity in
th e cards.
A great p a rt of th e staff of the T yping Section had, therefore,
to be d rafted to th e N ational Sections. The Section still su r
vived, however, in a modified form ; only work of an urgent
na tu re was assigned to it. The Section retain ed a perm anent
staff of io to 12 persons for carding docum ents requiring
im m ediate a tte n tio n and for copy work. I t served also as a
train in g centre for Agency typists, where beginners were sent
before being d rafted to th e various Sections. E xcept for a few
perm anent m em bers, th e staff in th is Section was co n stan tly
renew ed, an d th e perm anent staff was often called upon to
help other Sections.
D uring the course of 1942, a Roneo Section was added to
th e T yping Section, for duplicating forms, reports, technical
notes an d other docum ents required in the Agency.
Up to Ju n e 30, 1947, the Typing Section, in addition to
o ther work, had m ade out 5,557,476 cards. ; since the sum m er
of 1945, it has been alm ost entirely engaged on m aking out
cards for th e Germ an Section.
(2). P relim inary Sorting Section and E vening Section
The work of th e Prelim inary Sorting Section was the p u ttin g
of index a n d cap tu re cards into alphabetical order for insertion
in th e card indexes. T h at had to be done necessarily when a
b a tc h of cards was especially large ; it was th e n a tu ra l corollary
to th e m aking out of th e cards.
The Section was sta rte d in 1940, early in th e year, a n d by
Ju n e its w ork had considerably increased, owing to th e arrivals
in great num bers of lists and cap tu re cards of French a n d Belgian
87

PW . The work accom plished by th is Section alw ays corres

ponded w ith th e fluctuations of th e w ork being done by N ational
Sections. From th e sum m er of 1945, it was principally em ployed
in sorting cards and capture-cards for th e Axis Sections.
Cards were first sorted b y n atio n ality . The next stage was
a sorting b y th e first le tte r of the nam es, again b y th e second,
th en b y the th ird and th en came a final sorting. Sorting by first,
second and th ird letters was done in th ree separate stages and
by different persons ; th e work was alm ost m echanical and did
not require an y special skill. The final sorting, however, from
th e fourth letter, usually done by one p articu lar person called
for m ore care and accuracy, and especially experience.
A t first th e Prelim inary Sorting Section did th e work of
alphabetising for all sections, leaving the N ational Sections to
m ake a n y m erging or phonetic ad ju stm en ts th ey had decided
to adopt, before placing th e cards in th e index. A t a later date
th e Section was, however, obliged to follow certain filing rules
adopted b y various Sections, in p a rticu la r the Germ an, H unga
rian, R um anian and Yugoslav Sections, where frequent pho
netic m erging, a d ap ted to th e peculiarities of the language of
these countries, modified th e s tric t alphabetical order. The
staff had therefore to be fam iliar w ith this v a rie ty of filing
m ethods, and th a t was not alw ays a simple m atter. O ther
m em bers of th e staff had to learn the R ussian alphabet in
order to sort cards for Soviet personnel.
Before the Prelim inary Sorting Section came to an end in
1946, it h ad handled nearly 32 million cards.
Several y ears
experience had shown th a t th e average tim e tak en by a train ed
sorter to alphabetise a th ousand cards is four hours. E xcept for
a few perm anent salaried employees, th e staff in th is section
was alw ays composed of v o lu n tary workers.
In 1940, a section in line w ith th e Prelim inary Sorting Section
Section was organized a n d known as th e E vening Section. I t
was under th e same direction and was served entirely by volun
ta ry w orkers (for th e m ost p a rt employees, tradesm en and
workm en) who gave a few hours of th e ir spare tim e in the evening
to th e Red Cross. This Section handled all sorts of urgent
work, in p a rticu la r prelim inary sorting for N ational Sections.

The average atten d an ce was about 40 persons every evening.

U ntil it was closed in A pril 1945, the Evening Section had,
besides o ther work, m ade out 250,000 cards, sorted 5 million,
and transcribed 200,000 messages and com m unications to next
of kin.
(3).

A u xilia ry Sections

W hen th e C entral Agency opened in Septem ber 1939, u n

solicited offers of help were received from m any tow ns in Sw itzer
land. W hen therefore, following m ilitary events in th e sum m er
of 1940, th e Agency was faced w ith an average of 60,000 letters
a day, th e ICRC realized th a t Geneva unaided could not cope
w ith th e ta sk and recalled these offers for possible use. T h at led
to th e organization of th e A uxiliary Sections.
An appeal was m ade which m et w ith an enthusiastic response.
The idea of m aking a contribution to th e work u n d ertak en a t
Geneva could not fail to rouse th e entire sy m p ath y of the
Swiss people who, during the recent w ar, felt v ery keenly th a t
it was th eir d u ty to help th e victim s of th e war. Thus, the
Agency which, in 1914-1918, had carried on th e whole of its
activities in Geneva and Copenhagen, d istrib u ted work th ro u g h
out th e whole of Sw itzerland during th e second W orld W ar.
F rom May to N ovem ber 1940, th e first sections were set up in
Zurich, Lucerne, Vevey, A ar au, N euchtel, Berne, Basle, N yon,
Trlex (Nyon), Morges, St. Gall, L ausanne, W in terth u r, Y verdon, M ontreux, Fribourg, Chur, Troinex (Geneva), Zug, as
well as on the prem ises and w ith th e help of th e staff of the
Swiss B anking Corporation.
In 1941, th e continued grow th of the C entral Agency, and
of the Ita lia n Section in particu lar, m ade fu rth e r efforts neces
sary. New sections were therefore opened a t Lugano, Locarno,
Bellinzona, Poschiavo, St. Moritz, Rolle, M ont-sur-Rolle, Le
Locle, Chernex (M ontreux) and Bulle. L ater, fu rth er sections
were opened in 1942 a t Mendrisio, and in 1944 a t Sion, Sierre,
Chippis and La Chaux-de-Fonds.
The tim e came when some of these sections, a fter several
years of h ard work, had to close down. In th is connexion, it
89

should be m entioned th a t in Geneva, several business houses

and associations had, from th e outset, lent th eir services to
th e C entral Agency.
These A uxiliary Sections, as will have been seen, varied in
num ber during th e war. There were 24 in 1945, which assem bled
on an average 1060 regular v o lu n tary workers. W hilst the war
w ent on, only Swiss nationals could be a d m itte d to them .
E ig h t Sections, accounting for- 669 m em bers were in the
G erm an-speaking Cantons ; 330 m em bers worked in Zurich
and the rem ain der in A arau, Basle, Berne, Lucerne, St. Gall,
St. M oritz and W interthur.
Eleven Sections, w ith 301 m em bers, were in th e French-
speaking Cantons, a t Bulle, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Chippis,
Fribourg, Lausanne, M ontreux, N euchtel, Sierre, Sion, Vevey
and Yverdon.
Five Sections w ith a to ta l of 90 m em bers were in the Ita lia n
speaking cantons a t Bellinzona, Locarno, Lugano, Mendrisio and
Poschiavo.
From th e opening of these Sections, a great m any m em bers
pursued th eir work w ith rem arkable regularity and perseverance ;
th e y gave m any hours of th eir tim e every d ay to task s which
were som etim es v ery m onotonous. The high o u tp u t of the
A uxiliary Sections is due to th eir steadfast efforts.
Besides these workers, evening team s were sta rte d in some
of th e m ore im p o rta n t outside Sections, m ade up of staff m em
bers from com m ercial firms and banks, teachers, and others.
These helpers, the m ajo rity of whom were experienced office
workers, m et on th e prem ises of the Section, or in offices lent
b y th eir em ployers, who also supplied typew riters.
This v o lu n ta ry effort, kept up over several years by men and
women who had alread y w orked long hours in offices or work
shops, is a proof of the renow n of th e work w ith which th ey
wished to be associated.
In a great m any cases, th e running costs were m et by the
Sections them selves, assisted by tow n au thorities, local societies
and generous subscribers.
A lthough th e m ain object of organizing A uxiliary Sections
was to assist th e T yping and P relim inary Sorting Sections, and
90

th e ir m ost im p o rta n t work consisted in m aking out and sorting

cards, th e scope of th eir activities increased as th eir m em bers
becam e m ore experienced.
The following are some of th e o ther ty p es of w ork en tru sted
to th eir care :
Sorting lette rs and messages.
T ranscribing letters to Civilian Message Form s.
Checking tex ts of Civilian Messages.
M aking out labels for parcels.
R egistration a n d transm ission of docum ents.
Copying of various kinds.
T ranslations of various descriptions.
R egim ental enquiries (enquiries to PW in cam ps for inform ation
ab o u t missing personnel).
N otification of deaths.
Prcis of files concerning civilian internees and e n try on cards.
From A ugust 1940 to th e end of Ju n e 1947, th e A uxiliary
Sections m ade out 19,997,000 cards, filed 1,235,0000 and sent
out over a million com m unications. The other item s abovem entioned, which som etim es involved long and exacting work,
totalled over ten millions.
A perfect knowledge of Germ an and Italian , and a good
working knowledge of m any o ther languages, enabled certain
Sections to be of assistance to a p a rticu la r N ational Section.
T ranslations in D utch, Czech, H ungarian, R um anian, B ulgarian,
Russian, L ithuanian, Finnish and Scandinavian languages,
Turkish, A rab, Chinese and Japanese were a daily feature of
th eir work. The Zurich Section was specially proficient in
languages.
The various A uxiliary Sections enjoyed a certain independence
in regard to th eir in tern al organization, b u t all general questions
were dealt w ith by the A uxiliary Sections Office a t th e Central
Agency. This office also acted as interm ediary betw een th e
N ational Sections and A uxiliary Sections for th e d istribution
of work, and its re tu rn to the Agency. F u rth e r, one person in
91

each N ational Section was in charge of work sent out to A uxiliary

Sections.
The A uxiliary Sections Office received from th e N ational
Sections th e work for th e A uxiliary Sections, w ith a covering list
of th e docum ents which required atte n tio n , and for which th ey
were responsible.
A ny w ork which h ad had some unusual feature was accom
panied b y explicit instructions from th e N ational Section concer
ned, and to each new case was a tta ch e d a model to indicate the
tre a tm e n t required. G reat stress m ust be laid on the extrem e
im portance of instructions and models ; th e la tte r were indeed
indispensable for good o u tp u t by the A uxiliary Sections.
W hen work was finished it was sent back to the A uxiliary
Sections Office in Geneva and handed to th e N ational Sections.
The A uxiliary Sections Office used th e Cardex system
to keep a careful check on all work sent out to Sections and
on its retu rn . Its index allowed it to be seen a t a glance how
w ork was progressing in each Section.
E ach Section checked its own work. In general, the N ational
Sections were not in direct contact w ith the A uxiliary Sections
and had to send all com m ents or criticism regarding work
retu rn ed to th e A uxiliary Sections Office, which was th u s able
to judge th e general qu ality of the work done by the various
team s, and to plan the distrib u tio n of work accordingly.
In th e course of tim e, th e o u tp u t of th e A uxiliary Sections
showed m arked im provem ent ; a great m any helpers becam e as
experienced and m ethodical as professional staff. I t should be
observed th a t as the Agency, under pressure of events, grew
in ex ten t and scope, th e w ork required of these team s becam e
more varied, com plex and urgent.
Their m em bers applied
them selves w ith patience and assiduity to a task which continued
to increase, and th ey accom plished it to th e entire satisfaction
of th e head office.
(4). Outside Work
The A uxiliary Sections, by th e au tu m n of 1945, had reached
the peak of th eir w orking capacity, and no more staff was
available at Geneva. The C entral Agency was therefore obliged
92

to set up, in Sw itzerland and th e neighbouring p a rts of France

and in agreem ent w ith the au th o rities concerned, team s of
helpers composed of m ilitary internees, civilian internees and
G erm an PW .
F rom Septem ber 20, 1945, eleven of these B ranches were
working in Sw itzerland, and one in France, as from M arch 14,
1946. These team s were intended prim arily to help th e G erm an
Section, th e w ork of which had grown considerably w ith th e
end of th e war. The m ain lines of th eir work were :
Sorting m ail from G erm an P W to th e ir next of kin ;
M aking out inform ation and enquiry cards ;
Prelim inary filing of cards ;
Transm ission of messages to prisoners or internees ;
C om m unicating inform ation to fam ilies ;
T ranslation of docum ents into various languages.
The w ork of these B ranches was, as in th e case of A uxiliary
Sections, controlled by an ad m inistrative office of th e C entral
Agency, called th e O utside W ork Office, which directed the
d istribution of work to th e B ranches and its re tu rn to the
Agency. No messages or com m unications were sent direct
from B ranches to families.
From Septem ber 1945 to Ju n e 1947, the B ranches worked
612,697 hours, corresponding to th e average atten d an ce of
174 regular workers a t th e Central Agency. D uring this same
period, m em bers of these sections produced 14,891,000 letters,
messages or cards.
Also, from Septem ber 1945 to Ju n e 1946, over six million
P W letters and cards were sorted according to occupation
zones and postal districts.
Such high o u tp u t could only be a tta in e d by intensive s ta n
dardization of working m ethods, and careful checking by th e
B ranches them selves greatly co n trib u ted to th e qu ality of th e
work th ey accom plished.

93

V II.

(i).

C A R D -IN D E X E S

General Remarks

In order to perform ad equately the duties of a bureau to

supply inform ation, it was necessary for the Central Agency to
have a record of th e nam es of all PW and civilian internees,
ab o u t whom inform ation had been received or applications
m ade. For this purpose, all applications were transcribed to
filing cards of uniform size which were filed in alphabetical
order and form ed th e card-index.
The coming together of
inform ation and application cards w ithin the in d ex so-called
tallies m ade it possible to supply th e applicants w ith the
inform ation required.
I t was decided, for reasons p rim arily of language, to m ake
separate indexes for each N ational Section. This system allowed
th e principle of alphabetical filing to be ad a p te d to the various
languages, and even to th e various alphabets, which would have
been far m ore difficult w ith a joint index.
A lthough the principle of alphabetical filing has not varied in
th e course of years, th e m ethods, features and use of filing cards
have changed to some degree.
In the In te rn atio n a l Agency of 1914 to 1918, and a t the
beginning of the 1939 Central Agency, card-indexes were used
sim ply as a nam e index or reference. Cards bore only the
prisoners nam es, th e d a ta for identification and th e reference
num ber of th e original docum ents. Thus, when com m unicating
inform ation to applicants, these docum ents had to be consulted
in every instance. E xperienced staff, working w ith all due
94

caution, exam ined each case before transferring inform ation

concerning th e case in point to th e enquiry cards.
This system , which in some respects m ay ap p ear m ore strictly
accurate, could only be usefully applied when th e num ber
of cases to be exam ined was com paratively small. W hen m ail
arrived in great quantities, however, system atic reference to the
docum ents required too m uch tim e and space. I t was, therefore,
found necessary, in face of th e sudden influx of enquiries in
1940, to change th e m ethod of using th e index card. In stead
of serving sim ply as a m eans of reference, it becam e a record of
inform ation : it bore not only th e nam e of th e m an concerned,
th e essential d a ta for identification, and th e reference to th e
original docum ent, but also th e inform ation properly so-called
(notification of capture, death, etc.), contained in th e said
docum ent. From th a t tim e, th e card-index ceased to be an
alphabetical reference and becam e to some ex ten t a duplicate
of th e records of an y given Section, th u s avoiding the need to
consult original docum ents on each occasion. E v ery possible
care was tak e n for th e literal tran scrip tio n of th e original,
when m aking out the inform ation cards. No doubt, the necessity
of carefully copying all th e d a ta entailed considerable work,
b u t th is m ethod allowed th e ta sk to be split up and dealt w ith
b y several team s a t th e same tim e.
A fu rth e r im p o rta n t innovation in th e use of th e card-index
was the filing in the la tte r of original docum ents which, ju st
as th e capture-cards and sta n d a rd application form s, were filled
in b y th e senders on form s of the sam e size as th e index-cards.
B y these devices, th e card-index becam e th e essential working
instru m en t of th e N ational Sections, and a general record of
inform ation on all cases dealt with.

(2). Equipm ent

(A). Cards.
The index-card was the exact copy of the original docum ent,
and the Agency kept strictly to th is rule. Since th e work was
based on the cards and not on th e original docum ents, it was

95

necessary th a t th e first should be a tru e p icture of the second.

E ven when nam es appeared to be m u tilated, th ey were copied
as w ritten, a n y such errors being usually p u t rig h t by the
rules which were applied when the cards were filed.
As alread y m entioned 1, th e cards were m ade out by the
Typing a n d A uxiliary Sections. In urgent cases, or in those
which required experience, th e N ational Sections often ty p ed
th e ir own cards.
In order to m ake th e research and other work easier, it was
soon found necessary to adopt a sta n d a rd size for all cards.
The practice was not, however, m ade general for th e whole
Agency, and each Section was left free to em ploy w hatever
system seemed best for its special needs.
The Agency of 1914, and th a t of 1939 a t the outset em ployed
cards m easuring 8 by 12 y2 cm. (3 by 5 in.) ; these were filed
upright.
In 1940, on receiving th e first capture-cards from G erm any
which m easured 10 by 15 cm. (4 by 6 in.), it was decided to
replace all th e cards in the Agency by cards of this size, in
order to file the capture-cards straig h t aw ay in the index. Cards
were now filed lengthw ise 2. The same size was afterw ards
ad o p ted for all sta n d a rd application cards, which could thus
also be filed im m ediately in the index.
Two wholly different system s m ay be used for filing inform a
tion received a t various tim es and concerning the sam e person.
The first m ethod consists of m aking out a fresh card on each
occasion, th u s form ing a b a tc h of cards for each person. The
other is to record successive d a ta on a single card, which m ay
be described as a " com posite or key card.
The C entral Agency adopted th e first m ethod, as the only
m eans of keeping its index com paratively up to date. In this
way, the ty ping of th e cards could be handed over to the m any
A uxiliary Sections which worked for the Agency in various
tow ns in Sw itzerland. M oreover, th e inform ation received by
1 See pp. 86 sqq.
2 W ith th e ex c ep tio n of th e A m erican Section, w hich used th e W a t
son Cards. See p. 265.
96

the Agency was frequently m u tilated or incom plete, which m ade

filing difficult. The use of batches, whilst leaving the inform ation
received in its original form , enabled th e filing staff to detect
errors m ore easily th a n th e use of " key cards
I t is a fact th a t key cards tak e up less space th a n batches,
and considerable tim e is saved in checking. For this reason,
certain N ational Sections 1 gave th e system a tria l when it
becam e im perative to reduce the staff.
P relim inary checking is required to m ake out key cards
and keep th em up to date. Before the card is typed, a check
m ust first be m ade to establish if a duplicate card already
exists, in which case this m ust be tak e n out of the index to be
com pleted. A loss of tim e occurred in b o th cases, especially when
original lists were not established in alphabetical order and cards
th en h ad to be ty p ed before checking. As th e trials did not
prove satisfactory, th e idea of adopting this system for the
Agency card-indexes was abandoned.
The inform ation cards varied in colour according to the Sec
tions ; enquiry cards for th e whole Agency were alw ays white ;
the liaison cards were grey.
The liaison cards were th e exact copies of inform ation or
enquiry cards and were m ade out w henever any doubt existed
as to a persons n ationality, or when a m an had served in o ther
units th a n those of the regular forces of his country. The Section
dealing w ith the case kept th e original card, a liaison card being
sent to all o ther Sections concerned.
Some Sections applied a key card system by abolishing dupli
cates. In th is m ethod, when two or more cards giving sim ilar
inform ation for a p articu lar person were found in th e index, a
transfer of the references was m ade to one single card, and th e
others destroyed.
O ther Sections p a rtly adopted a key card system b y placing
the essential d a ta on one card, and less im p o rta n t details on
separate cards.

1 A m ongst o th e rs th e B ritish a n d Ita lia n S ections.

97

(B). Accessories.
The cards were filed in open cardboard filing boxes which
were 16 cm. wide, 8 cm. high and 37 cm. long (6 y 2 by 31/ , by
25 in.), bearing interchangeable labels, affixed in front and
indicating the alphabetical division.
The boxes were placed on sta n d a rd shelving. F our types
of shelving were in use for th e Agency card-index ; th a t in
m ost comm on use was 155 cm. wide, 105 cm. high and 32 cm.
in depth (62 by 42 by 13 in.). The shelving was placed on tables
wide enough to work on, or set on the ground in double tiers,
which economised a great deal of space 1.
For card-index work various accessories were used (clips or
elastic bands, hinge-clips, m arker-cards).
The clips or elastic bands were used to hold the batches of
cards concerning th e sam e person. A lthough th eir use m ade the
work m uch easier, th ey added m uch to the to ta l bulk of the
index, and had to be given up when it becam e necessary to gain
space b y all means. This was the case for the boxes p u t aside, e.g.
the F rench index for the B attle of F rance in 1940, and for those
which were no longer in actu al use a fter the w ar had ended.
The hinge-clips were used for holding the cards in place in the
boxes ; experience showed th a t boxes should only be tw o-thirds,
or a t m ost three-q u arters full, to work w ith ease.
The m arker-cards (also called flags) which bore tab s w ith
inscriptions to help alphabetical filing, were inserted into the
boxes to m ake research easier. The contents of the boxes were
th u s divided in groups of 100 to 200 cards.

(3) W orking Methods

The card-index, which was th e real centre of each N ational
Section, form ed a self-contained unit. The o u tp u t and efficiency
of the Sections depended to a great degree upon its due working.
1 In th e la tte r case, th e low er p a r t w as n o t so h igh an d in clu d ed a
sliding shelf, to serve as ta b le.
98

(A). Staff.
The personnel of each card-index included :
(a) The senior assistants, who d istrib u ted and supervised the
work, train ed new personnel and did statistical work.
(b) The filing clerks, each in charge of an alphabetic sector
and responsible for boxes being in good order and kept up to
date.
Each filing clerk was given an ap p ro x im ately equal
num ber of individual cases to handle, and consequently of
boxes. The num ber of boxes was reduced, however, when the
work was p articu larly difficult, for instance, in sectors com prising
very common surnam es, such as Sm ith, M artin, Muller, and
so forth.
(c) The controllers, who were usually chosen am ong the
experienced filing clerks. A sector was allotted to each, and
this was of course m ore extensive th a n for th e filing clerk. Their
d uty was to go through each box, to see th a t th e rules of filing
were properly observed, and cases duly dealt w ith. In large
indexes the controllers perform ed no o ther duties : for small
indexes, th ey also helped with the filing.
(d) The checkers (in all sections where th e checking staff
belonged to the card-index).
(B). F iling and Research Work.
(a)
D istribution of work. W hen a num ber of cards had
been assem bled, the placing in alphabetical order was effected
by a separate service, the P relim inary Sorting Section 1.
A distinction was m ade betw een cards giving fresh inform a
tion, taken from original docum ents and being filed for the
first tim e (known as moisson or harvest ), and those
which were sent back to the card-index a fter having been tak en
out for reference by the Sections (known as re tu rn cards ).
1 See p. 87.

99

The N ational Sections usually gave filing p rio rity to certain

batches of h arvest w hich had to be dealt w ith u rg en tly
e.g. capture-cards, which were of course handled before notices
of transfer, or o ther d a ta concerning PW who wereal ready
indexed.
W hen th e cards had been placed in alphabetical order by
the Prelim inary Sorting Section, th ey were handed to the
national card-indexes, where a filing clerk divided them into
lots corresponding to th e alphabetical sectors.
In large Sections, th e allocation of work to the filing staff had
to be centralized. The cards were placed in boxes bearing the
nam es of the personnel concerned, who collected the cards every
m orning and brought back in th e evening the surplus which
had not been dealt w ith. This m ethod allowed the senior assis
ta n ts to see a t a glance how the work was progressing and to
tak e an y action required.
I t was ascertained th a t the ordinary filing clerk could on an
average file 300 cards per day. This figure was generally less
for th e m ore difficult alphabetic sectors.
As regards controlling, th is varied greatly according to the
Sections concerned ; th e num ber exam ined by each controller
ranged betw een one to five boxes per day. To be thorough, th is
work required a large staff, so th a t the filing clerks had som e
tim es to be called upon to help the controllers.
(b)
F ilin g Rules. We have seen th a t th e filing was based
on th e alphabetical order of the prisoners surnam es and first
names.
In practice, however, certain exceptions had to be m ade to
stric t alphabetical filing. Surnam es can be w ritten in very
m any ways. If th e filing clerks had strictly observed th e alp h a
betical order, cards for th e same persons would not all have
been filed together, and a great m any tallies would have
been missed. To help the joining up of the cards, various
m ethods of m erging were practised : phonetic, or graphic
m erging, and th e two combined.
The following are a few exam ples of th is m ethod of m erging
in practice.
100

(i) Phonetic.
B A U D H U I N , B A U D O I N , B E A U D O IN .
FE RO Z ,

PERRAUD,

PERRAULT,

PERREAU,

PERREAUT,

PERROT,

PEYRAUD, PEYROT.
M A IER, M A J E R , M A Y E R ,

M E IE R, M E JE R ,

M E Y E R , M A IR ,

M A JR,

MAYR, M E I R , M E J R , M E Y R .
S T E W A R D , S T E W A R T , ST U A RT.
I R V I N E , I R V I N , I R W I N , I R V I N G , I R W IN G .
W HITA KER , W H ITT A K ER , W HITTAC K ER , W H IT E A K E R .

(Polish phonetic version).

(original H ungarian form), s a b o , s a b a u , s a b u (R um a
nian phonetic version).

siL B E R S T E iN , ziL B E R S T A jN
szabo

E ach N ational Section was led to adopt its own phonetic

m ethod of merging. One practice, however, was comm on to
all Sections, th e filing of double consonants by th e first le tte r
only.
(2) Graphic.
BONVARD a n d

BO U V A RD .

FERRAND a n d

FERRAUD.

This ty p e of m erging was used alm ost exclusively for French

names.
(3) Phonetic and Graphic.
L EFA IB R E , L E F E B U R E , L E F E B V R E , L E F EV R E.
GANTHIE,

G A N TH IER ,

G A N T IE ,

GA NTIER,

G A N T IE S ,

G A N T IE Z ,

G A U L T H I E R , G A U T H I E R , G A U T H IE R S , G A U T H IE Z , G A U T IE R .
JO H N S O N , JO H N S T O N , J O H N S T O N E , JO N S O N , JO N N S O N , JO N S S O N .
CRESW ELL, CRESSW ELL, CRASWELL, GRESSW ELL.
SIM ON, SIM ONS, SIM M O N D S , SIM MONS.

W henever a batch of cards was not, for some reason, filed

in its proper alphabetical position, a card of a special colour
was inserted in its place, called a Reference Card , which
101

sta te d where it was to be found : th u s b o u v a r d being m erged w ith

b o n v a r d a reference slip was placed where b o u v a r d should have
been filed which sta te d b o u v a r d see under b o n v a r d .
Before each group of m erged nam es was placed a w arning
card, showing all th e spellings included.
In addition to these exceptions to alphabetical filing, certain
o ther rules had to be introduced, as follows :
Com pound and double nam es were usually filed after the
principal simple nam e, e.g. l e r o y - b e a u l i e u was filed after
all th e l e r o y .
W ith regard to nam es preceded by a particle, the ruling was
not common to all Sections ; th e y were filed either following
th e initial of th e particle, or of the principal nam e. The French
Section did not tak e into account th e particles de, De, d' ; for
instance, a s t i e r was filed under le tte r A. All other particles
counted, however ; thus, la v i g e r i e was filed under L.
W hen only the surnam e was given, th e card was filed in front
of all those bearing th e same nam e together w ith first names.
W hen only the initial of a first nam e was given, the card
was filed in front of all those w ith first nam es beginning w ith
th e sam e letter.
If two or more first nam es were recorded, only th e first
counted for filing purposes.
In the event of two persons bearing an identical surnam e
and first nam e, the filing was based on th e dates of b irth , the
elder being usually placed in front.
The cards form ing a b a tc h were alw ays arranged in a fixed
order, which was not alw ays th e same in the various Sections.
The logical m ethod, which proved to be the best for quickly
picking up the th re a d s of a p a rticu la r case, was to arrange the
cards by order of date. The enquiry cards on which action was
being tak en were usually placed first in th e batch.
(c)
Research Work. The w ork on th e card-index was done
b o th by the filing cleks a n d the checkers.
The work of th e checkers was to s ta rt from the various
102

docum ents received by the Agency and to m ake th e required

search in the card-index. They form ed a separate service in
all principal Sections, which was either p a rt of th e card-index
staff, or outside it, according to circum stances.
It should be specified th a t the filing staff did not m erely insert
new files into the index, b u t had also to keep a careful w atch for
any possible tallies
Their w ork was therefore in some respects
sim ilar to th a t of th e checkers ; both had to bear co n stan tly in
mind the filing regulations in force, of which the m ost im p o rtan t
have already been m entioned.
In each Section th e rem oval of cards from th e index was
subject to general rules, two of which should be m entioned as
th ey were of peculiar im portance and applied to all d epartm ents
of th e Agency.
F irst, th e various cards which form ed th e b a tc h could not
be separated or rem oved singly from th e index. It was essential
for the person dealing w ith th e case to have th e whole b atch,
and th u s the whole history of the case. M oreover, a com plete
batch was less likely to go a stra y th a n a single card.
Secondly, all cards rem oved from the index had to be replaced
by a pointer , bearing all references necessary for replacing
the file on its re tu rn to the index. The references had to be
sufficiently clear to allow the renew al of the whole b a tc h in
case of loss, and included th e date of rem oval from the file and
the place where th ey could be claimed. Even if the b a tc h had
been rem oved from th e index, th e pointer gave relevant details
on the case and allowed action to be taken.
W ith regard to the pointers, two m ethods were practised :
either to use an outstanding slip, called the sig n p o st , which had
to be m ade out on every occasion, or to provide each b a tc h of cards
w ith a perm anent pointer , of th e same size as th e cards, which
was never to be rem oved from the index. Thepresence of a
perm anent p o in te r did not dispense th e searcher who rem oved a
file from m aking out a slip w ith the date and th e nam e of th e person
responsible. The perm anent pointer had, of course, to be kept up
to date w ith all new inform ation received on th e p a rticu la r case.
103

D uring th e first years, "signpost p o in te rs only were used a t the

C entral Agency. This system , however, involved a great deal of
tran scrip tio n , w henever cards were tak en out of the index; not
only had th e pointers to show all personal datao f th e case, the
date of the rem oval of the b atch and the nam e of the person res
ponsible, b u t also th e reference num bers of all cards contained in
the b atch. W hen m ade out in a h u rry by busy people, it frequently
happened th a t details were missing, or th a t the te x t was illegible.
In consequence, some Sections were led to introduce the
" perm anent p ointer , which bore p rin ted headings, showed
all particu lars relating to th e PW a t the top, th e rem ainder of
th e card being used to record th e references of the cards con
tain ed in the batch.
E xperience showed, however, th a t the use of this card was
only advisable in large Sections, where th e daily average of
batches tak e n out of th e index was fairly high. This average
was in proportion to th e volum e of work in each Section, i.e.
to the average num ber of d a ta or enquiries regarding one person
received w ithin a given period. The volum e of work depended
upon various factors which related to th e n atio n ality of th e
PW concerned, e.g. frequency of transfers, each entailing a
separate com m unication to th e Agency, applications by relatives
or by public or p riv ate bodies in the various countries, and so on.
Perm anent pointers were only m ade out for cards rem oved from
the index, th u s avoiding a waste of valuable tim e in m aking out
pointers for batches of cards which m ight never be required.
In practice, filing and checking in the index m et w ith frequent
difficulties. The d a ta required for identification were often
inadequate and nam es were often subject to m utilation. In
such cases, th e m ere observance of filing rules would not have
sufficed to ensure the " tally of cards concerning the same
person ; b oth filers and checkers had then to use th eir utm ost
ingenuity to reach the desired goal.
H ere are some of the difficulties created by the lack of
sufficient d a ta for identification, and the m anner in which
these difficulties were m et.
104

In m any cases, PW had the same surnam es and first nam es.
In order to distinguish them , certain civil and m ilitary p a rti
culars were necessary, e.g. date and place of b irth , first nam e of
father, domicile (address of next of kin), arm jr unit, a rm y and
PW num bers.
The m ost im p o rtan t of all was certainly th e arm y num ber ;
this in itself allowed for the full identification of th e PW in
civil life, provided of course th a t th e same num ber was never
given to more th a n one m an.
The system of arm y num bers, as useed in several countries
where it form ed an integral p a rt of each m an s id en tity , and
which was often quoted by relatives in th eir applications, ren
dered invaluable service to the C entral Agency. The work
becam e extrem ely com plicated, however, in cases where th is
system of num bers was not in current use, or had not been
adopted by certain arm ed forces.
The num ber allo tted to a PW on cap tu re was also of great
assistance for this type of research.
W hen these various particu lars were missing or incom plete,
searchers had to tr y to m ake th e cards correspond by piecing
together d a ta on cap tu re a n d th e successive places of detention
th a t m ight be shown on the cards.
If th is last a tte m p t gave no result, th e search was discontinued
and th e card p u t in place in the index, u n til th e arrival of fresh
inform ation m ight help to throw some light on th e case.
O ther difficulties arose through th e m u tilation of nam es or
th eir tran sliteratio n in other languages. The docum ents received
a t the Agency had often been dictated or copied from other
docum ents, when errors in taking down or reading were ine
vitable. I t also frequently occurred th a t th e w riters knew
little or nothing of the prisoners or ap p lic an ts language, which
resulted in serious m utilations of names, especially in the
less common languages.
Cases of this kind could of course not be foreseen, so th a t no
fixed rulings could be m ade ; the correction of errors in the cardindex th u s depended entirely upon th e searchers experience and
intuition. Reference slips were m ade use of in these cases.
105

The following are a few exam ples of m utilation

Correct spelling

M utilated

L U C IR A

LUCERA

B A IT O

BIT O

SA ITO

GAITO

PL E TIN C K X

FL E TIN EC K , PL E TIN A X , P L E R T IN X , PLETIV V ETLX

BOEYKENS

BOEGEHENS.

All these errors were th e result of carelessness or ignorance.

Some m utilations were, however, conscious. We m ay quote
th e case of people belonging to certain racial groups who after
em igration, or com pulsory or v o lu n tary adoption of a new
nationality, had, under political or cultural influence, often
a d a p te d th e spelling of th eir nam es to the language of the new
country. In this m anner, Greek em igrants to th e U nited States
simplified or shortened th eir nam es : s a v o p o u l o s becam e s a v a s
s e l l e v e r d i s - v e r d i s , M i C H A i L i T S i s - m i t c h e l l ; some tra n s
lated them , when g i a n n k o p o u l o s becam e J o h n s o n , and
m a r a n g o s becam e c a r p e n t e r .
Jew s, p articu larly those of
G erm an origin, often did the same, so th a t n e u m a n n becam e
N e w m a n in th e U nited States.
In such cases, th e question could only be solved w ith the
help of experts in the language and custom s of the peoples
concerned.
Am ongst th e arm ed forces of the B ritish Com m onwealth and
th e French Union there were racial groups whose language
was entirely different from th a t of the p a re n t S tate, and for
these th e Agency sections set up special indexes. This was the
practice followed in the B ritish Section for Cypriots, Arabs,
Indian troops and South A frican native troops. The French
Colonial Section set up separate indexes in th e same w ay for
th e A rab-speaking countries (Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco),
for F rench W est Africa and Indochina.
W hile the setting up of special indexes simplified the problem ,
it was by no m eans sufficient to solve the linguistic difficulties
involved in filing nam es in some languages, and the arm y
106

num ber, when known, rem ained often th e sole m eans of identify
ing men whose nam es were liable to infinite variations. Thus,
the French Colonial Section set up, in conjunction w ith the
alphabetical index, a second index based on a rm y num bers
from which the searcher could work back to the first index.
It should also be m entioned th a t the C entral Agency, having
been allowed th e use of the statistical m achines of the In te rn a tio
nal Business Machines C orporation , was in a position to draw
up lists of prisoners in alphabetical order, by arm y or PW
num bers, according to the needs of th e Sections concerned.
Since errors in filing did not occur w ith th e m achines, th e
alphabetical lists th u s produced showed correctly th e id e n tity
of a PW whose b a tc h of cards has been misfiled, or had gone
a stra y in one of the national Sections.
W ith regard to lists b y arm y or PW num bers, th ey m ade
it possible, in th e case of nam esakes or of m u tilated nam es,
to add to the relevant batches any fresh inform ation or applica
tions received concerning an y given person.
This m eans of identification could of course only w ork when
all docum ents received a t different tim es by the Agency for
the same m an bore the arm y and PW num bers.
The considerable work entailed in draw ing up these lists
was as a rule only justified in the large Sections, in so far as
th ey were likely to be frequently consulted.

107

V III.

W ATSON

SEC TIO N

THE

U SE

OF

THE

H O L L E R IT H M ACHINES BY T H E C EN TR A L AGENCY

The stu d y of th e general working m ethods of the Central

Agency would be incom plete w ithout special m ention being
m ade of this Section which, although entirely technical, neverthe
less c o n stitu te d one of th e m ost im p o rtan t innovations adopted
b y th e C entral Agency in 1939.
An intern atio n al firm w ith head offices in Geneva, th e
Phoebus Com pany for the D evelopm ent of the Lighting
In d u stry had in use before the war a set of statistical m achines
m ade by th e In te rn atio n a l Business Machines C orporation,
whose head offices are in the U nited States. The Phoebus
Com pany having been obliged to shut down, following on the
events of 1939, some of th e directors, who realized how useful
th e m achines would be to the Agency, which had ju st begun
work, approached the In te rn atio n a l Com m ittee.
On exam ination it was found th a t a num ber of th e m achines
could not easily be a d ap ted to Agency work, and the Phoebus
Com pany placed th e m a tte r before the In te rn atio n a l Business
M achines Corporation through the E uropean branch, whose
head offices were also in Geneva. I t was a t th a t point th a t the
a tte n tio n of the President of the I.B.M ., Mr. Thom as J. W atson,
was draw n to th e m atter. He understood a t once its im por
tance for relief work and m ade good his generous interest by
cabling on October 16, 1939, to th e E uropean B ranch of the
I.B.M ., as follows : D onate use of m achines. Recom m ended
you give space, furnish cards and do work g ratis in our office
Geneva.
108

Six weeks a fter th e outb reak of the war, therefore, it had

been arranged in principle th a t th e ICRC should have th e use,
free of charge, of this highly efficient business m achinery.
In the following Decem ber, the W atson Section of the C entral
Agency was set up, to em ploy th e proffered m achines and to
begin the necessary prelim inary work.
(i) Basic Methods
Before describing the contribution m ade by th e W atson
Section to the work of th e C entral Agency, a sum m ary explana
tion should be given of the w ay the statistical m achines work
and w hat th ey achieve.
The m achines used by th e Agency were of the ty p e invented
a t the end of the last cen tu ry by an Am erican, H ollerith. He
was so im pressed by the enorm ous am ount of labour involved
in classifying th e d a ta of th e te n th census of th e population of
the U.S.A. in 1880, th a t he form ed th e idea of su b stitu tin g
m echanical m eans for hum an labour, which is slow and liable
to error. His efforts finally led to the invention of the Holle
rith Machines ", based on the use of cards perforated according
to a code and worked by an electro-m agnetic process.
By the H ollerith system , inform ation is m arked on cards
by perforations a t given intervals. The cards contain tw elve
horizontal lines and 80 vertical colum ns, allowing for th e ins
cription of 80 figures or ciphers. In any of th e 80 colum ns, each
figure from o to 9 is punched on the same horizontal line ;
for instance, 0 is alw ays punched on th e th ird line, 1 on th e
fourth line and so forth. L etters are form ed by punching two
holes ; the le tte r A, for exemple, is shown by a perforation on
the th ird line and another on th e fifth.
Num erical codes are usually em ployed for transcribing infor
m ation to cards. This m ethod not only com pensates for the
restricted num ber of colum ns, b u t also facilitates sorting the
cards by categories. E ach colum n of a card used for a specified
object has a fixed purpose ; when used for th e census of
population, for instance, the th irtie th colum n of each card
m ay be reserved for th e civil sta tu s of the persons concerned.
109

(2 ) Work of the Watson Section

(A). For the Central Agency.

We m ust first point out th a t the service required by the
Agency from the H ollerith m achines did not correspond exactly
w ith th e purpose for which th ey were originally designed ;
th e y were intended for statistical research w ork and accounting.
The Central Agency, indeed, was not concerned w ith the
census of people or of categories of goods, the object of sta tis
tics, nor w ith th e setting out of item s in a balance sheet, as
done in accountancy. On th e o ther hand, it would be useful
to have available, in plain language, lists of PW classified
according to th e requirem ents of th e Sections, in alphabetical
order or in a num erical sequence of a n y one of the item s of
identification on th e cards. Therefore, if for each PW a punched
card could be m ade out w ith all th e useful item s of identifi
cation, it would th en be easy to sort these cards and m ake up,
on th e basis of th is process, th e lists th a t were required.
The W atson Section used three ty p es of m achines : per
forators, sorters and tabulators. The first were for the punching
of th e cards. They were fitted w ith a keyboard sim ilar to th a t
of a typew riter. The pressing of a key would cause the punching
of one or tw o rectan g u lar holes, together w ith th e p rinted
tran scription, a t th e top of th e card, of th e corresponding
digit or letter.
The insertion and ejection of th e card was entirely a u to
m atic ; the m echanism of perforation, set in m otion by pressing
a key, was itself electric. L astly, by m eans of a special device,
d a ta common to an entire set of cards, e. g. n ationality, could
be punched autom atically.
The cards th en passed through a second m achine, the sorter,
where th e y were counted and sorted, a t will, in alphabetical
order or in a num erical sequence of any one of the item s of
identification. This sorting operated as follows : a m etal brush
could be shifted according to the colum n w ith which th e sorting
was concerned ; each tim e it encountered a perforation, the
n o

brush caused an electric circuit to be closed, and th e current

thus set up sta rte d a m echanism , which m ade the cards fall
into the corresponding pocket.
This autom atic sorting, operating a t the ra te of 400 cards a
m inute, was m ade on th e basis of one perforation a t a tim e. As
was seen above, each digit was expressed by a single perfora
tion and each lette r by two perforations. In order to arrange a
group of num bers in a num erical sequence, according to d a ta
punched in a three colum n field, th e cards had to be passed
through th e m achine three tim es : first on th e units colum n,
then on the ten s column, and finally on th e hundreds colum n.
The sorting of a series of nam es each w ith, possibly, as m any
as six letters, required tw elve consecutive passages of cards
through the m achine, corresponding to th e tw elve holes by
which a nam e of six letters was indicated on the cards.
By a sim ilar principle, the tab u la tin g m achine produced
from the cards already classified by th e sorter, th e lists and
statistical or accounting statem en ts required. Counters could
add or substract the d a ta indicated by th e perforations, and
the results were p rinted by the m achine. The ta b u la to r produced
the te x t of the punched cards a t the ra te of 80 cards a m inute.
To this set of th ree m achines, which assured th e ordinary
tasks of the Section, were added various auxiliary m achines.
Amongst these was th e duplicator, th e purpose of which was to
reproduce, om itting the corresponding prin ted te x t, the cards
already perforated, and th e interpreter, which com pleted the
perforated cards by th e au to m atic printing of th e te x t. One
could thus obtain, in case of need, a double set of cards.
Thus, the W atson Section was able to m ake out for the
N ational Sections., lists of prisoners in alphabetical order, in
num erical sequence according to arm y or P W num ber, in order
of regim ent, and so forth.
The alphabetical lists were used in certain cases to com
m unicate inform ation regarding PW to the official B ureaux
or N ational Red Cross Societies. Moreover, the draw ing up of
alphabetical lists of all th e nam es of PW to be found in a cardindex, served to reveal the existence of PW whose cards, filed
in the wrong place, had till then eluded search.
h i

The num erical lists b y arm y or P W num ber, proved to be

an invaluable help for researches in the index. B y reference to
them , nam es m u tilated or wrongly filed could be traced, th u s
producing tallies which had escaped direct search in the
index.
The o u tstanding aid given by the W atson Machines, however,
was unquestionably in the draw ing up of lists of PW and missing
in arm y unit sequence. Those lists were useful as a startin g
point in the regim ental enquiries, already m entioned, which
were un d ertak en by the French Section. I t will be recalled
th a t th is consisted in th e system atic questioning of PW on the
fate of com rades in th eir p articu lar u nit who were reported
m issing. T h at was possible by v irtue of lists of missing, accord
ing to service units, and of PW according to regim ent. Only
th e sorting m achines, dealing w ith 24,000 cards an hour, and
th e tab u lato rs, transcribing 4,800 nam es in th e sam e tim e, were
able to m ake up those tw o types of lists. It can be said th a t,
in this case, th e m achines accom plished a creative piece of
work, since no tea m of hum an workers could have carried out
such a considerable task quickly enough for the result to be
p u t to effective use.
(B). For the Relief Division.
The W atson Section also did a series of jobs for the Relief
D ivision, which was independent of th e C entral Agency.
A lthough th a t im p o rta n t a c tiv ity was not connected w ith the
Agency itself, it should be m entioned here, since the W atson
Section, from th e point of view of adm inistration, was p a rt of
th e C entral Agency.
The Relief Division soon found it would be necessary to
have a t its disposal, both for its own use and th a t of donors,
periodical statem en ts of stocks of goods stored on its own
warehouses in Sw itzerland, and of inw ard and outw ard figures.
The H ollerith m achines, devised for sta tistic a l and accounting
work, were the very m eans for accom plishing this work. Cards
were punched from the inw ard and outw ard warehouse dockets.
Those cards carried th e following d a ta : description of goods,
112

donors, num ber of packages, weight, origin, date of receipt or

dispatch, consignees, and so forth.
Once made up, th e cards were sorted by warehouse, then
by class of goods and passed through th e ta b u la to rs ; these
totalized entries and su b tracted shipm ents, and showed the
stock of each type of goods in each warehouse, transcribing
sim ultaneously the indications punched in the cards. Thus, a
detailed statem ent of incom ing and outgoing stores to date was
obtained.
The punched cards m ade up on the basis of the outw ard
dockets m ade it possible to draw up statem en ts b y category and
by cam p of all goods consigned w ithin a given period.
The W atson Section also produced special statem en ts showing
the m ovem ent of goods which the B ritish and th e Am erican
Red Cross Societies had placed a t the disposal of the ICRC for
distribution among nationals of other countries.
Besides the punched cards m ade up as described, from the
e ntry and consignm ent dockets, others were m ade up from the
receipts which th e cam p leaders retu rn ed to Geneva. These
cards provided th e T ransit D epartm ents of th e Relief Division
w ith statem ents of goods received by each cam p. Those s ta te
ments, when checked against the statem en ts of consignm ents
from the warehouses, enabled th e T ransit D epartm ents to
verify the safe arrival of the goods.
Copies of these various statem en ts were regularly forw arded
to the N ational Red Cross Societies concerned.
Finally, the W atson Section prepared various statistics
for the Relief Division and sum m arized from 1945 goods
received per year, by cam p and by category.
(C).

Organization of the Watson Section.

The W atson Section was divided into three groups, cor

responding to the three stages of its work.
The first group included th e staff responsible for the pre
paring of the work 1. I t was split up into various subsections,
1 W ith th e ex cep tio n of th e p re p a ra tio n of th e w ork to be done for
th e Relief D ivision. T h a t w as done b y th e R elief D ivision itself.

113

th e co u n terp art of those dep artm en ts of the ICRC which

required the help of the W atson m achines. The sub-sections
drew up th e code to be used for each separate piece of work
and th en w ent on to the actu al p rep aratio n of the work, which
included in p a rticu la r th e inscription of th e figures of the
selected code on th e original docum ents, and th e checking
of the cards when th e y had been punched.
The second group was concerned w ith the punching m achines.
The staff w orking th em saw to the punching of th e cards from
the details in th e docum ents and according to th e instructions
supplied by the sub-section which m ade the preparation.
The th ird group worked th e sorting m achines and tab u lato rs,
as well as th e auxiliary m achines previously m entioned.
In th e course of 1945, a t th e height of its activ ity , the W atson
Section staff com prised betw een 70 and 80 assistants, divided
as follows :
M anaging Staff
1st Group (preparation)
2nd

3rd

N u m b e r of
a s sista n ts

N u m b er of
m achines

3
40 to 50
16

perforators
sorters
tab u lato rs
reproducers
in te rp re te r

10

13
9
4
4

F our m em bers of this staff, including a m echanic, belonged

to th e In te rn atio n a l Business M achines Corporation and were
kindly lent to th e ICRC.
To conclude, a few figures are given below on th e work of th e
W atson Section from 1939 to th e end of 1946 :
N um ber of cards p u n c h e d ..................7,515,073
N um ber of cards reproduced . . . .
1,058,968
T otal of cards m ade u p ....................
8,574,041
N um ber of cards s o r t e d ....................
66,440,399
N um ber of tim es cards passed through the m achines 315,783,076
N um ber of cards passed th rough th e ta b u la to r .
. 24,462,741

114

PART

II

N A TION AL AND SPE C IA L SECTIONS

H aving given an outline of the general operation of the

Central PW Agency, an account in detail will follow concerning
the work of each of th e N ational and Special Sections of which
it was composed. In each of these Sections the principles applied
were the same, b u t the circum stances of the w ar, the charac
teristics of each S tate or of each category of w ar victim s, caused
considerable differences in th eir features, b o th in stru c tu re and
developm ent.
We shall first deal w ith the N ational Sections, in th e order
in which th ey were set up, and which roughly corresponded to
the e n try of belligerents into th e war. We shall th en discuss
the Special Sections.

US

Polish Section

The Polish Section was set up on Septem ber 14, 1939 and was
called upon, th roughout its service, to deal w ith cases th a t
were of great com plexity owing to the vicissitudes of this
co u n try and of its arm ed forces during th e second W orld W ar.
In 1939, the whole area of the national te rrito ry was occupied.
The G erm an G overnm ent in fact held th a t Poland had ceased
to exist as a sovereign S tate, which m ade th e task of the ICRC
extrem ely difficult. A num ber of Poles, however, who were
living abroad or who succeeded in leaving th eir occupied
territo ry , joined the Allied forces and w ithin th eir ranks, or
in units of th eir own, continued the fight against the Axis
Powers, while others carried on th e struggle against the occupy
ing Pow er w ithin Poland itself.
In these circum stances, the work of the Polish Section was
less th a t of an interm ediary betw een the belligerents for tra n s
m itting official inform ation th a n th a t of an inform ation bureau
for individuals and priv ate organizations.
The num ber of
applications relating to m em bers of the forces or civilians,
who b o th during and after the war arrived from all p a rts of the
world, led to the subm ission of a very large num ber of enquiries
to organizations of every kind.
The Polish cam paign began on Septem ber 1, 1939, w ith
the invasion by the G erm an arm ies.
On Septem ber 17, the
Soviet forces in th eir tu rn crossed the frontiers and, on Septem ber
27, the e n try of the Germ ans into W arsaw p u t an end to
m ilitary operations proper.
A very large p a rt of the Polish arm y was cap tu red by
th e G erm an and Soviet forces ; furtherm ore, a considerable
116

num ber of men took refuge in neighbouring countries, where

they were interned.
The Soviet G overnm ent, not being a signatory to th e 1929
PW Convention, forw arded no inform ation on Polish PW
in their hands. A pplications received b y the Section regarding
these men could therefore not be answered. L ater, it seemed
possible for these PW to send messages to th eir relatives, b u t
this exchange of news ap p aren tly ceased after th e spring
of 1940.
The German Official B ureau 1, u n til F eb ru ary 1940, sent in
lists of Polish m em bers of the forces tak en prisoner by th e
German Arm y, b u t a fter th a t date these com m unications ceased,
and the only particulars received b y th e Polish Section consisted
of lists of PW who where in need, which cam p leaders were
authorized to forward.
It was not u n til 1943 th a t the G erm an Official B ureau began
once more to send the Agency lists of Polish PW , b u t these
referred to officers only, as m ost ranks had m eanw hile been
converted into civilian workers and given th a t statu s. F o rt
unately, the Polish Section was still able to un d ertak e enquiries
from the OKW or the G erm an Red Cross in behalf of these
PW and civilian workers.
As regards Polish m em bers of the forces who had tak en
refuge in Septem ber 1939 in neighbouring countries 2, either
individually or by whole units, the N ational Red Cross
Societies furnished th e C entral Agency w ith nom inal lists.
Moreover, these men, anxious about th eir relatives who had
stayed in Poland, had since October sent the Agency messages
and letters from which valuable d a ta were collected on the
w riters them selves. These were filed by th e Section, who then
saw to the tran scrip tio n and forw arding of messages and letters.
This p articular work, which entailed too great a burden, was
taken over in M arch 1940 by the Civilian Message Section.

1 A rm y In fo rm a tio n B u reau for C asualties an d P W of th e G erm an

H igh C om m and, g enerally know n as th e " O K W .
2 E sth o n ia, H u n g a ry , L a tv ia , L ith u a n ia , R u m an ia , S lovakia, Sweden
an d Y ugoslavia.
117

The internees did not as a rule sta y for long in the countries
which had received them ; the m ajo rity soon left in order to
form new units in F rance and in G reat B ritain, which took up
the fight once more against G erm any, alongside B ritish and
French troops.
As a result of the occupation, Poland was cut off from the
rest of the world. Besides th e n a tu ra l wish to receive and to
give news felt by all those who had relatives or friends in th a t
country, m uch a n x iety was aroused by the arrest of num bers
of Polish citizens by the occupying authorities.
In consequence, the Polish Section received a flood of appli
cations, concerning for th e m ost p a rt Jew ish people.
The
Section responded by the despatch of messages, whenever exact
addresses appeared on these applications. W hen these referred
to persons dom iciled in the G erm an zone of occupation, the
messages were tra n sm itte d th rough th e G erm an Red Cross.
I t was soon considered th a t it would entail too great a danger to
th e Jew ish addressees to send these messages, so th e practice
was abandoned. R elations w ith th e R ussian zone were far more
difficult, and there were, a t one tim e, about 100,000 applications
aw aiting despatch for th is zone.
*

D uring th e w inter of 1939-1940, a large proportion of the

Poles interned in other countries had, as alread y m entioned,
reached France, in order to fight th e G erm ans. These men,
together w ith th e Poles who were living in France, form ed
Polish units which, in May and Ju n e 1940, took p a rt in the
engagem ents in France. The Poles c ap tu red during this cam paign
b y th e G erm an forces were considered as F rench PW , and th eir
nam es were sent as such to the C entral Agency by the OKW .
The nam es of Polish m em bers of the forces who died and
were buried in France were subsequently sent to th e Agency
b y th e F rench M inistry for Ex-Servicem en.
The place filled by Polish units in th e b a ttle form ation of
th e French arm ies decided the fate of th e m em bers of those
units who escaped d e a th or captivity. Men who had fought
118

on the right wing of the front took refuge in Sw itzerland, those

on the left wing got over to E ngland, and those in the arm y groups
of the centre m ade th eir w ay tow ards th e South of France.
The Swiss Federal Com m issariat for In te rn m e n t and Accom
m odation sent the Agency lists of Polish internees in Sw itzer
land. The case of these men, who rem ained in th a t co u n try
until 1945, caused no difficulties to the Polish Section.
The men who succeeded in reaching G reat B ritain either
formed new Polish units in th a t country, or were incorporated
in B ritish units, m ainly in the R.A .F. The Polish Section
usually applied to the Polish Red Cross in London for d a ta
enabling it to reply to the m any applications for investigation
and news concerning these men.
The German A uthorities tre a te d m em bers of these units who
fell into their hands as B ritish P W ; th eir nam es therefore
appeared on the lists of P W from countries of th e Common
w ealth which were sent by the Germ an Official B ureau to the
Agency. The case of these men was dealt w ith jointly by the
Polish and the B ritish Sections ; applications and enquiries
devolved on the Polish Section, whilst the B ritish Section
tran sm itted all inform ation received concerning Poles enlisted
in the forces of the Com m onwealth countries, to the London
Official B ureau, together w ith th e d a ta for B ritish PW .
Some of the Poles who had m ade th eir w ay to the free zone in
France, reached Algeria and Morocco by crossing Spain secretly.
Some of them were arrested during th is journey by the Spanish
authorities and interned in the cam p of M iranda de Ebro.
In the South of France and N orth Africa, Polish soldiers who
had retreated there were rounded up in labour cam ps ; the
Section was in to u ch w ith th em through the help of th e Polish
Red Cross in France, which had m eanwhile become th e Society
for Relief to Poles in France ( Groupement d aide aux Polonais
en France).
Many of these men however escaped and joined up w ith
the Polish troops who were fighting w ith th e B ritish forces or
the Free French Forces.
This situation, which developed from the B attle of France,
brought in a flood of applications m ainly from th e Polish Red
119

Cross in W arsaw . Owing to the w andering of Polish soldiers

ab o u t E urope, it was often a m ost difficult m a tte r to deal w ith
these applications.
*

The w ar which broke out in Ju n e 1941 betw een G erm any

and th e Soviet Union had considerable reactions on the Polish
Section. The U.S.S.R. becam e in fact from th a t date a Power
allied w ith Poland.
In these conditions, th e com m anderin-chief of the Polish Forces abroad was able to conclude two
agreem ents, in J u ly and D ecem ber 1941, w ith the Soviet
G overnm ent, one regulating th e liberation of Polish PW and
th eir next of kin in Russia, and the other the form ation in
th a t co u n try of a Polish arm y.
Subsequently, a great p a rt of the troops in this arm y left
the U .S.S.R., accom panied by th eir relatives, and were ordered
to Teheran. They form ed units which were to reinforce the
B ritish A rm y in the Middle E ast. From th en onw ards they
shared th e lot of the B ritish, Dom inion and Am erican troops.
They fought a t T obruk, took p a rt in the offensive of El Alamein,
and, later, in th e landing in Ita ly , where th ey were responsible
for a sector of the front u n til the end of hostilities.
Meanwhile th eir fam ilies had been sent, a few a t a time,,
from T eheran to India, K enya, T anganyika, Rhodesia and
Mexico. In 1944, th e Polish Red Cross a t N airobi sent com
plete lists of these civilians to th e C entral Agency. The Polish
Section acted as interm ediary betw een the troops and their
relatives in the transm ission of a very great num ber of messages.
It also, a t th e request of relatives in Poland, opened num erous
enquiries w ith th e Polish Red Cross in Teheran and Cairo
concerning these men.
The Polish Section was th u s able to deal w ith cases not
only relating to PW and civilian internees, like the other
N ational Sections, b u t also w ith a very great num ber of cases
concerning m em bers of the forces and free civilians who had
been deported or displaced as a result of the war.
W hereas in m ost of th e other N ational Sections alm ost all
enquiries concerned PW or internees, m ade by applicants
1 20

usually living in th eir ordinary place of domicile, in the Polish

Section as m any applications for news cam e from civilians who
had rem ained in Poland as from PW , from m em bers of th e
forces on active service abroad and civilian refugees in m any
countries. This com plicated the Sections task to an appreciable
degree.
The lack of a central official Inform ation B ureau
greatly increased th e difficulties of Poles separated by th e w ar
in tracing their relatives.
*

In 1944 the R ussian offensive against the G erm an forces

took on a far greater extension. Polish troops, consisting of
men who for various reasons had not left th e U .S.S.R. in 1941
with their com rades, took p a rt in th is offensive. These m en
formed the nucleus of the new Polish arm y which grew as the
national te rrito ry was liberated.
At the end of Ju n e 1944, when R ussian forces arrived in the
outskirts of th e Polish capital, whose population a t th a t tim e
num bered 1,300,000, the W arsaw rising broke out, one of the
most tragic episodes of th e war.
A fter desperate fighting
between Poles and Germans, th e insurgents were forced to
capitulate in October 1944. A considerable p a rt of th e popula
tion was killed during these events, and some 20,000 m em bers
of the Polish underground arm y, including num erous women
com batants, were tak en prisoner.
The O K W did not tra n sm it the nam es of these PW to the
Central Agency, b u t in m any cases cam p leaders supplied
lists. Moreover, prisoners them selves w rote to the Agency to
to report them selves and to ask th a t next of kin should be
informed, or search m ade for them ; in most instances, too, th ey
asked for relief.
Meanwhile, the G erm an occupying forces had evacuated the
rem ainder of th e civil population from W arsaw , now entirely
destroyed.
The in h ab ita n ts were gradually reassem bled in
Pruszkow (W arsaw district), whence the able-bodied were
sent to G erm any to work, whilst others, such as children and
old people were scattered throughout Poland. These displace121

placem ents of the population caused a great influx of applications

for news from relatives and friends. Those concerned also sent
th e Central Agency a great num ber of requests from G erm any
for relief supplies. On th e basis of these requests the Polish
Section drew up lists and passed th em on to the D elegation
of th e Polish Red Cross in Geneva, who was th u s enabled
to send foodstuffs through th e interm ediary of th e Relief
D ep artm en t of the ICRC.
In th e au tu m of 1944, postal com m unications w ith Poland
were suspended and the Agency sent messages intended for
th a t co u n try th ro u g h th e interm ediary of the Union of Polish
P a trio ts in Teheran.
In 1945, the Central Com m ittee of th e Polish Red Cross was
definitely reorganized in W arsaw , whilst the Polish Red Cross
in London ceased to bear th is title 1. As th e extensive d a ta in
the possession of the Polish Red Cross in London, including th e
largest existing card-index on Poles abroad, had not been
sent to W arsaw, where th e Red Cross files had been com pletely
destroyed during the rising, the Polish Red Cross in W arsaw
found itself unable to reply to m any applications. A pplicants
therefore tu rn e d to th e C entral Agency, which served to prolong
th e w ork of the Polish Section.
The Agency, which had copies of the docum ents it had
forw arded to the R ed Cross in W arsaw and of the original docu
m ents it had received from them , had copies m ade of these
papers for th a t organization, th u s helping it to once more build
up its records.
*

The ending of hostilities did not, for m any reasons, p u t a

stop to th e work of th e Polish Section. For one thing, a num ber
of Poles were unable to re tu rn hom e, owing to various causes ;
this applied to p a rt of th e ex-prisoners and deportees in Ger
m any, to a large num ber of m em bers of Polish units who had
fought w ith th e Allied forces, and to civilian refugees in various
1 T his S ociety la te r to o k th e n am e of R elief S o ciety for Poles .
T he Cairo b ran c h , how ever, co n tin u ed u n d e r th e n am e of th e P o lish
R ed Cross.
122

countries.
In the second place, the break-dow n of postal
com m unications betw een certain countries, which continued long
after the war, resulted in the large num ber of Poles in those
countries being com pletely cut off, and th e Central Agency alone
was able to help them . I t was, therefore, again to th e Agency
th a t these people applied, in order to resum e or sim ply m ain
tain contact w ith th e ir relatives. In the th ird place, the fact of
captivity in Allied hands or th a t the m ajo rity of Poles recruited
by force to th e Germ an a rm y were missing since th e fighting,
caused a considerable flow of applications to reach th e Agency
after the end of the w ar 1. F urtherm ore, th e Polish Section
was called upon to draw up num erous certificates of c a p tiv ity
and to undertake steps to secure d e a th certificates. Finally, it
still received a large num ber of applications concerning the
disappearance of prisoners and deportees whose fate, it m ust
be feared, will never be known 2.
The m axim um num ber of staff em ployed in th e Section was
twenty-five.
1 Some of th ese m en d eserted to jo in th e A llied forces, an d as rela tiv e s
were in m o st u n aw a re of th is, se arch w as e x tre m e ly difficult.
2 T he P o lish S ection w as fre q u e n tly asked to u n d e rta k e enq u iries
concerning m issing m em bers of th e a rm y fighting w ith th e S oviet
forces ; as th e re w as no m eans of ta k in g ac tio n in th is m a tte r, su ch
req u ests w ere sim p ly forw ard ed to th e P o lish R ed Cross in W arsaw .

123

F rench

S e c tio n 1

The French Section was opened on Septem ber 14, 1939. In

th e histo ry of th e Central Agency, it occupies a particu lar
place, as being the first of the m ajor Sections in point of tim e.
The tre n d of m ilitary operations in May and Ju n e 1940, followed
b y the Franco-G erm an arm istice of Ju n e 22, led to th e greater
p a rt of th e F rench arm y falling into G erm an hands ; w ithin
a few weeks more th a n 1,700,000 men were tak e n prisoner. The
sudden influx of c ap tu re cards and of G erm an official lists
a b ru p tly laid a gigantic ta sk upon the Agency, whose d e p a rt
m ents were th en still ru d im en tary . W ithin the space of six
m onths, from May to N ovem ber 1940, th e staff of the French
Section had to be increased from a mere ten to several hundred
persons.
T hrough stress of circum stances, th e French Section served
in a sense as a testing ground for th e C entral Agency. W orking
m ethods, which conditions led the Section to adopt on a large
scale, were often applied la te r in other Sections of th e Agency.
Up to th e sum m er of 1941, the French Section was e x tre
m ely active. I t was only then th a t it finished the ta sk of
com m unicating and recording on cards the particu lars received
in G eneva as a result of th e B a ttle of France, and th a t it was
able to m ake considerable reductions in staff. B ut m any other
task s had still to be fulfilled, such as the search for the missing
and countless enquiries concerning F rench PW in G erm any.
The operations in which th e Free French Forces under General
de Gaulle were engaged, and th e existence of troops outside the
1

124

See also pp.

208

sqq.

home country, b u t under the orders of the Vichy G overnm ent,

brought in th eir wake fresh work for the French Section.
For the sake of clarity, we shall consider separately th e two
great series of events which m ark the h istory of France during
the second W orld W ar : (i) the cam paign of 1939-1940 and
its consequences ; (2) the constitution of the Free French
forces. These two divisions, covering the period 1939-1944, are
followed by a th ird , dealing w ith (1) the national liberation,
(2) the rep atriatio n of PW and other w ar victim s, and (3) po st
war work.
Following on the establishing, in the sum m er of 1940, of
the French Com m ittee of N ational L iberation by General de
Gaulle in London, and the entrance upon th e scene of the
arm ed forces recruited by th a t Com m ittee, th e French Section
had to deal sim ultaneously w ith two sets of French authorities.
In France itself, th e official G overnm ent d ep artm en ts w ith
which th e French Section had to work, repeatedly changed
their directorate, style and headquarters. M atters concerning
PW were not centralized in a single official B ureau. The Central
Agency forw arded lists of PW to the Service des prisonniers de
guerre in Lyons 1, which was subordinate to th e S ecretary
of State for W ar. D eath notices of PW were sent to the Ser
vice central de l tat civil, des successions et des spultures
militaires in Paris, which was under the Secretary of S tate
for Ex-Service Men. These offices were soon split up by the
dem arcation line which separated the occupation zone. E ach
of these offices had th u s to open a branch in the opposite zone,
and new offices were th u s set up in Paris and C lerm ont-Ferrand.
As regards Free France, official B ureaux were successively
installed in London, then in Algiers, and the French Section
had to keep up constant relations w ith these also.
The foregoing will give a prelim inary idea of the difficulties
encountered by th e Section, u n til the country was liberated.
1 F ro m S ep tem b er 1939 to M ay 1940, th e lists h a d been se n t to th e
M in istry of W a r in P aris ; from Ju n e to A u g u st 1940, to th e S e c re ta ry
of S ta te for W ar in V ichy. F ro m S ep tem b er 1940, th e y w ere s e n t to
th e ab o v e Service in L yons, w hich h ad ju s t been se t u p b y th e V ichy
G overnm ent.
125

One of th e features of th e French Section th roughout th e

w ar was the direct contact it m aintained w ith the next of kin
in France. In Ju n e 1940, circum stances led it a p p a re n tly
for a few weeks only to act as su b stitu te for th e official
B ureaux a n d the French R ed Cross, which were disorganized
by th e rap id succession of events, and to com m unicate direct
to th e F rench next of kin the news received about P W and th e
dead. This practice was never entirely abandoned ; th e Section
continued to correspond as frequently w ith the next of kin as
w ith the G overnm ent d epartm ents.
Thus, the Section was
enabled to act as a h u m an itarian liaison office, independently
of all political considerations.
I.

he

Ca m p a ig n

of

1939-1940

and

it s

consequences

M ilitary events and the capture of P W

D uring th e first eight m onths of th e war, th e num ber of
French co m b atan ts tak e n prisoner was small. The first list
draw n up by th e official Germ an B ureau 1 reached the Section
on October 2, 1939 ; it gave the nam es of eighteen co m b atan ts
ca p tu red on Septem ber 9 during a reconnaissance.
These
particu lars were sent th e sam e day by p h o to sta t to the M inistry
of W ar in Paris 2.
The sm all staff th en working in th e Section knew by h eart
m ost of th e nam es of the P W who had been notified ; th ey
hardly required to refer to the four boxes which then m ade
up th e French card-index. E a rly in May 1940, th e to ta l num
ber of captures and deaths of co m b atan ts notified by the
O.K .W . barely exceeded one thousand, to whom should be added
several hundred civilian internees announced by the Germ an
Foreign Office.
1 " W e h rm a c h ta u s k u n fts te lle fr K rieg e rv e rlu ste an d K riegsgefangene (A rm y In fo rm a tio n B u reau for W ar M issing an d P riso n ers of
W ar) of th e S uprem e A rm y C om m and, a b u rea u fre q u e n tly referred to
u n d e r th e d en o m in atio n " O K W .
2 L ater, lists w ere se n t to th e S ecre tary of S ta te for W a r a t V ichy,
th e n to th e su b o rd in a te Service des prisonnire de guerre, in L yons.
I2

This alm ost com plete calm was suddenly broken on May 10
by the general a tta c k of the G erm an W ehrm acht on th e W estern
front. The French forces had to bear th e b ru n t of this offensive
and its effects. The b reak-through on th e Meuse and the
lightning advance of th e G erm an forces led to th e c ap tu re of
increasing num bers of French troops, whereas th e roads were
thronged w ith civilians try in g to flee before th e invader.
M aterial and m oral chaos spread rap id ly th roughout th e country.
On June 5, a fter several days of calm on th e Somme, th e
German a tta c k was resum ed. Paris fell on Ju n e 14, and on
June 22, France signed a t Compigne th e arm istice convention
with Germ any, by v irtu e of which th e m ajor p a rt of her forces
were tak en prisoner.
In flu x of applications
The effect of these outstanding events on th e French Section
was practically instantaneous. Countless fam ilies were, from
one m om ent to the next, a prey to th e g reatest a n x ie ty about
the fate of near relatives, m ilitary or civilian, w ith whom th ey
had lost a ll'c o n ta c t.
The French G overnm ent offices and
the French Red Cross had neither th e staff nor th e organization
needed to undertake a t an h o u rs notice th e im m ense task,
which events laid upon them . In addition, m ost of th e French
agencies had left Paris and th eir new address was as yet
unknown.
In the circum stances, th e French families, m any of whom still
had memories of the Agency of 1914-1918, were convinced
th a t Geneva would, sooner or later, be in a position to give
them news which would relieve th e ir fears. A flood of lette rs
submerged the Agency during the weeks th a t followed. W hereas
the French Section had received 3,755 letters only betw een
Septem ber 1939 and the end of May 1940, it now had to deal
with 1,047,525 from Ju n e to D ecem ber 1940 ; of this n u m b er
358,146 arrived in A ugust alone. To these figures should be
added 221,284 sta n d a rd enquiry cards, received betw een June
and December 1940. The to ta l incom ing m ail reached 60,000
items cn certain days. H undreds of m ail bags cram m ed w ith
127

lette rs arrived, and the picture of these stacks of m ail will long
be rem em bered.
The A gencys equipm ent was still rudim entary, when it was
suddenly confronted by a task on a scale rarely known to the
Agency of 1914. E ach le tte r had to be read and a corresponding
card m ade out. If th e work was to serve useful purpose, it had
to be done in a relatively short space of tim e. F o rtu n ately ,
a large num ber of v o lu n tary w orkers were available in Geneva ;
th e y num bered 850 in August and Septem ber 19401. The A uxi
liary Sections which had been set up in several Swiss towns,
were called upon to the fullest ex ten t. Twelve of these Sections,
com prising several hundred v o lu n tary workers, laboured a t th a t
tim e alm ost exclusively for the French Section. The paid workers
of the Section num bered 350 a t the beginning of 1941.
From Ju n e 1940 to D ecem ber 31, 1941, m ore th a n 774,000 le t
ters of enquiry were transcribed on to cards. I t was only by
a m inute subdivision of labour th a t such an imm ense task
could be accom plished. The work was com plicated by th e fact
th a t m any of the letters included several enquiries ; besides
th e details needed to identify the missing, m ost of them sup
plied a m ass of additional particulars, which w asted a great deal
of tim e.
To secure the greatest possible speed an d efficiency, the
Agency published and p rin ted large num bers of sta n d a rd
enquiry cards for missing com batants, called " Card 275 .
Its use becam e w idespread th roughout th e w ar in m ost coun
tries. It was also rep rin ted by several d e p artm en tal com m ittees
of the French R ed Cross, and by other associations. From June
1940 to D ecem ber 31, 1941, the French Section received 621,284
of these cards.
Many applicants believed th a t the Agency already possessed
th e lists of French PW in G erm any, and enclosed letters for
these men. Up to the end of 1940, the Section received close on
100,000 letters, which were forw arded to the cam ps in Germ any,
as soon as the lists of PW reached Geneva.
1 T hese 850 v o lu n ta ry w orkers co rrespon d ed to a b o u t 250 persons
d o in g a fu ll-tim e eig h t-h o u r day.
128

Receipt of Neivs
The first d a ta concerning the B attle of F rance received by the
French Section were single item s sent by local branches of the
French, Belgian, D utch and L uxem burg Red Cross Societies, by
various associations, and by p riv ate persons ; th e P W th e m
selves often supplied news also.
These h astily established
documents were as varied in appearance as in shape and size,
and were often difficult to decipher ; th e y gave th e nam es of
PW halted for a few hours in some given place, or who were in
transit camps, or m arching on the roads tow ards Germ any.
The taking of some two million men w ithin a few weeks
set the German m ilitary authorities the difficult ta sk of com
m unicating their nam es to Geneva. Owing to th e vast num ber
of men who had to be registered, it was likely th a t several
m onths would elapse before th e nam es of all F rench P W would
be recorded a t th e Agency. In actu al fact, th e first official
list of French PW connected w ith this cam paign, giving cap
tures m ade on May 15, reached Geneva by Ju n e 6 ; b u t lists
continued to arrive u n til March 1941. On D ecem ber 31, 1940,
the lists received num bered 163,667 pages ; tak in g an average
of eight names per page, these represented over 1,300,000 names.
On March 31, 1941, practically all the nam es of th e 1,700,000
French PW were known.
In the circum stances, the system of sending capture cards
to the Central Agency, which had been launched a short tim e
before on the proposal of th e ICRC, was p u t to its first largescale test and proved itself to be invaluable. These cards,
of which over 900,000 reached the French Section in 1940,
often brought th e nam es of PW several m onths before the
officials lists did so.
Gradually, as th e capture cards, official lists and o ther d a ta
came in, the next of kin were advised direct of the capture,
welfare, num ber and address of th e PW . A pplications were
not awaited, and a separate inform ation service was opened to
handle this considerable piece of work. These com m unications
were made on a p rinted sta n d a rd card, w ith spaces to be
129

filled in. From May 1940 to Ju ly 1941, 911,159 of these cards

were sent out. A t th e la tte r date, th e Agency decided to stop
sending these unsolicited com m unications, and inform ation
was supplied only when th ere was a tally in the index. It
was properly supposed th a t all P W had by th a t tim e been
able to get into touch w ith th eir relatives through the card
which every PW , by v irtu e of the Convention of 1929, is allowed
to send hom e, inform ing his fam ily of his capture.
The unsolicited and direct com m unication of news to rela
tives practised b y th e French Section in 1940, did not dispense
the ICRC from its d u ty of notifying th e co u n try of origin,
i. e. the French au th o rities a t Vichy. To give them im m ediate
inform ation before the arrival of th e G erm an official lists,
th e c ap tu re cards served to m ake up lists of French PW . These
lists were established by the H ollerith Business Machines, which
had ju st been provided. The first lists were handed on Ju n e 29
and J u ly 17, 1940, to the Secretary of S tate for W ar in Vichy
b y representatives of the ICRC. D uring th e au tu m n of 1940,
th e establishing of these lists was stopped. B y th a t tim e, official
nom inal rolls arrived in large num bers from Germ any, and the
French authorities found sufficient d a ta in the p h o to sta ts which
were sent to them .
We have said th a t the French Section received, by March 31,
1941, th e lists of all the P W tak en during th e B attle of France.
B ut lists still continued to arrive a fter th a t date. Prisoners
were con stan tly being transferred from one cam p to another
in G erm any, and these transfers gave rise to fresh lists.
The lists received by th e French Section during the whole
w ar to talled 525,106 pages. The lists forw arded by the O.K.W .
were of a uniform p a tte rn , very detailed and well draw n up,
and co n stitu ted a valuable foundation on which to work.
Interm ediary between the next oj kin and the P W
T hroughout the whole period of cap tiv ity , the Section
served as an in term ed iary in m any m atters, betw een the French
PW and th eir relatives. It did this, despite the fact th a t the
130

Vichy Governm ent had a liaison agency in Berlin, th e so-called

"D iplom atie Service for P W , under A m bassador Scapini. In
view of the large num ber of PW and th e long d uration of the
war, this role of liaison agent entailed a great deal of work for the
French Section. From 1941 on, it was in fact its chief business.
Contact w ith the PW was established through th eir spokes
men. The all-im portant social p a rt which these representatives
played in the cam p, m ade them peculiarly fitted to handle PW
m atters of all kinds : transm ission of news, often of a very
personal n ature, investigations and enquiries about PW ,
and so forth. R egular and useful co ntact was very soon e sta b
lished betw een Geneva and the spokesm en in m ost of the cam ps
in Germany. Since 1941, th ey were even one of th e charac
teristic features of the work of th e French Section. The Section
also made m any enquiries w ith th e cam p com m anders and the
official German Inform ation B ureau. T hrough its central PW
card-index, th e B ureau was able, in particu lar, to locate men
whom the Section had lost sight of (for instance, escaped and
recaptured PW ).
The so-called barbed-w ire complex, which lowered their
morale, led some P W to give up all idea of sending news to
their families, who th en enquired in Geneva about them . In
such cases, the Section sent to the P W s rep resen tativ e a double
enquiry card, th e reply-half of which was either given to the PW ,
who could reassure his next of kin himself, or was used by the
spokesman to send news about him. This was a valuable m eans
of reaching these men and rousing them from th eir ap ath y .
As tim e wore on, steadily increasing quan tities of official
docum ents and papers had to be sent to the cam ps, to be
signed by PW . For this purpose, th e Section opened a separate
service. Close on 156,000 docum ents of all kinds passed through
the Agency during the w ar : powers of atto rn ey , allotm ent
forms, wills, m arriage declarations, bills of sale, liquidation
notices, etc. The docum ents were assem bled b y th e Service
des prisonniers de guerre in Lyons and Paris, and forw arded
once or twice a week to th e French Section, who acknowledged
the receipt of each docum ent. The papers were sorted out
according to cam ps, and dispatched once or tw ice a week in the
131

form of collective consignm ents to the cam p spokesm en, w ith

a covering list and a circular explaining how th ey were to be
signed. A fter signature, the docum ents were sent back by the
PW representative to th e French Section, who in tu rn forw arded
th em to th e F rench agencies concerned.
A m ongst the docum ents th u s tra n sm itte d were m any m arriage
certificates. B y v irtu e of w ar-tim e provisions published by the
French authorities, a PW could sign his own m arriage decla
ratio n s in cam p, before witnesses. The certificates bearing the
signatures of the fiances were sent from France to the French
Section, which forw arded th em to the cam p spokesm en. The
PW signed before witnesses, and the docum ents were retu rn ed
to F rance th rough the Central Agency. The Section kept a
card-index of these docum ents. T hroughout th e war, 2,570
declarations were sent to G erm any, 1,820 of which led to m ar
riages, and were retu rn ed to Geneva bearing the m an s signature.
One of the chief duties of th e French Section, in its role
as an in term ed iary betw een PW cam ps and relatives, was
to forw ard news of sick and wounded PW . G reat care was
paid to these ; lists sent by arm y hospital com m anders,
do cto rs reports, messages from the spokesm en and from fellow
prisoners were given priority. W hen th e illness did not seem
serious, the particu lars sent by th e hospital com m anders were
forw arded b y p h o to sta t to the Service des prisonniers de guerre
in Lyons. If th e news appeared grave, the Section notified the
relatives direct by letter, to prepare them , as far as could be,
for news of possible death.
D etails of deaths were collected in G erm any and forw arded
to th e Agency by the G erm an Red Cross. This inform ation
included th e d e a th certificate proper, established on a form
w ith th e heading of th e ICRC and signed by the doctor who had
certified th e death, and also by a witness, together w ith letters
from chaplains, spokesm en, and fellow prisoners, describing
th e last m om ents of the deceased m an and the burial service.
On the grounds of these d ata, the French Section w rote to the
nex t of kin a letter, which was sent w ith a p h o to sta t of the
d eath certificate to th e central Service de lE tat civil, des
successions et des spultures m ilitaires in Paris ; this agency
132

notified the next of kin th rough the m ayor of th e hom e com m une.
The French Section com m unicated 15,140 death certificates
during the war. At the request, of the Service des prisonniers
de guerre in Lyon, a copy of th e le tte r to th e next of kin
was also sent to them .
Agreements concluded in 1942 betw een th e G erm an and
French authorities allowed PW to be transform ed into
civilian workers. The ICRC had no knowledge of th e w ording of
these agreem ents, and th e Germ an au thorities never supplied
them with lists of these " transform ed PW . The men generally
rem ained in the cam p where th ey had been detained as PW ,
so th a t the spokesm en were able to continue to supply inform
ation and reply to the enquiries which th e Section sent
them .
Search for civilians
Side by side w ith enquiries about co m b atan ts from next
of kin, the Section received, from the sum m er of 1940, a steadily
increasing num ber of applications concerning th e w hereabouts
of civilians. These cam e especially from P W in G erm any.
The num ber of French civilians whom events had driven from
their homes was considerable.
The Section s ta rte d m any
enquiries through th e mairies and the inform ation bureaux
which had been opened for refugees ; b u t th e work was extrem ely
slow on account of th e imm ense num ber of enquiries.
The French Post Office was also faced w ith sim ilar difficulties.
A card-index for th e centralization of all possible d a ta about
the residences of displaced civilians was opened in Lyons.
The post offices issued cards, on which th e refuges w rote th eir
former and present addresses. At th e requst of the Agency, a
duplicate of each card was sent to it by the Post Office. The
Section thus had available a m ost useful m eans of research
which enabled it to answ er a great m any enquiries 1.
W ith references to displaced civilians, m ention should be
made of the m any enquiries m ade about A lsatians and Lorrainers who had tak en refuge in the south of France.
1 As on Dec. 31, 1941, th is ca rd -in d e x com prised o v er one m illion
cards.

133

Search for the missing

Enquiries about m ilitary personnel who were posted missing

in th e course of the B attle of France were one of the principal
activities of the French Section.
V ery soon a fter th a t cam paign, the Section had to s ta rt
enquiries about co m b atan ts whom th eir relations believed to
have been killed in th e fighting in a given area. These inves
tigations were in p a rticu la r u n d ertaken w ith the mairies of the
places near which the fighting had occurred. The Section th u s
secured lists of the graves of co m b atan ts buried in m any ceme
teries in France, Belgium, L uxem burg, the N etherlands and
N orw ay ; these lists included in all 5,681 names. The German
m ilitary au thorities also soon began sending to Geneva lists
of F rench dead whose bodies had been found on the b a ttle
fields during th e advance of the G erm an forces. These p a rti
culars enabled answ ers to be given to m any relatives. A first
step was th u s m ade in th e ta sk of finding the missing.
By the end of 1940, th e French Section realized th a t these
investigations, which were som ew hat haphazard, were inade
quate. A system atic scheme was needed to clear up the num er
ous cases of men who, to all appearances, had not been cap tu red
by the enem y, b u t m ust be considered as missing. The num ber
of applications which it had not yet been possible to answer,
as no particu lars had been received from G erm any, increased
to a striking degree.
These applications had unavoidably
rem ained in abeyance and finally exceeded 40,000probably
th e actu al num ber of missing for the French A rm y in 1940.
It was th en decided to in stitu te a m ethodical questioning on
th e French P W in G erm any about the m em bers of th eir units
who could be looked upon as missing during operations. Since
events were still com paratively recent, it seemed fairly likely
th a t in m any cases valuable evidence would th u s be secured.
Such were the circum stances in which the French Section had
recourse to the so-called regim ental enquiries , which became
one of the m ost original features of the A gencys work in 1941
and 1942. The H ollerith M achines, which had ju st been m ade

134

available, were used to in stitu te these enquiries l. B y this

means, the following lists were established from J a n u a ry 1941 :
(1). Lists of missing in th e B attle of France, classified accord
ing to units. The lists were draw n up on th e grounds of applica
tions received in Geneva, as a result of an appeal by the
ICRC published in th e press and broadcasted.
(2) Lists of 570,000 French prisoners in G erm any, classi
fied according to th eir arm y units.
W ith th e help of th e A uxiliary Sections, th e French Section
then m ade out 570,000 envelopes addressed to these prisoners,
each of which contained :
(a) The list of th e missing in th e u nit to which the addressee
belonged ;
(b) A circular le tte r calling on th e PW to help, by trying
to recall w hat had become of th e missing men nam ed in the
list.
(c) A sheet of w riting paper for the answer, and an envelope
addressed to th e Agency.
These envelopes were sent off to th e cam ps during May 1941.
Answers began to come in very soon in large num bers.
From Ju ly to D ecem ber 1941, no fewer th a n 142,707 were
retu rn ed to the French Section. Some of the answers referred to
several cases, and it was possible to select from am ongst them
170,000 statem en ts which were sufficiently accurate to be of p rac
tical use.
For each missing m an, th e num ber of statem en ts averaged
from one to tw e n ty or th irty . The value of these statem en ts
varied considerably ; some were conclusive as regards facts
and dates, others did not ju stify the draw ing of conclusions,
but supplied d a ta which allowed fu rth er enquiries to be m ade
w ith civil and m ilitary authorities, hospitals, etc. Some of
these testim onies were accom pagnied by sketch plans, which
1

See p.

108

.
135

often showed w ith great accuracy the place where the missing
m an had fallen, or was buried.
Copies of th e sta te m e n ts were m ade for th e next of kin, the
Service central de lEtat-civil m ilitaire in Paris, and the French
Red Cross. All the sta te m e n ts were forw arded by the Section
to these tw o agencies, b u t only those which supplied wholly
reliable evidence were com m unicated to th e relatives. W hen
th e sta te m e n ts were liable to cause needless pain, the Section
w rote a personal letter, which softened the blow as m uch as
possible.
S tudy of th e 170,000 statem en ts forw arded by the Central
Agency enabled the French m ilitary authorities to clear up
th e circum stances in which over 30,000 men were missing 1.
The num ber of the missing being 40,000 as was said, the cases
which it was not possible to clear up were reduced to about
te n thousand.
The regim ental enquiries occupied an average of 60
workers a t the F rench Section for over a year. This task produced
some of th e best results recorded a t th e Agency, and was one
of the m ost interesting.
In d ependently of the regim ental enquiries proper, the
French Section s ta rte d o ther enquiries, to ascertain the facts
about missing service-men. This was the case in p articu lar
a fte r th e battles of D unkirk and N arvik. The enquiries were
carried out in liaison w ith the B ritish and Norwegian Red
Cross Societies.
*

D uring the whole period (June 1940 - N ovem ber 1942) in

which F rance was cut by the dem arcation line, which was the
b oundary of the occupation zone, th e Agency itself sorted th e
m ail according to zones, w ith a view to accelerating the postal
service to France. The forw arding of letters was done through
different channels, according to each zone. As regards the
1 In 23,000 of th ese cases, th e w ording of th e s ta te m e n ts en ab led th e
fac ts to be clarified ; in a b o u t 7,000 cases fu rth e r search ca rrie d o u t b y
th e F re n c h a u th o ritie s on th e se grounds enab led conclusive evidence
to be g ath ered .
136

D epartm ents crossed by the dem arcationlin e, directories indi

cated to which zone specific places belonged. Any error in
forw arding entailed long delays in delivery, as the m ail from
abroad was not sent from one zone to an o th er in case of m istake,
b u t retu rn ed to the sender.

II.

rom

to

the

the

attle

l l ie d

of

rance

l a n d in g

in

in

1940

1944

The creation of th e Free French C om m ittee in London in

Ju n e 1940, following on th e call m ade by General de Gaulle,
and th e enlistm ent of Free French Forces, were soon to place
th e French Section before a new situation. There were hence
fo rth two French G overnm ents, one in Vichy, and an o th er in
London ; although in opposition, th ey had, or m ight have
French nationals held prisoner in th e same detaining S tate :
G erm any.
In th e course of 1941, th e work of th e French Section, in
connection w ith the B attle of F rance was gradually wound up,
and for reasons of convenience, it was decided to assem ble in
a new card-index th e d a ta and applications relating to all th e
operations where French forces were engaged a fter th e arm istice
of Ju n e 1940.
Enquiries for Seamen
As a result of th e signature of the Franco-G erm an arm istice,
warships of the French N avy were interned in G reat B ritain
and in A lexandria (Egypt). Likewise, a certain num ber of
ships of the French m erchant m arine were interned by Great
B ritain, or took refuge in neu tral ports. The relatives of m any
sailors of these ships applied to the Agency for news ; b u t the
applications which reached the French Section dit not, of course,
m ention the places where th e vessels were interned.
W ith a view to assem bling all th e d a ta concerning the N avy,
the m erchant m arine and th eir crews, a separate card-index
was opened in the French Section. By enquiries m ade of Allied

137

or n eu tral authorities, and of the C om m ittees delegations abroad,

an d by various m ethods of counterchecking, the Section was able
to collect d a ta concerning 1,500 F rench ships. M ention should
also by m ade of th e volum inous correspondence betw een the
Section and the M aritim e Prefectures of Toulon and B rest.
Syrian Campaign
In Ju n e and J u ly 1941, the cam paign in Syria saw French
forces engaged on b o th sides. M ilitary personnel belonging to
th e units which had been sent out by th e Vichy G overnm ent
were c ap tu red by th e B ritish forces, who did not forw ard their
nam es to th e Agency. These men, w ith very few exceptions,
were not considered as prisoners of w ar ; as soon as th ey were
taken, th e y asked to enlist in the French units which were being
b u ilt up in th e Middle E ast and in G reat B ritain. Moreover, as
th e B ritish au th o rities in th e Middle E a st an d the French
representatives in Cairo avoided giving a n y precise answers to
th e enquiries which th e y received about these men, the French
Section in tu rn was practically unable to supply inform ation to
applicants. M any applications cam e from the D irectorate
of the L evant Forces a t Arles, w ith which th e French Section
k ep t up a large correspondence.
The Battle of Bir-H acheim
I t was a t the b a ttle of B ir-H acheim on Ju n e 11, 1942, th a t
French forces under French com m and were first engaged in
operations in N orth Africa. As a result of urgent steps by the
ICRC, th e Ita lia n s tre a te d the French soldiers tak en a t this
b a ttle as PW and not as francs-tireurs . The men were
first of all assem bled a t T obruk, and then conveyed to Italy .
The ship carrying them , the N ino B ixio, was torpedoed off the
G reek coast ; although she did not sink, m any PW , including
num erous French, were drow ned while a tte m p tin g to swim
to shore. No detailed list had been draw n up when the men
em barked, and th e nam es of the survivors were not carefully
noted when th ey landed ; the French Section was therefore a t a

loss to supply inform ation on th e missing. L ater, however,

it succeeded in m aking co ntact w ith the leader of the French
P W on board th e vessel ; when this m an escaped from Ita ly to
Sw itzerland in Septem ber 1943, he was able to furnish the
Agency w ith th e nam es of m ost of the missing, th u s enabling
news to be sent to relatives who lived in u n c e rtain ty for over a
year. This is a good illu stratio n of the value, under certain
conditions, of th e evidence of a qualified w itness in the work of
searching for the missing.
D espite rep eated steps by the ICRC, the Ita lia n authorities
did not of th eir own accord com m unicate to the Agency the
nam es of Free F rench PW whom th ey held. Individual enqui
ries had to be m ade, to which the answers were long in reaching
Geneva.
L anding in North Africa and Italian Cam paign
The Anglo-Am erican landing in N orth Africa, which led
to these territo ries joining th e French M ovement of N ational
L iberation, involved a great increase of w ork for th e French
Section. The staff, which had been reduced to 50 a fter the
work relating to th e B attle of France had been finished, had
to be increased to 80 assistants.
As a result of th e landing, N orth Africa, which has a large
F rench population, was entirely cut off from th e home country.
The French A frican colonies had m eanw hile also joined General
de Gaulle, and the French Section had to serve as an in te r
m ediary in various fields betw een the home co u n try and th e
French territories in Africa.
The Section u n dertook m any
enquiries in liaison w ith th e French Red Cross in France, and in
various p a rts of the French E m pire in Africa.
One of th e consequences of this com plete severance of rela
tions was th a t the General Staff of th e new French A rm y in
Africa sent to the Agency inform ation about m em bers of th a t
A rm y who had been killed in action h On the basis of inform
ation th u s received, th e French Section prepared letters for
1 F o r reasons of secu rity , th e places of d e a th a n d b u ria l were n o t given
on th ese docum ents.

139

th e next of kin in France. These letters were forw arded to the

F rench Red Cross in Paris, which sent them to th e adresses
in a tac tfu l m anner, th ro u g h its d e p artm en tal com m ittees and
local branches. This work lasted thro u g h o u t the Ita lia n cam
paign, and its volum e increased as fu rth e r F rench units joined
the Allied forces.
Political Deportees
D uring these m ilitary events, num bers of French citizens
were deported by th e au th o rities of occupation, and the appli
cations about th em becam e increasingly pressing. A separate
Service was set up to deal w ith these cases. Since th e German
au th o rities supplied no p articulars about these deportees,
th e Section approached the Germ an Red Cross w ith individual
enquiries about them . This Society had sta te d its readiness to
receive such applications and tra n sm it them to th e German
police. The G erm an au th o rities never supplied Geneva w ith
a n y nam es, so th a t th e endeavours of th e French Section,
whose staff had been tem porarily increased to 115, proved
fruitless.
H ow ever, th e ICRC succeeded in sending individual relief
parcels to deportees whose addresses were known. The receipts
often bore, in addition to th e signature of the addressees,
those of o ther detainees, who had seized this o p p o rtu n ity to
m ake known th eir w hereabouts.
The French Section was
th u s able to established lists, which it afterw ards sent to th e
M inistry for Ex-Servicem en and W ar Victims in Paris.
C ivilian Workers
By v irtu e of the agreem ents concluded betw een the German
G overnm ent and the French au thorities of Vichy, French
citizens were enlisted in France and sent to G erm any as civilian
workers. A lthough an official agency (the Commissaviat gnral
d action sociale pour les Franais travaillant en Allemagne)
was set up to handle all m atte rs connected w ith this class of
persons, a large num ber of civilian workers applied to Geneva
w ith questions of all kinds. Their relatives likewise sent m any
140

enquiries to the Agency. Since G erm any had no cen tral cardindex on civilian w orkers, the investigations un d ertak en by
th e French Section as a result of these applications were diffi
cult, and often unavailing.
The nam es and addresses of civilian w orkers m ight obviously
have been tak e n m ethodically from th e q u antities of Civilian
Messages which passed th rough th e Agency on th eir w ay from
th e w orkers to th eir next of kin. B ut this considerable task
would have seriously delayed the forw arding of th e messages.
The Section therefore enclosed w ith th e messages a card of
sta n d a rd size, which could be filled up by th e addressees and
retu rn ed to Geneva, th u s giving the F rench Section, w ithout
loss of tim e, the nam e and addresses of th e workers concerned.
I II .

rom

the

l l ie d

TO T H E R E L E A S E O F T H E

l a n d in g

PW

in

rance

AND DEPO RTEES

Liberation of French territory

The Allied landings in the sum m er of 1944 and the opening
of a front in France led to th e stoppage of all direct postal
relations betw een th e liberated French areas and the PW cam ps
in Germ any. The F rench Section th u s received large num bers
of messages addressed to PW . At the sam e tim e, th e cam p
spokesm en sent to Geneva letters addressed to th e relatives, or
lists of families, from whom th e prisoners were anxious to hear.
In Septem ber 1944, as soon as the Allied forces had reached
the Swiss frontier, th e Central Agency took steps to have m ail
for French PW sent th rough Swiss te rrito ry . A pplication was
m ade in Lyons to the D irectorate of PW and th e French Post
Office, and in Berne to th e Swiss Post Office. Following on
these ngociations, the direct exchange of m ail was established
anew, and thousands of m ail-bags passed through Sw itzerland.
The French Section was th u s relieved of an exacting task, which
its reduced staff could not have carried out w ithin a reasonable
space of tim e.
In connection w ith the operations of th e French Forces for
the liberation of France (First French A rm y and French
141

Forces of the Interior), th e G erm an authorities, despite urgent

representations by th e ICRC, supplied only occasional and
frag m en tary inform ation about th e cap tu re of French com
b a ta n ts. As a m a tte r of fact, these captures were com paratively
few, since th e French forces generally possessed the initiativ e
in these operations.
Repatriation of Deportees and P W
W hilst the Allied forces liberated French territo ry , the
delegates of th e ICRC in G erm any succeeded in entering cer
ta in concentration cam ps and organized, w ith Red Cross trucks,
th e rep a tria tio n of deportees through Swiss territo ry .
On
A pril 9, 1945, th e first convoy of French deportees, com prising
300 women, arrived a t K reuzlingen from the cam p a t Ravensbriick. Their nam es were tak en on the spot by th e Agency and
sent to th eir families.
L ater, th e F rench Section used the wireless to announce the .
nam es of PW and deportees who were rep a tria te d through
Sw itzerland. It arranged for these persons to fill out notifi
cation cards during the journey, and the nam es were read the
same d ay over th e wireless.
W hen deaths occurred during rep a tria tio n , th e French Section
was notified an d a t once advised th e next of kin. In m any cases,
the relatives were notified in tim e and were able to be a t the
bedside of the dying.
The liberation of French deportees and P W by th e Allied
forces p u t an end to the work of th e French Section, as far as
these people were concerned, b u t brought into relief th e cases
of all those who were missing. The French Section th u s continued
to receive m any requests for investigation.
A large p a rt of these applications were sent to the French
and Allied agencies, who were able to deal w ith them through
th e ir investigation comm issions in G erm any 1. In m any cases,
1 In p a rtic u la r, th e M in istry of E x-S ervicem en an d W a r V ictim s,
th e F re n ch R ed Cross, th e In te rn a tio n a l C om m ittee of C atholic C h a p
lain s, a n d th e A ssociations of P riso n ers an d D eportees.
142

however, th e records of the French Section supplied th e d a ta

for a reply, which th e Section forw arded itself, th u s entailing
fu rth e r secretarial work, well beyong th e conclusion of the war.
A lsatians and Lorrainers
A lthough th e F rench Section had practically com pleted its
ta sk as regards the F rench in G erm an hands, it continued to
register and to handle enquiries and inform ation relative to the
A lsatians and Lorrainers who had been forcibly enlisted in the
W ehrm acht. A lready during th e war, it had dealt w ith cases
relating to A lsatians and L orrainers, and it therefore continued,
on the basis of (documents received from th e D etaining States,
to establish lists, which were sent to th e M inistry of Ex-Service
men and W ar Victim s in Paris.

143

B r itis h S e c t io n

Before surveying th e work of th e B ritish Section and its

evolution some features of a general n a tu re m ay be noted.
The B ritish Com m onwealth com prised G reat B ritain, the
D om inions and India, all S tates p a rty to the G eneva Convention,
and each having its own official Inform ation B ureau. In addition
it covered a num ber of territo ries and colonies throughout
the world. The m any S tates w ith which the Agency had to
m aintain direct contact entailed a certain com plexity in the
s tru c tu re of th e B ritish Section.
The fact, however, th a t G reat B ritain and th e Dom inions
were not occupied by th e enem y allowed a great degree of
co n tin u ity in th eir relations w ith the Agency. M oreover, the
close and confident association which the official B ureaux and
th e N ational Red Cross Societies of the Com m onwealth a t all
tim es m aintained w ith Geneva, eased th e task of the B ritish
Section to a very considerable degree.
F u rth e r, the rem oteness of m any of these countries and th e
slowness, or severing of postal com m unications often forced
the Section to send the inform ation received by telegraph.
This procedure, which was an innovation in the Central Agency,
form ed one of the special features of th e Section.
The B ritish Section was set up on Septem ber 14, 1939, to
handle cases concerning B ritish subjects in all p a rts of the
Com m onwealth. For th e sake of clearness in the following
account of events which influenced the developm ent of the
Section, we m ust distinguish betw een the E uropean and African
zones of operation on th e one hand, and th a t of the F ar E ast
on the other.
144

uropean

and

fr ic a n

Zones

of

O p e r a t io n

D uring the first phase of the existence of th e B ritish Section,

th a t is to say, from its form ation u n til the B a ttle of F rance in
1940, it rem ained only a small d ep artm en t. The E x p ed itio n ary
Force had not been in action during this period, therefore the
num ber of P W airm en and seam en - was v ery small. On
the eve of th e Germ an offensive, this num ber am ounted only
to some few hundred. Inform ation received from the G erm an
Official B ureau in Berlin 1 was a t th a t tim e passed on exclu
sively by p h o to sta t and ordinary m ail to th e official bureau
in London, the Prisoners of W ar Inform ation B ureau, a branch
of the W ar Office.
The real work of the Section began w ith th e operations in
N orw ay and the B attle of France in 1940. W ith th e invasion
of France, direct postal com m unication betw een G eneva and
E ngland was severed : after th a t tim e, on th e in itiativ e of the
Section inform ation was telegraphed to th e B ureau in London,
th e first of these telegram s being despatched on Ju n e 18.
D uring th e sum m er and au tu m n of 1940, th e B attle of France
caused a considerable flow of inform ation to the B ritish Section,
chiefly in connection w ith events a t Saint Valery-en-Caux,
(capture of a Scottish Division) and D unkirk. The Section was
therefore forced to increase its strength, which grew from one
or tw o to more th an tw e n ty by the end of 1940.
W ith th e e n try of Ita ly into the war and the ensuing A frican
cam paign (with its m any fluctuations) a new factor intervened
th e engagem ent of troops from countries of the Dom inions,
In d ia and the Colonies. To th e G erm an Official B ureau was
henceforth added an o th er source of inform ation, th e Ufficio
Prigionieri di G uerra a t Rome, th e official Inform ation
B ureau established by the Ita lia n Red Cross.

1 ' ' W e h rm a c h ta u sk u n ftste lle fiir K rieg erv erlu ste u n d K riegsgefangene (A rm y In fo rm a tio n Office fo r C asualties an d PW ) of th e O berk o m m an d o d e r W e rh m a c h t (A rm y H ig h C om m and) referred to in
th is re p o rt as O K W .
II.

10

145

In anticipation of fu tu re operations, the delegation of the

ICRC in Cairo arranged w ith the B ritish m ilitary authorities
of the Middle E a st, during th e sum m er of 1940, th a t it should
have direct inform ation regarding Ita lia n prisoners, for tra n s
mission b y cable to the Agency.
In com pensation, th e ICRC obtained from the Ita lia n a u th o
rities th a t th e y should send notification by telegram of captures
and deaths of B ritish m ilitary personnel in the A frican th e a tre
of war. A t th e request of its delegation in Cairo, and in order
to enable the la tte r to notify the m ilitary authorities of the
Middle E ast, th is inform ation was thenceforw ard tra n sm itte d
by telegraph sim ultaneously to th e D elegation and to the
Official B ureau in London. The first of these telegram s to
Cairo was sent on A ugust 21, 1940.
As a result of negotiations w ith th e official B ureaux of the
various Dom inions during 1941, it was decided th a t the C entral
Agency should cable direct to the B ureaux th e inform ation
it received concerning th e nationals of these countries.
This decision was th e beginning of an intensive flow of infor
m ation betw een th e B ritish Section and the following . official
B ureaux (the date of th e despatch of the first cable is given
in brackets) :
C anada :
A ustralia :

D ep artm en t of E x tern al
Affairs, O ttaw a

(July 2, 1941)

PW Inform ation
M elbourne

(Sept. 1, 1941)

B ureau,

New Zealand : Prim e M inister, Missing PW

E n q u iry Office, W ellington
South Africa : South A frican Red Cross,
Johannesburg
In d ia :

A d ju tan t General Branches,

Delhi

(Sept. 10, 1941)

(Oct. 9, 1941)
(Nov. 10, 1941)

Subsequently, telegram s addressed to some of these d e p a rt

m ents were sent, a t th eir request, to th e ir liaison office in
London, which ensured th eir being forw arded. The technical
146

problem s raised in th e distribution of this inform ation will be

exam ined below.
D uring 1941, th e cam paign in Cyrenaica continued, th e
in itiativ e passing in tu rn from one side to th e other, and the
Ita lia n E a st A frican cam paign was coming to a close. The
o u tstanding event of th e year was, however, th e B ritish cam
paign in Greece, which had its fateful ending on the em b ark a
tion beaches of K a la m a ta and in th e m ountains of Crete. The
Section a t th a t tim e received a great am ount of inform ation.
The delegate of th e ICRC in A thens m eanw hile took the
in itiativ e in obtaining from th e Greek Red Cross a list of the
B ritish PW in th e tra n sit cam p a t Corinth, where the m ajority
h ad been assem bled before th eir d e p artu re for G erm any. This
w ork was la te r to prove invaluable, for the official G erm an lists
only arrived a t the Agency a fter a long delay. In addition, the
delegation of the ICRC in Greece itself succeeded in collecting
a great deal of inform ation regarding B ritish P W in Greece and
sent this to Geneva, th u s lightening th e work of th e Section.
In 1942, th e L ibyan cam paign followed its course of alte rn a te
advance and retrea t. The m ost significant event in its bearing
on th e B ritish Section was the m ajor offensive of th e Axis
forces against E g y p t in Ju n e, in th e course of which m any
units were captured. In spite of th e im p o rta n t p a rt tak en
by the Africa Corps in th is cam paign, these PW were tak en
in charge by th e Italians, and late r tran sferred to Ita ly . In
accordance w ith the arrangem ents m entioned above, their
nam es were telegraphed by th e " Ufficio Prigionieri during
th e sum m er and au tu m n of 1942. This flow of inform ation
co n trib u ted greatly to the developm ent of th e B ritish Section
into one of considerable im portance ; a t th e end of 1942, its
stre n g th had already increased to close on 100 persons.
B y reason of the m ilitary operations in Africa, and in con
sequence of circum stances described below, the B ritish Section
from the end of 1941 u n til Septem ber 1943, when Ita ly capi
tu la te d , was prim arily concerned w ith the problem of its
relations w ith the Ita lia n authorities.
A lthough the telegraphic notification of cap tu re by the
Ita lia n Official B ureau did as a rule operate norm ally, th e
147

notice of tran sfers to perm anent cam ps was m ost unsatisfactory.

This was due to the notorious inadequacy of the inform ation
given by the Ita lia n m ilitary authorities to th e B ureau, in
spite of the praisew orthy efforts it m ade. In a great num ber
of cases, it was only a fter considerable delay or insistent
requests th a t th e B ritish Section was inform ed of the p ri
soners perm anent cam ps.
D uring th e whole period, the frequent omissions in notifying
d eaths and the delay in the receipt of hospital retu rn s were
likewise th e cause of considerable difficulties to the Section.
These difficulties were all the more appreciable, since prisoners
in Ita lia n cam ps were, u n til A pril 1943, unable to send capture
cards. I t is tru e th a t from th is date th e Ita lia n authorities
introduced a system of cards called initial cap tu re cards ,
These were a t once established in trip licate ; one copy was sent
by post to th e m an s relatives, the second to the Agency and
the th ird kept by the Ufficio.
This in teresting innovation u n fo rtu n a te ly came too late
to be of any real value.
A lthough the Allied landing in N orth Africa in Novem ber
1942 had no im m ediate effect on th e B ritish Section, th e event
was, nevertheless, of im portance in the reactions which it
was to bring ab out. From this date onwards, in fact, the Allies
were to keep the in itiativ e in Africa.
H enceforth, the Axis forces no longer cap tu red large num bers
of B ritish troops. In fact, it has been confirm ed th a t alm ost
th ree-q u arters of those killed, missing or tak en prisoner, and
whose cases were investigated by the Section, were connected
w ith operations before this date.
The fall of th e Fascist regime and the arm istice signed by
the Ita lia n G overnm ent during the sum m er of 1943 had im por
ta n t repercussions on the B ritish Section.
As a consequence of these events, the G erm an G overnm ent
sought to seize the B ritish P W in Ita lia n cam ps w ith all speed.
The relative slowness of the Allied advance during the autum n
of 1943, m ade it possible to c a rry out this plan and the m ajo rity
of these PW , m any a fter only a brief spell of liberty, fell into
G erm an hands. A certain num ber, however, were able to reach
148

th e Allied lines, whilst ab o u t 6,000 succeeded in crossing

into Sw itzerland, where th ey were interned.
In these conditions, Ita ly ceased to exist as a D etaining
Power, and from th is tim e th e Ufficio dealt only w ith occasional
cases relating to Allied PW .
The first step of th e G erm an au thorities was to tran sfer all
recap tu red PW to G erm any.
This tran sfer created special
difficulties for th e B ritish Section w ith regard to PW mail.
Inform ation relating to the new cam ps only cam e th rough
to the C entral Agency by degrees and often a fter long delay.
This fact gave rise to an accum ulation of correspondence a t
the Agency itself, and a t th e Swiss and B ritish post offices.
On account of this general situation, th e B ritish Section on
Septem ber 10, 1943, decided to hold up all m ail intended for
Ita ly , and to file th e letters w hilst aw aiting p a rticu la rs which
w ould enable th em to be forw arded.
The postal au th o rities in London and Sw itzerland, a fter
consulting Geneva, sent to th e C entral Agency all correspond
ence addressed to prisoners in th e form er Ita lia n cam ps, and
th is was also filed to aw ait fu rth e r particulars.
D uring the following m onths, the Section, acting on infor
m ation received from G erm any, re-addressed lette rs and
cards and sent them on th eir w ay ; m ore th a n 800,000 were
th u s dispatched. The whole staff of the Section were a t tim es
pressed into service to com plete this ta sk ; th e A uxiliary
Sections and a num ber of B ritish subjects interned in Sw it
zerland also lent th eir aid.
Besides th is work, the B ritish Section by careful checking
helped in the re-addressing of m ore th a n 150,000 parcels,
held up a t the post office in Basle, which were intended for the
m en who had previously been in PW cam ps in Italy .
No o u tstanding event in connection w ith th e E uropean
zone of operations was of significance in the work of the B ritish
Section a t th e end of 1943 and during th e first m onths of 1944.
The situ atio n brought about by the tran sfer of prisoners from
Ita ly to G erm any righted itself by degrees, w ith the receipt of
inform ation giving th e m ens addresses in th e new cam ps. The
149

c ap tu re cards sent by the prisoners, and the rem ark ab ly wellprepared lists draw n up by cam p leaders in m ost of the cam ps,
co n trib u ted to a large e x te n t to th is re tu rn to the norm al
routine. These docum ents form ed a t this tim e one of th e m ain
sources of inform ation for th e Section, and were all the more
a p preciated because, in th e circum stances, the official G erm an
inform ation was often subject to long delay.
Reference should be m ade here to th e air operations, which
were of p rim ary im portance in the conduct of th e w ar by
the Com m onw ealth a n d the U nited S tates, and for th a t reason,
had w idespread repercussions on the B ritish Section. In contrast
to the course of land operations, B ritish a ir w arfare against
G erm any gained im portance and developed steadily since 1942.
In form ation regarding B ritish airm en, who had fallen, either
dead or as PW , into enem y hands was regularly received.
On th e basis of reciprocity, which was adhered to by the
B ritish authorities, th e G erm an official B ureau telegraphed
th e nam es of these airm en th ro u g h o u t th e war, as it did in the
case of P W who died in cap tiv ity . These telegram s were a t
once forw arded b y th e B ritish Section, a n d th is procedure
ensured a p rio rity transm ission for th e initial notifications
regarding airm en. In favourable conditions, th e official B ureaux
of th e Com m onw ealth were th u s able to receive inform ation
in less th a n a week.
The last phase of a c tiv ity of th e B ritish Section in relation
to th e E uropean zone of operations began w ith th e Allied
landing in F rance of Ju n e 1944.
A lthough, as strateg y , it
was to introduce events so great and so decisive, the landing
had little or no direct effect on the w ork of the Section.
The Allied arm ies, who continued to hold th e initiativ e, were
no longer subject to great losses by casualties or prisoners.
It was in o th er fields th a t the effects on th e B ritish Section
of th is last phase of th e w ar in E urope were a p p a re n t, and
chiefly in th a t of postal com m unications.
In th e first place, all postal traffic wras suspended on the
eve of m ajor offensives as a security m easure. In the second,
th e tra n sp o rt of m ail becam e precarious, or was even quite
150

often suspended by th e destruction done to buildings, railw ays,

bridges, etc. In addition, th e advance of th e Allied arm ies from
E ast an d W est tow ards th e heart of G erm any had th e conse
quence of a general and often disorganized w ithdraw al of
Allied P W cam ps tow ards the Central and S outhern regions of
th e country. On this account, an increasing num ber of cam ps
were no longer w ithin reach, and correspondence addressed
to th em had to he held a t Geneva.
The B ritish Section, owing to these circum stances, only received
delayed and often co n trad icto ry inform ation on the location of
th e cam ps, and its work th u s becam e extrem ely com plicated.
At this tim e the correspondence w ith the cam ps was th e chief
concern of the Section, as com m unication w ith th e G erm an offi
cial B ureau becam e more and more precarious. I t should, how
ever, be noted th a t this B ureau did its utm o st u n til the end to
send inform ation relating to captures, deaths and transfers.
D uring th e period of operations im m ediately preceding
th e capitulation of th e G erm an forces, the B ritish Section, in
spite of the suspension of th e postal service betw een Sw itzer
land and G erm any, m ade every a tte m p t to keep in contact
w ith the PW , in an effort to send th eir m ail a t all costs and to
get from them news for th eir relatives. I t was able to do so
only by m aking use of th e block tra in s and fleets of m otor
tru ck s organized by the ICRC itself for conveying food supplies
to th e camps.
The release and rep a tria tio n of th e PW , which began w ith
th e advance of th e Allied arm ies, continued, and was soon
com pleted a fter th e end of hostilities. Thus, th e sudden ending
of a situ atio n which had been so alarm ing for these m en only
a short while before, coupled w ith the fact th a t th e B ritish
Section, unlike other departm ents, was not called upon to deal
w ith post-w ar problem s, explains w hy its activities decreased
so rapidly after th e cessation of hostilities.

151

ar

ast

heatre

of

ar

The sudden e n try of J a p a n into the w ar on Decem ber 7, 1941,

soon confronted the B ritish Section w ith new problems. D uring
the first m onths of war in th e F a r E ast, the initial and local
superiority of the Japanese forces brought about a series of
reverses for th e Allies. Two of these had considerable reper
cussions on th e Section : th e surrender of Hong-K ong on
D ecem ber 26, 1941, and th a t of Singapore on F ebruary 15,
1942. It was during these two operations th a t the greater p a rt
of the men were c ap tu red who were to be th e concern of th e
F a r E a st Service, set up by the B ritish Section to deal w ith
all cases relating io th e w ar in the F a r E ast. The situation
soon becam e stabilized, and by th e sum m er of 1942 the Allies
regained the initiative, which th ey were to keep u n til J a p a n
cap itu lated on A ugust 10, 1945.
The e n try of J a p a n into the w ar m eant for th e B ritish Section
dealings w ith yet a th ird official B ureau : the H uryojohokioku or P risoners Inform ation B ureau of the Japanese
M inistry for W ar. The first com m unication was received on
F eb ru ary 17, 1942. I t is tru e th a t the Section had already
received some inform ation from th e Japanese Red Cross, as
well as from th e Swiss L egation and th e delegation of th e ICRC
a t Tokyo.
Owing to th e difficulty in com m unicating w ith J a p a n during
th e war, th e wireless telegraph was from the outset the only
m eans of com m unication used by the official B ureau of th a t
co u n try for tra n sm ittin g inform ation on PW .
The transm ission of telegram s received from the B ureau,
whilst fairly regular, was slow, and a t the end of hostilities a
considerable num ber of prisoners and of deaths in the cam ps
had not yet been notified. Moreover, it was only th rough the
notification of th eir tran sfer to other cam ps th a t the capture
of a great num ber of PW came to the knowledge of the Section.
A p a rticu larly anxious problem was th a t of PW whose
co u n try of origin was India. They were for the m ost p a rt
Sikhs and G urkhas, who have always form ed a large proportion
of the troops recruited in In d ia by Great B ritain. The Japanese
152

authorities did not ra te these men as enemies because, in their

view, th e y belonged to the comm on sphere of in terest of
G reater E a st Asia , and therefore in no way considered th e m
selves bound to list and notify them . These men, therefore,
had to be tre a te d as missing, and the B ritish Section, m uch
against its will, found it therefore impossible to tak e action
on th e long lists of applications coming in from India.
The E uropean and A frican th ea tre s of w ar raised a certain
num ber of problem s which, although aw kw ard, were welldefined, and ra th e r of a technical n atu re, whereas the F a r E ast
never ceased to con stitu te a problem in itself for th e B ritish
Section. This sta te of affairs m ay be explained by th e peculiar
views of A siatic peoples concerning th e hum an being and
c a p tiv ity in w ar 1. This point of view leads th em to accord
little im portance to the individual, and hence to often disregard
th e rights of th e prisoner : th ey are equally little concerned w ith
th e personal rights of men of th eir own race. Moreover, if
one considers th e disgrace a tta ch e d in the m ind of a Japanese
to th e idea of surrender to the enem y, the deplorable situ atio n
of Allied prisoners in Japanese hands m ay be understood, as
m ay th e lack of inform ation received concerning them , the
poor result of enquiries to Japanese bureaux, and the isolation
of these men from th eir relatives.
This serious situ atio n was aggravated by the fact th a t the
ICRC could have no personal co ntact w ith its delegates in the
F a r E ast, and by th e refusal of th e Japanese M ilitary A uthor
ities to allow delegates to com m unicate w ith the PW represent
atives in the camps.
I t will be understood, therefore, w ith w hat relief a proposal
of the Japanese G overnm ent in 1944 was received : this was
for th e exchange of messages th rough the Central Agency,
betw een PW and civilian internees in Japanese hands and their
relatives, by m eans of one telegram a year for each person
concerned 2. U nfortunately, the system did not work satis
factorily except in the direction from next of kin to PW ;
1 See Vol. I, Conflict in th e F a r E a s t ,
2 F o r fu rth e r d etails see p. 61.
153

in th e other direction, which was of th e greater interest, only

a couple of th o u san d messages were received from J a p a n and
forw arded to th e relatives concerned.
D uring th e w ar in th e F a r E ast, th e large num ber of civilian
internees in J a p a n , China and o th er areas under Japanese
adm in istratio n held an im p o rta n t place in th e concern and
a c tiv ity of th e F a r E a st Service of th e B ritish Section. In
addition to th e cabled lists received from the Japanese B ureaux
in regard to them , th is Service h ad to deal w ith m any Civilian
Messages, which passed th ro u g h Geneva and which were the
only link of com m unication betw een th e internees and their
relatives, since these were not able to use the PW mail. These
messages were handed by the N ational Section, instead of the
Civilian Message Section, because th ey form ed an invaluable
source of inform ation.
The F a r E ast Service also acted as in term ed iary in the
num erous enquiries set on foot a t the request of relatives, in
behalf of civilians dom iciled or interned in th e F a r E ast. As
th e m ajo rity of these were in China, it fell to the delegates in
th a t co u n try to c arry out these investigations, a task usually
involving difficult and laborious work.
S pe c ia l F e a t u r e s o f t h e B r it ish S ec tio n

Telegraphic Communications
As already m entioned, th e B ritish Section m ade frequent
use of th e telegraph in com m unicating inform ation received
from th e D etaining Powers to th e various official B ureaux of
th e Com m onwealth.
In order to save tim e in checking a t th e B ureaux and to
keep their expenditure on cables as low as possible, th e B ritish
Section, as th e mass of d a ta increased, was led to work out a
p a rticu la r scheme for th e drafting of its telegram s. This m ethod,
as will be dem onstrated, differed from th a t of th e other N ational
Sections (with th e exception of the A m erican Section).
Inform ation received b y th e Section was divided in tw o
categories as follows :
154

1. Inform ation (for instance, telegram s received from Ger

m an au th o rities regarding airm en) which appeared to be notifi
cations of capture. These were telegraphed w ithout th e corresresponding docum ents being checked in th e index, and th e
m aking out and filing of cards was only done later.
2. Inform ation (for instance, th e lists received from cam p
leaders in Germ any) which appeared to be su p p lem en tary
details, and which could not be telegraphed direct w ithout
running th e risk of m aking serious m istakes in the inform ation
sent to official B ureaux 1, or of costly repetitions. These p a r
ticulars were first entered on cards, which were checked
in th e index. The filing clerks th en decided, on th e basis of
th eir research, w hether the com m unication should be sent,
or not.
Two instances m ight occur either it was considered th a t
th e inform ation was p rem atu re or already known, when it was
not telegraphed and the card was sim ply filed, or it appeared
to be new and was telegraphed ; in this case th e card (or batch)
was tak e n from th e index and replaced by a slip showing the
reason for its rem oval.
A fter being sorted according to th e prisoners co u n try of
origin, th e cards were collected every d ay for th e draftin g of
telegram s to th e different official B ureaux. E ach bore concise
references, giving th e d ate and n a tu re of the com m unications
sent and enabling these to be checked a t a n y given tim e.
One cannot exaggerate th e decisive p a rt played by the
filing staff in th e procedure described. This personnel had in
fact th e responsibility, which was only p a rt of th eir duties
in the B ritish Section, of effectively carrying out the system
of com m unicating inform ation by telegraph, which had been
adopted by understanding w ith th e various countries in the
Com m onwealth.
The staff had therefore to be thoroughly fam iliar, not only
w ith the various filing rules for th e card-index, b u t also w ith
1 F o r in stan ce, th e d an g e r of rep o rtin g , on th e b asis of o u t-o f-d a te
in fo rm atio n , th e c a m p lo c a lity of a p riso n er w ho h ad since died, an d
whose d e a th h ad been th e su b je c t of a co m m u n icatio n .
155

th e p a rticu la r arrangem ents m ade w ith each separate official

B ureau for telegraphic com m unications.
Such was th e m ethod used in th e B ritish Section for tele
graphing inform ation.
A lthough it com plicated the work
of th e Section and appeared to slow down the sending of inform
ation, it was how ever the only scheme which m ade possible
th e transm ission of large masses of inform ation, in a rational
way.
M ention should here be m ade of the enquiries opened by the
Section, a t the request of the B ritish authorities, to obtain
sta te m e n ts from witnesses w ith regard to missing B ritish arm y
personnel and upon which m ore detailed inform ation is given
in the first p a rt of this volum e (page 50).

156

G erm a n S e c tio n

The G erm an Section was form ed on Septem ber 14, 1939,

the date on which the Polish, French and B ritish Sections were
also organized. I t began like m ost of th e N ational Sections of
th e Central Agency, in a sm all w ay ; it was to become the largest
of them , b o th in respect of the num ber of cases th a t went
th rough its hands and th e size of its staff. As m atters tu rn e d
out, during th e last period of its existence th e m ajor p a rt of the
A gencys activities came to be concentrated in this Section.
There are two m ain periods in the work of th e Germ an
Section : the first was during the war, and th e second a fter it
had ended.
D uring the war, th e Section operated more or less norm ally.
A fter the war, however, the disappearance of the Germ an
G overnm ent and of a n y body qualified to serve as a central
official B ureau had the effect for the Agency of creating entirely
new conditions in its work which were unexam pled in the annals
of th e ICRC.
I.

W ar P er io d

This was the period when G erm any was a t w ar w ith m any
countries. T h at fact had far-reaching effects on th e Section
and gave rise to a num ber of technical problem s. The various
countries a t w ar w ith G erm any all had different m ethods for
sending inform ation on prisoners and other victim s of the w ar :
the Germ an Section, in greater degree th a n the o ther national
Sections, had th u s difficulty in settling on its working m ethods.
There was great v ariety in the sources of inform ation, and th a t

157

m eant th a t there was equal diversity in th e natu re and form

of th e docum ents.
The m ain obstacle encountered by the Germ an Section from
1941 th roughout its h istory was, however, the com plete lack
of inform ation regarding th e E astern front.
The repeated
endeavours m ade by th e ICRC to find a rem edy for this serious
gap are described in detail in Vol. I of the present R eport.
This absence of inform ation m eant th a t th ere were gaps in
th e index, and th is proved a great handicap to th e Section and
m ade com plete co-ordination of its work very difficult.
The m ethodical and detailed work of Germ an organizations
and th e discipline of th e people were, on th e o ther hand, helpful
to th e Section. Form al instructions were given to the German
public to p u t all th eir enquiries about PW or relatives through
th e in term ed iary of th e G erm an official B ureau 1 and the
G erm an R ed Cross 2. These organizations sorted th e enquiries
and only sent on to th e C entral Agency those which raised any
problem . The G erm an Section was in th is w ay relieved of
m uch routine work, done in G erm any, and was freed to th a t
e x ten t for m ore com plex duties.
Such were th e m ain features of th e G erm an Section during
th e war. The effect of m ilitary events on it will now be exam ined.

Campaigns in Poland and in Norway.

F irst Cam paign in the West
( j"939-J940,>

The first phase of th e w ar did not involve the G erm an Section

in m uch work. The few Germ an prisoners tak en were soon
released. The m ain business of th e Section was th e transm ission
of inform ation concerning deaths of m em bers of the forces, and
in opening enquiries on missing men. The search for inform ation
on men who had disappeared in no rth ern N orw ay was often
difficult to c arry out.
1 ' W e h rm a c h ta u s k u n fts te lle fr K rieg erv erlu ste u n d K riegsgefangene of th e O berk o m m an d o d er W e h rm a c h t (usually called " O K W ).
2 U su ally called " D R K .
158

A ir and N aval W ar against Great B ritain

( 1940-1941)
Like m ost air and naval actions in th e recent w ar, these
operations were rem arkable for th e fact th a t th ey engaged
a relatively small num ber of men. The num bers were few, it is
tru e, b u t th e crews were picked men whose fate was closely
followed in G erm any.
A nother feature was the very high
proportion of missing and, above all, of killed.
These facts are sufficient explanation w hy th e nam es of
dead or cap tu red enem y airm en and sailors were telegraphed
by b o th G erm any and G reat B ritain. Thus th e B ritish official
B ureau 1 announced d eath or cap tu re of G erm an airm en and
sailors by telegraph to the C entral Agency. Im m ediately these
telegram s were received by the Germ an Section, th e inform ation
was forw arded by telegram to th e Berlin official B ureau.
M any of the great num ber of enquiries un d ertak en b y th e
G erm an Section were often com plicated b y th e fact th a t when
planes were shot down, it was difficult a n d som etim es im pos
sible to identify bodies burned or cast up b y th e sea.
A t this tim e th e Section m ade m any collective enquiries
on plane or subm arine crews, for exam ple, and questioned
eyewitnesses. On the whole, these efforts were fruitful.
Yugoslav and Greek Cam paign (1941)
The course of this cam paign was so swift th a t no call was
m ade on the work of the G erm an Section u n til th e final phase,
when Crete fell to the forces of the W ehrm acht. I t will be
rem em bered th a t it was on this island th a t there was b itte r
fighting betw een Germ an p arach u tists and th e A ustralian and
New Zealand troops. A fter these b a ttle s th e Section received
some 3,000 enquiries about missing parach u te troops.
W hen th e island was evacuated, the B ritish forces took w ith
them to E g y p t some hundreds of PW whose nam es were tele
graphed by the Middle E ast official B ureau.
1 P risoners of W a r In fo rm a tio n B u reau (PW IB ) of th e W a r Office.
159

The Cam paign in A frica (1940-1943)

The first Germ an action on A frican soil was in the E thiopian
cam paign in 1940-1941, when m any G erm an volunteers served
in the Ita lia n arm y. Some of these volunteers were Germ an
settlers living in Ita lia n E a st Africa, and others were seam en
and passengers on vessels who had m anaged to reach the
Ita lia n p ort of Massawa, on the Red Sea. Those am ong them who
were cap tu red in b a ttle were considered by th e B ritish as PW
and so reported ; th e others were arrested and were classed as
civilian internees when the cam paign came to an end. Among
these th e form er m em bers of ships crews were interned in
separate cam ps for m erchant seam en. These cases gave rise
to involved and p ro tra cte d enquiries. T hanks to inform ation
sought from witnesses, for th e m ost p a rt, it was possible to
trace a large num ber of th e m en 1.
The G erm an forces came into action in th e L ibya cam paign
in the spring of 1941, when the Axis Powers first w ent on to
th e offensive. It was, however, in th e second offensive, in
Ju n e , 1942, th a t the A frika K orps was engaged in force.
This picked corps was followed w ith such interest in G erm any
th a t it m ight be said every missing m an was th e object of an
individual enquiry to the C entral Agency. D esert w ar condi
tions m ade search extrem ely difficult : bodies quickly became
buried by th e sand and generally, once th e action was over,
troops did not again pass over th e ground outside the tracks.
I t is, therefore, h ard ly surprising th a t enquiries carried out
by the Section did not, in the m ain, yield results.
The second b a ttle of El-A lam ein (Oct. 23 to Nov. 4, 1942)
saw the beginning of th e Germ an reverses in th e M editerranean
th e a tre and in the west. On th a t date too, the stra te g y of Ger
m any tu rn ed , in the m ain, from the offensive to the defensive.
This tu rn of the tide in th e w ar becam e still more a p p aren t when
th e Allies landed in French N orth Africa on N ovem ber 8, 1942.
These events were the beginning of a period of great a c tiv ity
1 T he snow b a l l m ethod, a lre a d y m e n tio n e d in P a r t I of th is R e p o rt
(see p. 51) y ielded v ery conclusive results, p a rtic u la rly in reg a rd to
m en killed in b a ttle .
160

for the Section. C apture cards arrived in thousands as well as

notifications of deaths and of captures from th e enem y official
B ureaux ; this was th e inevitable result of m ilitary reverses.
There was also a big increase in the num ber of enquiries from
G erm any as to th e fate of the missing. These facts accounted
for the rapid grow th of the G erm an Section. In May 1943,
its staff consisted of nineteen persons ; a t th e end of th e same
year, it had risen to fifty-six.
The b a ttle of El-A lam ein was followed by the hard-fought
retrea t of th e A frika-K orps through Libya, th e defensive
b a ttle s of Tunisia and, finally, the capitulation a t the beginning
of May 1943, of some 150,000 men in the Tunis sector and the
Cape Bon peninsula.
Up to the tim e of th e cam paign in Tunisia, the G erm an
Section had to deal, for the m ost p a rt, w ith only one group of
D etaining Powers, G reat B ritain and th e Dom inions. The
Com m onwealth sent its inform ation to the C entral Agency by
w ay of the London and Middle E ast 1 official B ureaux. L ater,
however, the Section had to consider two more Powers : the
U nited S tates and Free France. The first telegram from the
A m erican Official B u re a u 2 w ith nam es from th e Tunisian front
was received in A pril 1943.
Most of the PW cap tu red during the last phases of the
fighting in Tunisia were tak en by the U nited S tates, the rem ain
der by the Free French. Those in Am erican hands were rem oved
from tra n sit cam ps in N orth Africa to the U nited S tates ; those
cap tu red by the F rench rem ained in Africa. Men tak en pre
viously by the B ritish E ig h th A rm y and announced by the
Middle E ast official B ureau were, generally speaking, sent to
G reat B ritain an d to Canada.
From June, 1943, and up till Ja n u a ry , 1944, the Section had
to cope w ith a stream of telegram s from the W ashington
official B ureau, announcing th e arrival in carnps in Am erica
1 P risoners of W a r In fo rm a tio n B ureau, 2nd E chelon (M iddle E a s t
H e a d q u a rte rs) in H eliopolis (Cairo), e n tru ste d w ith all co m m u n icatio n s
concern ing P W a n d deceased in th e M iddle E a st.
2 P riso n er of W ar In fo rm a tio n B ureau, Office of th e P ro v o st M arshal
G eneral of th e U n ited S ta te s W ar D e p a rtm e n t, W ash in g to n .
II. 11

161

of PW tak e n in the la tte r p a rt of th e cam paign in Tunisia.

N otifications of prisoners in F rench hands were sent on
individual cards by the French official B ureau in A lg ie rs1.
The slowness of postal com m unications betw een countries
overseas and Geneva during the w ar explains why, up till 1944,
the B ritish Com m onw ealth and th e U nited States usually had
recourse to telegram s for com m unicating th eir inform ation to
th e C entral Agency. A t th e close of J a n u a ry 1944, however, in
view of the considerable expense entailed, the Germ an official
B ureau asked th a t transm ission by telegram be given up, and
th a t in fu tu re these com m unications be m ade by m eans of lists,
id e n tity cards and microfilms.
I t should also be m entioned, in connection w ith the war
in Africa, th a t as the G erm an A uthorities had not recognized
Free France, th e G erm an Section was obliged to tak e over cer
ta in activities previously carried out by the Protecting Power.
Italian Campaign (1943-1943)
This cam paign opened on J u ly 10, 1943, by the Allied landing
in Sicily and ended on May 2, 1945, by th e capitulation of the
G erm an forces in th e n o rth of Italy . I t will be rem em bered
for some violent b attles, b u t generally speaking it was a slow
w ar of m ovem ent in te rru p te d by tw o periods when th e front
was stabilized : one was during the 1943-1944 w inter before
Cassino, and the other during th e following w inter in the
Ligurian A pennines and before Bologna, on th e Gothic Line .
W ith th e early days of th e Ita lia n cam paign, there arrived
a large num ber of notifications of deaths sent to th e German
Section. The percentage of unknow n was high and entailed
a tte m p ts to establish id en tity , which were im peded by the
frequent shifting of th e Allied m ilitary organs to whom appli
cation for inform ation had to be m ade. L ater, cap tu re cards
and inform ation on PW also flowed into the Section.
A fter th e tem p o rary stabilization of th e front in th e w inter
of 1943-1944, there began a w ar of position, sim ilar to th a t of
1 D irection du Service des prisonniers de guerre en A friq u e du Nord.

I2

The G erm an Section th en received a very large

num ber of requests for enquiries to be m ade, and it did its
best to satisfy them . The Section had no indication as to which
Pow er held a p a rticu la r PW of whom details were requested ;
application was therefore m ade sim ultaneously to th e m ilitary
bureaux of each of th e three Allied arm ies in Ita ly , through
the in term ed iary of the C om m ittees D elegations in Algiers, and
later in Naples.
D uring th e first p a rt of th is cam paign P W tak en by the
Allies did not rem ain in Ita ly , b u t were tran sferred to N orth
Africa, E gypt, th e B ritish Com m onw ealth countries or to
the U nited States. N otifications were therefore sent according
to circum stances, by th e A m erican official B ureau in Algiers,
th e London official B ureau, or th e official B ureau of the Middle
E ast. D uring 1944, however, regular PW cam ps were set up by
the Allied forces in Ita ly itself, and th e C entral Agency th ere
after received notifications from th e Inform ation B ureau and
from th e Peninsular Base Section.
In respect of the Ita lia n cam paign, inform ation furnished
by the Am erican forces was in the form of cam p lists or rosters ;
the B ritish and F rench forces, for th eir p a rt, m ade use of indi
vidual forms, called id e n tity cards.

Liberation of France,
Invasion of Germany and Allied A ir Offensive
( I944-I945)

W ith th e Allied landing in N orm andy on Ju n e 6, 1944, and

late r in the South of France on A ugust 15, began th e final phase
of th e w ar in Europe. An alm ost overw helm ing am ount of
work then devolved on th e G erm an Section. F rom the end of
the sum m er, c ap tu re cards began to arrive from thousands of
PW who had fallen into Allied hands w ithin a few m onths,
either during th e B attle of N orm andy, or during th e rapid
advance of th e Allied arm ies through F rance and Belgium.
The Section, in view of th is ever increasing influx of notifications,
had to tak e on m any more assistants : th e staff rose from
163

6 i m em bers a t the close of Ju n e, 1944, to 93 in D ecem ber and

169 in Ju n e, 1945.
The v ast significance of events and th eir rapid sequence
obliged the Section to devote its energies henceforth alm ost
exclusively to the m ost u rg en t work : com m unication to the
G erm an official B ureau of the great volum e of inform ation
sent in by Allied m ilitary offices on those who had died and on
PW , and transm ission to enquirers of relevant details from the
m ass of inform ation yielded by tallies in the card-index.
It was no longer possible to respond so readily to requests for
enquiries as form erly, and a decision had to be m ade to reply
only to those which had an exceptional claim to atten tio n .
D uring th e a u tu m n of 1944, the mass of inform ation received
was greater th a n ever, and the ra te a t which it came in, far
from slackening, g ath ered speed th ro u g h o u t 1945. The col
lective notifications relating to the cam paign in F rance were
im m ediately followed by those covering the various phases of
the advance into G erm any, during which steadily increasing
num bers of men were tak en prisoner.
This great press of work, even though additional help was
given by th e A uxiliary Sections in various tow ns in Sw itzer
land, placed the G erm an Section and the general technical
sections of th e C entral Agency (in p a rticu la r the Lists and
P h o to sta t Sections) in a difficult position. On the one hand,
recru itm en t of fresh staff could not be assured, and on the other,
the A gencys prem ises and equipm ent had now practically
reached th eir lim it. In these circum stances, increasing delay
in giving a tte n tio n to th e hundreds of thousands of capture
cards and docum ents coming in from all sides was inevitable.
D uring th e period of the war in E urope betw een the landing
in France and the G erm an capitulation, inform ation reached
the Agency by various means. N otifications from A m erican
sources were sent in th e form of microfilms by the Inform ation
B ureau a tta ch e d to th e Com m and for the E uropean th e a tre
of operations, which was first set up in E ngland and late r in
France. D etails from B ritish sources, consisting of individual
id e n tity cards of P W and of lists of deceased, came from the
London official B ureau.
Inform ation from French sources
164

came a t first direct from various regional m ilitary authorities

(F .F .I., etc.). It was only a fter several m onths th a t a central
official B ureau began to operate in Paris 1 and atte n d ed to
these com m unications.
The notifications took the form of
individual cards, of which the first arrived in G eneva in A ugust,

1945The destruction in G erm any by th e Allied air offensive

th en seriously com plicated th e work of the Section. A large p a rt
of th e population (which it was a d m itte d finally, reached a sixth
of the whole) had to move as a result of th e raids. P a rtia l
destruction and th e frequent m oving of offices en tru sted w ith
collection of inform ation supplied by the C entral Agency, and
finally, the loss of countless m ail bags in bom bed train s, all
helped to increase th e u n c e rtain ty felt in Geneva, since there
was no m eans of ascertaining w hat proportion of the G erm an
Sections com m unications reached th eir destination.
In th e course of the final stages of the war, when the adm ini
stra tiv e m achinery in G erm any was com pletely dislocated,
these difficulties were still fu rth e r aggravated, and the Agency
considered it advisable to stop tra n sm ittin g inform ation, which
was henceforth held back in Geneva. The last com m unication
to the Germ an official B ureau left Geneva on April 30, 1945.
D uring the post-w ar period, exam ined fu rth e r on, th e C entral
Agency was called upon, in several respects, to serve in the
place of th e elim inated Germ an official B ureau, u n til it could
be reconstituted.
Eastern Front
No official inform ation respecting the E astern front reached
th e Agency 2 ; even so, the G erm an Section received num erous
enquiries as to the men who had served on th a t front, espe
cially a fter the b a ttle of Stalingrad.
Various unsuccessful
a tte m p s were m ade to obtain inform ation by m eans of enquiries
in the U.S.S.R. In these circum stances, it was not possible to
1 T his w as a tta c h e d to th e D irection gnrale des prisonniers de guerre
of th e M inistry of W ar.
2 See p. 158 an d Vol. I.
165

tra n sm it to G erm any m ore th a n a very sm all am ount of inform

atio n received now and th en 1, and a few post-card messages
to relatives which reached the Agency via A nkara ; the P W in
certain Soviet cam ps had been allowed, tow ards th e end of 1942,
to send news to th e ir fam ilies by such cards.
In South E astern E urope, however, the situation was ra th e r
different when R um ania and B ulgaria w ent over to the Allied
cam p, and when Y ugoslavia and Greece succeeded in liberating
them selves. R um ania and B ulgaria a t first sent th e Agency a
few lists of PW , b u t all endeavours to obtain full inform ation
were in vain, as these m en were subsequently handed over to the
Soviet authorities. In Greece and in A lbania, the num ber of
enquiries opened by th e Section was sm all, since only a few
G erm ans had been cap tu red or had died whilst in enem y hands.
These enquiries were m ost difficult, in view of the circum
stances in which these men had disappeared. The nam es of
PW detained in Y ugoslavia could be obtained only a fter the
arm istice. The situation of these men, who had been cut off
from th eir relatives even long before th eir capture, was a m a tte r
of m uch concern to th e Section, and great efforts were m ade to
restore the contacts for them .
Tow ards th e end of the w ar, Poland and Czechoslovakia also
becam e D etaining Powers of Germ an PW ; th e Section thus
received, in tim e, a great deal of inform ation from these
countries.
Transfers of Prisoners
Before this survey of th e progress of m ilitary operations
and th eir effect on the G erm an Section is finished, a few words
m ust be said w ith regard to an o th er factor which had an
im p o rta n t bearing on the work of the Section, nam ely, the
transfers of G erm an PW from one co u n try to another, and
especially from one continent to another.
1 F o r exam ple, nam es of P W collected on leaflets d ro p p ed b y S o v iet
airm en, or evidence fu rn ish ed b y P W w ho h a d escaped, on com rad es
in c a p tiv ity .
166

T ransfers of PW w ithin a country, or w ithin a p articu lar

te rrito ry did n ot th row m uch additional work on th e Section l,
because th e regional or national postal service p e rm itted contact
to be kept w ith P W w ithout undue delay. On the o ther hand,
transfers on a big scale from one co u n try or co ntinent to an o th er
caused m uch difficulty. These tran sfers in te rru p te d prisoners
m ail, often over m any m onths ; the stream of letters reaching
th e Section clearly reflected th e a n x iety of relatives and the
growing despondency of the men.
I t has to be borne in m ind - and this is only one exam ple
th a t certain PW , c ap tu red in Libya, placed in cam ps in E g y p t,
late r shipped across the Indian Ocean and in tern ed tem p o
rarily in South Africa, were again em barked and carried across
th e A tlantic to th eir final destination, Canada. E v ery con
ceivable endeavour was m ade to obtain inform ation a n d to
forw ard it to th e persons concerned w ithout excessive delay, b ut
a t th e price of incredible effort. V ery often, all trace was lost
of certain of these m en as, a t th e last m om ent, though on the
em barkation lists, th ey were unable to set out on account of
th eir poor sta te of health. O thers were p u t into hospital en
route w ithout th e Agency being advised ; others again, escaped
or died before th e arrival of convoys a t th eir destination.
These transfers also had the serious effect of alm ost com ple
tely p u ttin g an end to th e m ethod of enquiry by evidence
system atically pursued by th e Section : this was due to the
difficulty of reaching the m ajority of witnesses in tim e.
Civilian Internees
Before the war, there were large G erm an colonies in m any
countries. In tim e, m ost of these countries cam e to be in a
sta te of war w ith G erm any, or a t a n y ra te broke off diplom atic
relations w ith her ; this led to th e in tern m en t of a great m any

1 E x c e p t d u rin g th e v ery la s t m o n th s of th e w ar a n d th e p o stw a r

period in F rance, w hen som e of th e P W w ere dispersed in larg e n u m b e rs
of sm all la b o u r d e ta c h m e n ts, a n d m oved elsew here w hen th e w o rk w as
finished.
167

Germ an nationals. Official lists of civilian internees began to

reach the Agency in large num bers. These lists were tra n sm itte d
to th e com petent Germ an offices, and th e Section found th a t it
h ad to extend its enquiries to th e whole world. A considerable
num ber of enquiries were opened, in p a rticu la r in the U nited
S tates, G reat B ritain, India, A ustralia and South Africa,
countries which had p a rticu larly large contingents of Germ an
civilian internees. In respect of E urope, th e Section was
called upon tow ards th e end of the w ar to deal w ith several
thousand enquiries on G erm an nationals in R um ania, and was
able to tra n sm it some 2,000 telegraphic messages from internees
before th eir tran sfer to Russia.
I t often happened th a t civilians were interned, then released,
only to be interned again ; th eir exact sta tu s could be ascer
tain ed only a fter several p ro tra cte d enquiries.
F u rth e r, it
was som etim es difficult to draw a distinction betw een civilian
internees and comm on law prisoners. In all these instances,
searches, enquiries as to health, forw arding of m ail, transm ission
of docum ents, and all o ther kinds of service encountered
serious obstacles.
The object of the enquiries m ade by the Section varied as
m uch as th e circum stances of the internees, some of whom had
lived a p a rt from th eir relatives for m any years ; th eir living
conditions, especially in tropical countries, were sometim es
far from w hat was custom ary. F u rth e r, certain areas, difficult
enough to reach in tim e of peace, becam e alm ost inaccessible
when m eans of com m unication were w anting and there were
no offices to serve as interm ediaries.
Transfers of civilian internees from one continent to an o th er
were less frequent th an of m em bers of the forces. They never
theless took place. Thus, men interned in the D utch Indies
were tak en to B ritish In d ia during the Japanese advance, b ut
th e women a n d children, left where th ey were, were later tak en
to J a p a n and to M anchuria by the Japanese arm y. It devolved
on th e Section to establish contact betw een m em bers of families
separated in this way, and it was found possible to send th eir
m ail from J a p a n by w ay of the Trans-Siberian railw ay, Tiflis and
A nkara to Geneva, whence it was forw arded to In d ia via Cairo
168

A feature of th e problem was th a t certain civilian internees

hesitated to m ake them selves known. As adversaries of the
H itler rgim e, th ey feared for th eir relatives. Sim ilarly, some
of them fram ed th eir requests for news of relatives who had
rem ained in Germany, w ith th e utm ost caution. We need only
th in k in th is connection, of th e situ atio n of G erm an nationals
who had served in the French Foreign Legion. This all entailed,
obviously, p a rticu la r problem s for th e Section.
Cases concerning G erm an or stateless Jew s were first assem bled
in a self-contained section for Sundry Civilian Internees (CID =
Civils interns divers) ; b u t late r, when it becam e increasingly
difficult to distinguish these p a rticu la r civilians from others
in th e absence of adequate indications, th ey were included in
th e G erm an Sections card-index.
Civilian internees and th eir relatives required from th e Germ an
Section not only m uch labour of varied kinds, b u t also involved
it in great m oral responsibility.
*

The following is a sum m ary of technical details of the work

of the Section during the period of the war.
Inform ation
U ntil 1943 the B ritish Com m onwealth, then the only group
of D etaining Pow ers which concerned th e Section, supplied
inform ation th a t was in every respect precise and com plete,
and in a great v a rie ty of forms. This inform ation related
to persons who were com paratively few in num ber, and as it
arrived pu n ctu ally a t regular intervals, th e Agency was able
to send the inform ation to the responsible G erm an organizations
and to give satisfaction to applicants w ithin a reasonable tim e.
A fter th e capitulation of the Axis arm y in Tunisia and th e
large transfers of PW which followed, the situation was wholly
different ; transm ission of inform ation then becam e im peded
b y m any obstacles. For instance, details of men interned in
the U nited S tates wTere sent in cables of unusual length and the
169

percentage of m u tilated nam es was very high 1.

F u rth er,
c ap tu re cards, brought over by th e C om m ittees ships in the
absence of other m eans of tra n sp o rt, reached Geneva only a fter
considerable delay. V ery often, in these circum stances, it was
no longer possible w ithin a reasonable tim e to reassure relatives
who, owing to the irregular working of the m ail service for PW ,
were anxiously aw aiting news.
These facts led the G erm an Section to encourage by all
possible m eans the use by P W and th eir relatives of the Express
Message 2 for th eir com m unications.
These messages came
th ro u g h Geneva a t th e ra te of several th o u san d per m onth.
The pressure of w ork was however, only relieved by the use
of microfilms. B y such m eans, lists of over 2,000 nam es and
hom e addresses of PW in an extrem ely sm all space could be sent
b y air. In the great m ajo rity of cases th e y gave enough details
to m ake identification possible. The rectan g u lar negatives of
which the film was m ade up, each contained the nam es of
some fifteen men and could be enlarged a t th e ra te of six ty an
hour, i. e. 900 nam es. They were a v ery serviceable su b stitu te
for cables which, up to th a t tim e, had been used as a m eans
of transm ission.
There was a fresh problem when p a rt of F rance was liberated
b y the F .F .I. These forces were obviously hardly equipped to
organized an official inform ation service, and th e G erm an Section
received a vast am ount of m iscellaneous d a ta tra n sm itte d by
local branches of th e French R ed Cross, by priests and pastors
an d by m em bers of th e public. It frequently even received
anonym ous notes. This inform ation was used only w ith the
g reatest caution, p a rticu larly in the m a tte r of notifications
of deaths.
Difficulties of an o th er kind arose from th e fact th a t lists
of PW contained a high percentage of non-G erm ans, or of men

1 M u tilated n am es cam e to betw een 6 an d 20 p er cen t. T hese cables

c o n ta in e d fro m seven to eig h t th o u sa n d w ords ea ch on an av erag e ;
th e one of record le n g th , received on D ecem ber 27, 1943, a n d th e longest
ca b le w hich e v e r reach ed th e ICRC , consisted of 335 pages (21,590 words)
a n d gave n o tific atio n of 2,341 prisoners.
2 See p. 62.
170

of doubtful n atio n ality enlisted in th e W erhm acht. The Section

found itself faced w ith a num ber of very aw kw ard problem s,
too extensive to give in detail here. A t all events, th e Germ an
Section alw ays handled m ix e d docum ents (relative to m en of
different nationalities) w ith great care and discretion.
Applications
Throughout th e w ar applications cam e from three different
sources.
(1). The G erm an authorities, th a t is, the H igh Com m and of
th e Arm ed Forces (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, or O.K.W .)
and th e M inistry for Foreign Affairs ( Auswdrtiges A m t).
The O.K .W . su b m itted requests alm ost exclusively for
inform ation on missing m em bers of th e forces. To m eet certain
legal requirem ents, it asked th a t individual enquiries should be
m ade in respect of each case. The O.K .W . fu rth e r often pro
posed an enquiry by evidence and indicated which men should
be questioned. The Foreign Office sent th e Agency, by the
in term ed iary of Germ an diplom atic represen tatives, requests
for enquiries m ainly concerning persons of ran k or position.
(2). The German Red Cross. This organization sent requests
for enquiries concerning civilians or civilian internees, on the
sta te of h ealth of certain PW , th e location and upkeep of graves,
and other details, and finally, urgent com m unications to be
telegraphed to PW , and com plaints bearing on the working
of PW mail. It also sent in requests for enquiries on m em bers of
th e forces m issing on th e E astern front.
(3). Private persons. According to th e rules, relatives resident
in G erm any were supposed to apply to th e O.K .W . or to the
Germ an Red Cross, on whom it devolved to sift these enquiries
and to tra n sm it only those to th e ICRC which were judged to
need the C om m ittees especial help. As th e num ber of losses
increased, however, and a n x iety took hold of an increasing
num ber of th e public, it becam e m ore difficult to insist on this
restriction. The Section th en received a growing num ber of
171

applications from relatives, th ro u g h m em bers of th e same

fam ily and friends passing through or living in Sw itzerland,
from in te rn atio n a l organizations or from N ational Red Cross
Societies. M any letters even cam e direct from G erm any, though
th ey had been opened by th e censor.
*

To get a clear picture of th e m eans of action available to th e

G erm an Section during th e w ar period, it m ust be rem em bered
th a t PW and civilian internees were for th e m ost p a rt detained
in countries a t a great distance from Geneva, while the relatives,
and public and p riv ate organizations receiving inform ation
from the ICRC were, generally speaking, in G erm any or in a
n eu tral country, th a t is to say, near Geneva. This m eant th a t,
up to th e tim e of th e collapse of the Reich, postal com m unications
being practically norm al, it was possible to send inform ation
available a t Geneva fairly quickly to the persons concerned
in G erm any. D irect despatch of docum ents (photostats) and
lette rs was th u s the rule, and inform ation by telegraph the
exception. On the co n trary , messages for transm ission to PW
and internees were often a long tim e in tra n sit, as great distances,
uncertain m eans of tra n sp o rt and censorship all co n trib u ted to
hinder and delay com m unications.
Therefore, it was often
necessary to fall back on telegram s or express messages.
Up to 1944 and as long as m ost enquiries were m ade by
official organizations (O.K.W . and G erm an Red Cross), the
Germ an Section was able to organize and m aintain a full service
of individual enquiries. The O.K.W . forw arded requests only
after careful scrutiny and when the date a m an was reported
missing m ade it reasonable to presum e th a t his nam e was
unlikely to appear in official lists received from Geneva by the
H igh Command. N otw ithstanding the fairly large num ber of
these enquiries, th e card-index yielded only a relatively small
num ber of tallies . E nquiries opened by the Section were
generally well received by the offices and persons to whom th ey
were addressed. These were, according to cases, the official
B ureaux or the N ational Red Cross Societies of the enem y
172

S tates ; frequently too, application was m ade to th e delegates

of the ICRC and to th e PW them selves, who were asked to
furnish evidence.
U nfortunately, from the sum m er of 1944 the developm ents
of the w ar steadily reduced th e Sections field of action. W ith
th e increase in num ber of prisoners and of deaths, m ost enquiries
took the form of priv ate letters, and th ere was a growing te n
dency for urgent appeals to arrive m uch in advance of th e
receipt of the required inform ation by th e Section. F u rth er,
th e m ain official B ureaux of the enem y S tates declared, one
a fter the other, th a t th ey were unable, for lack of tim e, to a tte n d
to requests for individual enquiries, or th a t th ey could deal
w ith th em only a t th e cost of disturbing the regular transm ission
of routine inform ation. In these circum stances the Section had
to cut down th e num ber of its enquiries. Obviously, th e increase
in requests for enquiries resulted in an appreciable increase in
th e responses yielded b y the index and th a t, in tu rn , p u t an
additional stra in on th e correspondence services.
D uring the second period of the Sections work its scope was
to be even fu rth e r lim ited.

II.

P ost- W a r

P e r io d

W ith the arm istice of May 7, 1945, G erm any entered into a
far more troubled period th a n th a t experienced during the last
phase of th e war. The surrender of the G erm an arm y, the
c ap tu re of several million m en by the Allied forces, th e collapse
of the M ilitary High Com m and and the G overnm ent, to g eth er
w ith th e loss of political sovereignty and territo ria l in te g rity
created in G erm any an unprecedented situation, w hereby th e
Central Agency was faced w ith extrem e difficulties.
The fact th a t there were no longer in G erm any a n y national
agencies w ith whom to co-operate rendered the A gencys ta sk
m ost uncertain. The first phase of the post-w ar period was
indeed a critical tim e of tran sitio n for th e G erm an Section ;
the com plete suspension of postal com m unication, added to the

173

destruction of roads and railw ays, still fu rth er com plicated

its task.
I t was only a fter several m onths th a t th is situation im proved
in some degree, and th a t a slow ad ju stm en t to the e x tra o rd in a ry
circum stances brought about by th e defeat and q u a d rip a rtite
occupation of G erm an territo ry , began to tak e shape. The
ICRC did its utm o st to encourage this progress. F irst, it endea
voured to m ake up for the fact th a t national German bodies
had ceased to exist by settin g up in th a t country a netw ork
of delegations, m ore especially fitted for their new tasks by
th e draftin g in of experts from the Agency. L ater, the Com m ittee
encouraged th e settin g up of a G erm an organization which,
under th e control of th e occupying Powers, was able to assum e
th e duties of the O.K .W . and th e G erm an Red Cross, and to
replace the form er official B ureau.
The ra te of the developm ent th u s begun increased consi
derably a fter th e resum ption of postal services w ith G erm any
on A pril I, 1946. This date was so im p o rtan t in the grow th of
th e G erm an Section during the post-w ar period th a t it m ay be
well to use it for the purpose of dividing the rest of this su rv ey
in two p arts.
(1). E nd of Hostilities ( M a y 7, 1945)
to Resum ption of Postal Service with Germany (A p ril 1, 1946)
In view of th e conditions of chaos existing in G erm any, the
C entral Agency had decided to suspend entirely th e despatch
of inform ation to th e official B ureau and to the G erm an Red
Cross : th is was on A pril 30, 1945, a few days before the end of
hostilities. As it was late r learnt in Geneva, m ost of the regular
despatches of the Germ an Section had for some tim e past failed
to reach th e ir d estination and had been lost in tra n sit.
Masses of inform ation sent in by some ten D etaining Powers
therefore accum ulated in Geneva, where th e y were dealt w ith
according to the established rules, pending the day when they
could be passed on to some a u th o rity in G erm any qualified to
receive them . B y Ju n e 1945, p h o to sta t copies of docum ents th u s
held up already filled 21 large cases.
174

The initial phase of the post-w ar period was therefore, for

the G erm an Section, m ainly one of preparation. D uring these
m onths, th e Agency applied itself, as far as it was able, to the
pressing and indeed im perative ta sk of re-establishing contact
betw een G erm an PW and th eir relatives.
The com m unication to relatives of inform ation which came
together in th e card-index w ith th e ir m any applications, was
only possible on a small scale during th e first m onths after
the end of hostilities, when th e Section was reduced to m aking
use of occasional m eans of forw arding. Thus a large m ass of
these com m unications, read y for despatch, accum ulated in th e
G erm an Section.
In-flux of Applications from Relatives : Card No. 2J5
G erm an families who, for m any m onths past, had received
hardly an y letters or news from th e fighting zone, now saw th e
official sources of inform ation dry up, which had form erly been
replenished by a m ethodical ad m in istratio n th roughout the
war. The m ail of German PW was also, as a result of circum stan
ces, practically held up during the first m onths which followed
th e end of the war. At th is period P W form ed a m ass still on
th e move ; these men were placed in provisional cam ps, often
transferred from place to place and inadequately provided w ith
capture cards and w riting paper.
R elatives, who were consum ed by u n c e rtain ty and anxiety,
tu rn e d of th eir own accord to the ICRC, knowing th a t it was
m ainly from the Com m ittee th a t the O .K .W . and th e German
Red Cross had received th eir inform ation. Since postal com
m unication was broken off, those fam ilies who had such facilities,
m ade increasing use of the m edium of correspondents in Sw it
zerland, to bring th eir applications before the C entral Agency.
M oreover, th ey tu rn e d more frequently to th e various delega
tions which the Com m ittee hastened to set up th roughout
G erm any, as well as to the national and provincial welfare
organizations, who passed on the applications received to the
delegations.
T hanks to the C om m ittees resources of road
tra n sp o rt, all these enquiries were brought to Geneva.
175

Thus, despite the suspension of the postal service, the Agency

very soon saw an increase in the flow of applications for searches.
Since these applications arrived in a v a rie ty of form s and
sizes, it was necessary to transcribe them to index cards in
order to file them in th e Sections index. This was a long task ;
to c a rry it out efficiently, a sta n d a rd research card was required
which could be placed in th e index when filled in. For this
purpose, Card No. 275, which had been devised in 1940, when
th e French Section was in sim ilar difficulties, was again used.
One side of this card was reserved for a description of the m an
sought, whilst th e o ther bore the A gencys address. P a rt of
the p rin ted m a tte r inform ed the applicant th a t no acknow ledge
m ent would be sent, and this precaution saved the Section
valuable tim e.
The Agency itself had Cards No. 275 p rin ted and issued them
in G erm any during th e sum m er of 1945 th rough th e delegations
of the ICRC. M any of the G erm an organizations also had these
cards printed. Owing to the suspension of postal traffic, it
also fell to th e delegations to retu rn these cards to the Agency
when filled in. Up to Ju n e 30, 1947, the num ber of cards received
was 355.4 1By the interm ediary of th e delegations, inform ation which
Cards No. 275 elicited in the Sections files was, whenever
possible, com m unicated to enquirers 2.
Large quan tities of Cards No. 275 soon accum ulated in the
card-index boxes, owing to the considerable tim e tak en in the
transcribing to cards and filing of the vast am ount of inform ation
reaching Geneva.
This accum ulation was also due to the
fact th a t no am ount of publicity by th e ICRC could dissuade
G erm an next of kin from sending th e Agency applications
relating to the countless men reported missing on the E astern
F ront.
1 T he n u m b e r of cards p rin te d in G eneva a n d d is trib u te d in Germanya m o u n te d to 82,400.
2 C o m m unications fro m th e A gency for re la tiv e s w ere received by
th e D elegations in th e form of co llec tiv e d esp atc h es ca rrie d b y th e
C o m m ittees vehicles.
T he D eleg atio n s passed th e m on for f u rth e r
d e sp a tc h to th e G erm an P o st Office, w hich h a d resu m ed its service
w ith in G erm an y to a g re a t e x te n t.
176

Re-establishment of Contact between German P W and their

Relatives: The Red Cross Message (Card P. 10,079) 1
W hereas Germ an next of kin, owing to lack of n ew s/w ere in
a state of alm ost com plete u n c e rtain ty as to the fate of m em bers
of the forces, G erm an PW , too, were often in entire ignorance
of where th eir relatives were living, and indeed often did not
known if th e y were still alive.
Inside G erm any, a considerable proportion of the population
h ad been forced to leave th eir form er homes (the only address
known to PW ), as a result of events a t the end of th e w ar and
a t th e beginning of the post-w ar period. To these refugees and
evacuees of every kind on th e home front were soon added
those expelled from the territo ries east of th e Oder-Neisse line,
th e Sudeten Germ ans and the V olksdeutsche from the
regions of the D anube and th e B alkans. On the whole, an everincreasing m ass of Germ an civilians on th e move, displaced
or dispersed, who had left h e a rth and home behind them w ithout
any clue and were th u s not to be found. This m ultitude was
m oreover appreciably greater th a n th e few million PW .
An equation w ith two unknow n q u antities therefore had to
be solved : on b o th sides were people who lacked th e addresses
of those w ith whom th ey sought to regain contact. The pro
blem could only be solved by the intervention of some c e n tra
lizing agency. The vast num ber of individuals th u s separated
left no doubt of the m agnitude of the undertaking. I t fell to the
ICRC to m ake th is a tte m p t from the au tu m n of 1945, by the
introduction of th e Red Cross Message .
A valuable fund of inform ation was available to the C entral
Agency, enabling it to act to some purpose in this sphere :
this was th e considerable q u a n tity of d a ta , growing from day to
day, on G erm an PW contained in the index of the G erm an
Section. These d a ta represented an equal num ber of P W cam p
addresses ready to be sent off to any relatives m aking appli
cation. On th e other hand, th e Agency was alm ost com pletely
1 T he R ed Cross Message should n o t be confused w ith th e Civi
lia n M essage " o r " F o rm 61 , also in itia te d b y th e IC R C a n d m en tio n ed
on p. 63.
II.

12

177

w ithout inform ation concerning displaced G erm an civilians.

I t was therefore indispensable, if contact was to be re-established
betw een PW and civilians, to get displaced Germ an next of
kin, w ithout news of a relative who was a PW or presum ed to be
so, to apply to th e C entral Agency. The surest m eans of achiev
ing this was to prom ote the influx of applications for searches
concerning these PW , accom panied by a tw enty-five word
message of fam ily and personal news, and including the address
of th e applicant.
I t was w ith this purpose in m ind th a t the Red Cross Message
or Card P. 10,079 was devised and introduced. In order to
speed up transm ission and to relieve the G erm an Section of a
long copying process, it was necessary th a t the description of
th e relatives, the message and the P W s address should appear
on a single form which could be easily censored.
The R ed Cross Message was therefore introduced w ith the
object of giving Germ an next of kin th e three following oppor
tu n ities :
(a) to inform PW by way of th e C entral Agency of th eir
new address ;
(b) to obtain th e address of these PW when it was unknow n
to them ;
(c) to send a message to PW .
One side of th e card was reserved for th e exact address
of the applicant and th e 25-word message, th e other for p a rti
culars in detail of th e PW for whom th e message was intended.
Card No. P. 10,079 which provided the Agency and u ltim ately
th e PW w ith th e new address of his relatives, served in some
degree th e sam e purpose for th e PW as the cap tu re card for
his next of kin. This message was often preceded in th e cardindex of th e Section by an anxious enquiry from a PW who, for
a long tim e past, had lost all trace of his relatives. These
requests from PW , encouraged by th e D etaining Powers,
reached th e Agency in ever-increasing num bers.
At th e end of Septem ber 1945, th e F rench au thorities gave
perm ission for th e issue th rough post-offices of P. 10,079 cards
178

in the whole of th e French zone of occupation in G erm any.

D uring O ctober, th e ICRC was also authorized to introduce these
cards in th e A m erican zone, where th ey were issued b y local
branches of th e G erm an Red Cross. Finally, a t th e beginning of
1946, th e use of th e R ed Cross Message was agreed to in the
B ritish zone, and th e G erm an R ed Cross in H am burg was given
the d u ty of th eir distrib u tio n to relatives. Thus, th e system
was soon in operation in all three W estern zones. The fact th a t
th is scheme expanded to such a rem arkable ex ten t was sufficient
proof of its urgent necessity.
P. 10,079 Cards, a fter being filled in by next of kin, were
censored by the responsible au thorities in each zone, forw arded
to Geneva b y w ay of th e delegations by a n d m eans of the Com
m itte e s vehicles, and then passed on to th e Germ an Section,
where th e y were checked in the card-index and dealt w ith
as follows.
If the address was given in full and correctly, the message
was a t once forw arded to th e addressee. W hen th e address
was not given, or when it was incom plete or inaccurate, the
G erm an Section, if th e necessary inform ation was available,
com pleted th e card before despatch, and a t th e same tim e
forw arded th e P W s address to his next of kin on a form.
Finally, when th e address was unknow n both to th e sender and
to the G erm an Section, th e card was placed in th e index to
aw ait th e arriv al of inform ation enabling th e message to be
despatched and th e relatives to be inform ed.
The ICRC had nearly one million and a half P. 10,079 Cards
p rin ted in Sw itzerland and d istrib u ted in G erm any, by m eans
of its delegations. A num ber of G erm an welfare organizations
had sim ilar cards p rin te d locally ; th u s th e use of th e Red
Cross Message was widely spread.
The first cards filled in b y next of kin were retu rn ed to
Geneva in N ovem ber 1945. Up to Ju n e 30, 1947, th e Agency
had received 1,644,036, of which it was able to forw ard 806,793
to th e addressees.
The proportion of cards which could be forw arded decreased
as tim e w ent on. This m ay easily be understood if it be rem em
bered th a t th e num ber of relatives who had been able to m ake
179

co ntact w ith PW con stan tly grew, and th a t the P. 10,079 Cards
which reached the Agency concerned an increasing num ber of
m ilitary personnel, whom th eir relatives had h ith erto sought
in vain.
The system provided th a t next of kin could m ake use only
once of th e Red Cross Message. In practice, however, it often
occurred th a t two or three m em bers of the same fam ily each sent
in a message, in th e a tte m p t to get in touch w ith the same PW ;
th is com plicated the A gencys work and was likely to delay the
co ntact desired.
The Red Cross Message scheme enabled th e C entral Agency to
find a satisfactory solution to a problem as urgent as it was diffi
cult ; th e G erm an Section th u s g radually m astered a situation
which a t first sight appeared overw helm ing.
Thus, th an k s to Card No. 275, to the Red Cross Message,
and to the m eans of tra n sp o rt available to the Com m ittee,
a tw ofold stream of applications and inform ation was estab
lished by degrees, a t a tim e when exchange of messages or
inform ation by post was still impossible.

In flu x of Inform ation in bulk

D uring th e first m onths of the post-w ar period, inform ation
concerning hundreds of thousands of G erm an PW captured
b y the Allied forces in the final phase of operations and after
th e end of hostilities reached th e Central Agency only very
slowly. At th a t tim e, PW form ed a mass of men still on the
m ove and only provisionally encam ped, and the Allied m ilitary
a uthorities, who were them selves con stan tly shifting from place
to place, had th eir whole a tte n tio n tak en up by tasks (e. g.
PW food supplies, etc.) which were more urgent th a n the
counting of PW and the draw ing up of nom inal rolls. Moreover,
as seen below, th e Allies were a t th is tim e exam ining the question
of a d istinct sta tu s for m em bers of units who gave them selves
up in obedience to th e term s of surrender, and did not supply
lists of these men.
I t is tru e th a t this delay in the despatch of inform ation by the
180

official B ureaux 1 of th e three Allied W estern Powers, had

in fact little im pact on th e A gencys general Services or on the
Germ an Section, as th e y were com pletely absorbed in the work
of checking and handling the d a ta received earlier. Reference
has been m ade above 2 to the difficult situ atio n in which these
Services found them selves, from th e end of 1944, owing to
the increasing influx of inform ation.
This situation grew
steadily worse during the sum m er and au tu m n of 1945 ; it was,
indeed, a t about th a t tim e th a t th e flood of official lists and
id en tity cards from Allied sources reached its height, a t which
it rem ained thro u g h o u t 1946. To this was added the co n stan tly
increasing n um ber of applications (Cards 275 and P. 10,079)
reaching th e G erm an Section, th e handling of which occupied a
large proportion of the staff.
Owing to th e im m ense am ount of inform ation which reached
th e Agency (often m ore th a n a year a fter th e date of capture
or of death) th e tim e which elapsed before th e inform ation had
been copied on to cards and filed in the index gave rise to some
a nxiety. V ast q u antities of applications aw aiting action accu
m ulated in the card-index, and th e m ain d u ty of th e G erm an
Section a t th a t tim e, th e re-establishing of co ntact beetw een
PW and th eir relatives, was in danger of being fru strated .
If a serious setback was to be avoided, th e o u tp u t of work
in the Germ an Section had to be increased a t all costs. W hereas
th e long period during the w ar when G erm an losses were
relatively low7, had given th e Section tim e to develop m ethods
responding to th e needs and wishes of th e official bodies w ith
which it co-operated, the tu rn of events now m ade it a m a tte r of
urgency and necessity to adopt working m ethods which would
ensure a far greater ou tp u t.
The difficulties encountered were considerable. In th e first
place, th e inevitable dispersal of p a rt of th e staff a t th e end
of th e war and th e lack of train ed personnel to replace th em ;
in th e second, the gradual dim inishing of th e financial resources
1 A m erican official B ureau in F ran ce, B ritish B u rea u in L ondon,
a n d th e F re n c h B u rea u in P aris, to w hich w ere a d d e d la te r th e Allied
official B u rea u x in I ta ly (B ritish a t R im ini, a n d A m erican a t L eghorn).
2 See p. 164.
l8 l

of th e ICRC, which prev en ted an increase of staff. A lthough the

Germ an Section could not avoid a certain am ount of fluctuation
in its work and considerable delays, th e satisfaction rem ained
nevertheless, of having overcom e m ost of the obstacles it had
encountered. In no o ther N ational Section and a t no other period
of th e A gencys work betw een 1939 and 1947 did changes on
such a scale occur. This is illu strated by the following figures :
1944

T otal num ber of cards filed in

th e G erm an Section during
the y e a r ...................................
612,000
T otal m ail (num ber of items)
received by the Section d u r
ing th e year 1 ............................873,000
Average num ber of staff in the
Germ an S e c tio n
66

1945

1946

2,870,000 4,605,000

2,753,000 2,900,000
145

190

From 1944, the G erm an Section m ade use, to an increasing

e x te n t, of the very efficient help of the A uxiliary Sections
working for the Agency in other tow ns in Sw itzerland. This
form of aid was, however, still not enough. Since there was
a lack of staff available in Geneva, the Agency consulted
w ith th e m ilitary authorities, and from the au tu m n of 1945 set
up working team s am ongst the G erm an internees in Sw itzerland
a n d later, am ongst G erm an PW in a French cam p near Geneva.
These team s, often consisting of highly qualified men, gave
invaluable aid to the Section a t critical m om ents 2.
Transm ission of German P W M ail
D uring the sum m er of 1945 the Swiss Post Office inform ed
th e ICRC th a t more th a n 1,200 bags of m ail for Germ an PW
in France, G reat B ritain, Ita ly and the U nited S tates, were
held up in th eir offices a t Basle owing to the suspension of
1 T hese figures do n o t include item s received b y th e L ists S ection
a n d m e a n t for th e G erm an S ection.
2 See p. 92.
182

postal traffic w ith G erm any. The ICRC was therefore asked to
forw ard th is m ail to G erm any by its own tra n sp o rt, if possible.
The C om m ittee was able to give effect to this request, and the
Agency organized in Septem ber the sorting of the m ail by
postal districts.
Since it was impossible to u n d ertake this
am ount of work in th e Agency itself, it was e n tru sted , by
agreem ent w ith th e com petent authorities, to selected m em bers
of the G erm an forces in tern ed in Sw itzerland. As soon as it was
so rted , the m ail was sent to G erm any by R ed Cross vehicles and
th ere handed over to th e G erm an Post Office or to the censor.
In seven m onths, th a t is from O ctober 1945 to A pril 1946,
over six million letters and cards were th u s sorted under the
C om m ittees auspices and forw arded by its own tra n sp o rt.
The resum ption of postal traffic in April 1946 fo rtu n ately
relieved Geneva of th is additional burden.
Special Problems: Surrendered Enem y Personnel, and German
Civilians evacuated from Eastern Europe
A ny account of th e period which followed th e end of the
w ar would be incom plete w ithout reference to tw o categories
of w ar victim s which, th e one m ilitary, and the other civilian,
placed the G erm an Section before serious difficulties.
Im m ediately a fter the capitu latio n of th e G erm an A rm y,
m any more thousands of m en gave them selves to th e Allies, the
m ajo rity in obedience to th e term s of surrender. These units
were disarm ed and confined in certain areas. Since the sta tu s
of PW had not been gran ted by all th e Powers to these men
S E P or Surrendered E nem y Personnel, as th ey were to be
called late r th e G erm an Section received only scraps of
inform ation concerning them and had no m eans of m aking
enquiries about them . The Agency, owing to the flood of appli
cations from relatives who believed these men to be missing ,
was in a difficult position. I t had to content itself w ith the
occasional lists and news sent in by the G erm an com m andants
and cam p leaders of the huge regional encam pm ents in which
S E P were assem bled. The efforts of th e Com m ittee to secure
for them a sta tu s equal to th a t of PW were only p a rtly success183

ful, and did little to reduce th e A gencys difficulties. Indeed, it

was only by th e re tu rn of these men to th eir homes, a fter being
g radually released or converted into civilian workers, th a t the
S E P problem took its course tow ards a practical solution.
Germ an civilians evacuated from th e countries of E astern
E urope set problem s of various kinds for th e Germ an Section.
Its m eans of action were very lim ited, faced as it was by the
m ass transfers of G erm an-speaking civilians expelled from
Czechoslovakia, H ungary, Poland, R um ania and Y ugoslavia,
who cam e stream ing into G erm any where disorder reigned,
and b y th e flood of enquiries, often by wire, which accom panied
this exodus.
Searches, which in general had small chance of success,
im plied enquiring a t th e last known residence outside Germ any,
in order to try and follow th e trace of refugees to places of
assem bly, refuge or in tern m en t som ewhere in G erm any.
In Czechoslovakia, the delegation of the ICRC was able to
supply inform ation direct, in a few cases. L ater, th e com m unal
adm in istratio n offices (Narodny Vibor) undertook the task
of tracin g the G erm an civilians in th a t country. Im Poland,
it was not u n til 1947 th a t th e Polish Red Cross was able to
co-operate in th e search for Germ an civilians. Finally, in the
absence of m ore efficient m eans, and despite the u n c e rtain ty
of th is m ethod, th e Germ an Section frequently had recourse
to th e broadcasting of nom inal lists during th e especially
critical post-w ar period, and it m ust be said th a t this m ethod
gave useful results.
(2)

After Resum ption of the Postal Services with Germany

(A p r il i , i g46)
Increase in Flow of Enquiries

The official resum ption of a postal service betw een G erm any,
Sw itzerland and m ost o ther countries, brought the German
Section a certain relief, since it allowed th e direct and regular
forw arding of the great num ber of com m unications aw aiting
despatch to relatives. On th e o ther hand, this resum ption gave
rise to a v ast fresh influx of applications. Since the m ajority
184

of the 275 and P. 10, 079 Cards had u n til then still not been
answ ered, it was n a tu ra l th a t next of kin should avail th em
selves widely of the o p p o rtu n ity of w riting direct to the Agency.
A flood of letters, usually both long and urgent, and often
followed up, poured into th e Germ an Section, w hilst sta n d a rd
cards continued to arrive in steady volum e. The great pressure
of work laid on th e Section a t th a t tim e is clear from com parison
of th e following figures :
N um ber of Applications (Letters and Forms) received by the
German Section:
Average 1 9 4 2 - 1 9 4 4 ........................................
In 1945
In 1946

44,000
207.000
737.000

If it be rem em bered th a t hundreds of thousands of item s of

inform ation from Allied sources reached Geneva during the
sam e period, and th a t pressing reasons forbade an y increase in
staff, th e difficulties confronting th e Section m ay be realized.
A lthough, from th e au tu m n of 1946, an average of 1,000 tallies
a d ay had been reached, these were often quite obsolete, or
even c o n tra ry to actu al facts. Thus, in certain extrem e cases,
d a ta concerning the c ap tu re of a service-m an did not get into
th e index u n til a fter his release, which brought fresh enquiries
from th e relatives.
Inform ation also frequently becam e out of date owing to
th e fact th a t some detaining Powers, e. g. the U nited States,
began to hand over p a rt of th eir prisoners to other Powers, such
as F rance and th e B ritish Com m onwealth. These transfers
caused frequent m isunderstandings, since the U.S. au th o rities
described these men, who had in reality only been sent back
to E urope, as having been rep a tria te d , whereas th e PW
them selves, the Agency and next of kin gave th is term its tru e
m eaning.
Am ongst th e applications concerning service-m en, a p a rti
cularly large num ber related to those rep o rted missing on the
E astern front. As already stated , th e G erm an Section had
neither inform ation nor m eans of tak in g action in th is area, and
i

85

therefore endeavoured to dissuade the public, chiefly by p rinted

form s, from applying to G eneva an d referred it to the German
T racing B ureaux, described here.
The m ass of enquiries received by the G erm an Section did
not all relate to m em bers of the forces ; applications were m ade
to th e Agency in increasing num bers to trace civilians. This
activ ity , which did not come w ithin the Conventions, added a
good deal to the burden of work. Since th e end of the war, and
in G erm any itself, a whole netw ork of Suchdienste, or Tracing
Services, had been set up which were expert in this type of
tracing, and had extensive card-indexes a t th eir centres in
M unich and H am burg. The public was, therefore, not bound to
apply to the Agency in this m a tte r, as it was in the case of
tracin g m em bers of th e forces. The ICRC m ade im m ediate
co n tact w ith th e Suchdienste ; it offered th em advice, and gave
th e m stim ulus and su p p o rt in the co-ordination of th eir a c ti
vities. I t was th e hope of the C om m ittee th a t these officesw ould gradually tak e over from it the heavy burden of its work
in tracing civilians. At the same tim e, intensive publicity was
given by press and wireless to the fact th a t the G erm an public
would be well advised to apply to th e Agency only in cases
concerning m em bers of the forces.
Problem of unsolicited transm ission of information
by the Agency
The Central Agency was conscious of the heavy responsibility
resting on it owing to the existence in G eneva of a very large
am ount of inform ation still unknow n to next of kin, and was
increasingly concerned w ith the serious problem of how to
get it to G erm any as speedily as possible. As already stated ,
inform ation which had accum ulated in Geneva since A pril 30,
1945, owing to the dissolution of the G erm an official B ureau,
had since th a t d ate been com m unicated to next of kin only
when both application and inform ation cards came together
in the S ections card-index. A very considerable am ount of
d a ta could therefore not be forw arded.
The situ atio n was
especially serious concerning inform ation bearing on the deaths
186

of m em bers of th e forces ; as a result of th is in ab ility to com

m unicate w ith them , m any G erm an fam ilies, who h ad suffered
a loss m onths before, were still in a sta te of tragic unaw areness.
I t was, therefore, a m a tte r of necessity th a t local and regional
G erm an bodies should be able to ensure a t least th e distrib u tio n
to th e relatives concerned of th e m ost urgent inform ation,
th a t relating to deaths, u n til a C entral Office had been set up
which would replace th e form er official B ureau C
The Agency applied itself to this urgent problem from th a t
m om ent. W ith a view to hastening its solution, an expert of
th e Agency went to G erm any in th e sum m er of 1945 to inspect
some of th e m any regional organizations which had been set up
since th e war ended. A certain tim e was to elapse, however,
before a central body could be found which offered the necessary
guarantees and to which (after it had been duly recognized and
com m issioned by the Allied O ccupation authorities) th e Agency
could send its valuable d ata.
In A pril 1946, a fte r th e resum ption of the postal services
betw een Sw itzerland a n d G erm any, it was decided to wait
no longer, and to send unsolicited notifications of d eaths which
h ad accum ulated in th e Germ an Section since the end of the
w ar, and all those arriving later. These notifications were m ade
to th e burgom asters of th e places of residence of n ex t of kin,
whenever the address was known, an d these officials were
requested to have d e a th certificates draw n up by th e registrar
and conveyed to th e relatives. This m ethod seem ed to provide
sufficient security, in view of the official functions of th e burgo
m asters and of the existing possibility of reaching th em hence
fo rth direct by post. M oreover, a num ber of the burgom asters,
working in co-operation, had set up sm all com m unal offices.
W ith regard to notifications of death in cases where the address of
next of kin was unknow n, it was decided to forw ard these to
the Tracing B ureau of the B avarian R d Cross in M unich ; this
agency, th an k s to th e extensive card-index it possessed, seem ed to
1 T he G erm an R ed Cross, w hich m ig h t in p rin c ip le h av e been co n
sid ered as a c e n tra l b o d y fo r giving in fo rm a tio n to n e x t of kin, in fa c t
no longer ex isted in its c e n tralised form an d w as able to re -e sta b lish
itself o n ly slow ly a n d in som e of th e o c c u p atio n zones.
187

offer th e best chances of finding the relatives concerned. D uring

th e following m onths, a considerable p a rt of the work of the
Germ an Section consisted in sending out these notifications.
From this tim e onw ards a num ber of legal docum ents and
papers from PW were also forw arded to next of kin th rough th e
com petent D istrict Courts.
M eanwhile, it was discovered th a t the form er card-index of the
G erm an a rm y and a large p a rt of the staff of w hat had been the
W ehrmachtauskunftstelle or W AST (Germ an official B ureau),
had resum ed th eir work in the sum m er of 1945 under Am erican
supervision a t Ftirstenhagen, near Kassel ; th e y were tra n s
ferred, in th e spring of 1946, to the Am erican sector in Berlin,
and thence to F rohnau in the French sector, in the sum m er of
th e sam e year. There, under th e same of Office for liquidation
of the form er G erm an B ureau W AST 1, under French super
vision and com m issioned by the Inter-A llied Control Council,
th is office continued and com pleted, b y th e in term ed iary of
reg istars offices, notifications to th e next of kin, of deaths of
G erm an service-m en which took place before the end of the
war. The Agency was able to verify on th e spot th a t this
organization was working in a satisfactory m anner.
The
G erm an Section therefore decided in D ecem ber 1946 to cease
working th rough the burgom asters, and to rely exclusively 011
th e new W AST organization for forw arding all inform ation in
fu tu re on th e deaths of m em bers of th e forces.
As regards notifications of deaths, this decision restored in
fact th e norm al a c tiv ity and procedure of the Agency which
had been in te rru p te d since the close of hostilities. The German
Section handed over to W AST a t this tim e all papers in its
possession relating to th e deaths of unidentified m em bers of
th e forces. In m ost cases, the only indication found was the
regim ental num ber on the id e n tity disc, and W AST was alone
in a position to establish the id e n tity of th e deceased, th an k s
to th e card-index of the Germ an A rm y in its care.

1 A bwicklungsstelle der D eutschen Dienstelle f r die B enachrichtigung

der nachsten A ngehrigen von Gefallenen der ehem aligen D eutschen
W ehrm acht.

The Agency also handed over to W AST, during th e sum m er

of 1947, some 75,000 collections of personal effects of Germ an
m em bers of th e forces which had been sent to G eneva since
1945 by th e official B ureaux of several S tates x. A separate
dep artm en t was set up in W AST to tak e charge of handing over
all these effects to next of kin, besides those which it received
direct from different p a rts of th e world.
The v ery im p o rta n t problem of th e system atic transm ission
to G erm any of all d a ta which th e G erm an Section possessed
concerning th e deaths of m em bers of th e forces, was th u s
satisfactorily solved.
The Section continued, on th e o ther hand, to com m unicate
inform ation on G erm an PW only on request. I t was argued
th a t, by th e end of 1946, all next of kin, or nearly all, had been
able to re-establish co ntact w ith PW by post, and th a t any
regular forw arding of inform ation was no longer required.
B eginning of W inding-up
Owing to the rep a tria tio n and release of an increasing num ber
of PW , the situation of this category of w ar victim s tended to
rig h t itselt by degrees, and the duties of th e Germ an Section
were a t the sam e tim e lightened. These duties were also reduced
to a certain degree b y th e fact th a t cases relating to A ustrians
had been dealt w ith by an independent N ational Section since
the au tu m n of 1945, th a t those concerning m en from AlsaceLorraine were dealt w ith by the French Section, and those
concerning men of the South Tyrol by the Ita lia n Section.
D uring the first m onths of 1947, th e tran scrip tio n to index
cards of th e great volum e of inform ation received from the
Allied official B ureaux up to th e end of the previous year was
com pleted. T henceforth, th e G erm an Section, whose staff was
now being reduced 2, was able to devote the greater p a rt of its
tim e to correspondence and enquiries arising from th e great

1 See p. 79.
2 O n Ju n e 30, 1947 th e re were still 98 a s sista n ts in th e G erm an
S ection.
189

num ber of letters which were still coming in and which increas
ingly referred to com plicated cases.
I t was th u s n ot u n til over tw o years a fte r th e end of th e war
th a t th e largest of th e N ational Sections of th e C entral Agency
began to be w ound up, a fter a busy career of eight years, of
which th is rep o rt has given only an incom plete survey.

Spanish Section
Portuguese Section
Latin American Section

As soon as th e C entral Agency opened in Septem ber 1939,

a Spanish Section was form ed, which continued in fact th e
activities of the Spanish Service set up a t G eneva in 1936
a t th e beginning of th e Spanish Civil W ar 1. A t the close of
th e Civil W ar, in A pril 1939, a large q u a n tity of m ail continued
to reach th e ICRC from Spain and France. This correspondence
had reference not only to situations still arising out of th is
war, b u t also to cases of Spanish refugees in France, L atin
Am erica, th e USSR and o ther countries.
L ater, as the need arose, a Portuguese Section and a L atin
A m erican Section were set up. F or the sake of convenience, these
th ree Sections were grouped under th e same direction. 2
We shall consider separately th e work of each of these
Sections.
S p a n is h S ec tio n

In April 1939, a t th e end of the Civil W ar, about 500,000

Spanish R epublicans took refuge in F rance ; it was chiefly w ith
these men th a t the Spanish Section was concerned thro u g h o u t
th e W orld W ar.
From May 1939, a certain num ber of these refugees enlisted
in the French Foreign Legion, and th e Section u ndertook m any

1 T he a c tiv itie s of th e IC R C d u rin g th e S p an ish Civil W a r is th e

su b je c t of a se p a ra te re p o rt.
2 T he sta ff of th e se Sections n ev e r exceeded five persons.
191

enquiries ab o u t th eir fate. A still greater num ber were con

scripted by the French au thorities and detailed to groups of
foreign workers, b u t th eir sta tu s was never clearly defined. In
May and Ju n e 1940, a certain num ber were cap tu red by the
G erm an arm y, in tern ed w ith French co m b atan ts in PW cam ps
and rep o rted to the C entral Agency as Spaniards .
In 1942, the Agency learned th rough enquiries from relatives
th a t Spanish nationals were am ongst those in th e concentration
cam p of M authausen in A ustria ; it ascertained th a t am ongst
th em were a great m any of th e above-m entioned PW . It was
only a t th e end of th e war th a t it becam e known th a t 7,211
Spaniards had been deported to M authausen.
As in the case of deportees of all nationalities, th e ICRC m ade
rep eated efforts to learn th e nam es of these Spaniards and to
find out w hat had become of them , b u t no lists were ever sent
to th e Agency. Only a few messages were forw arded, and some
notifications of d eath were received in reply to the enquiries
m ade by th e Section.
On May 5, 1945, th e Spanish survivors of M authausen were
released by A m erican forces and soon afterw ards brought back
to France. One of them , who had been em ployed in the cam p
office, had succeeded in preserving the lists of nam es recorded
thro u g h o u t th e tim e th e Spaniards were held in cap tiv ity , and
was able to hand them over personally to the Agency. I t was
th u s know n th a t 4,813 deportees had died in c a p tiv ity in the
cam p. T heir nam es were a t once com m unicated to th eir next
of kin in F rance and Spain.
The num erous Spanish refugees living in France frequently
applied to the C entral Agency for help in g etting in touch w ith
th eir relatives in Spain. The Spanish Section th u s became
responsible for th e transm ission of messages and various docu
m ents.
There were, besides, enquiries concerning Spanish
children who had been harboured in various countries in the
course of th e civil war, and whose p aren ts had lost trace of
the.m. L astly, th e Section had to deal w ith cases of Spaniards
engaged in the forces of th e belligerents.

192

ortuguese

S e c t io n

As P ortugal was not involved in the war, th e Portuguese

Section had only a lim ited task.
It had to deal w ith a few cases of Portuguese seam en, chiefly
natives of Goa and D am ao (Portuguese India), serving on
B ritish m erchant vessels and cap tu red b y th e Germans. I t also
received lists of Portuguese m em bers of th e H ongkong
V olunteer Defence Corps cap tu red by th e Japanese, and
lists of Portuguese civilians living in refugee cam ps in the
F a r E ast.
Finally, it had to handle various cases of Portuguese civi
lians living in countries w ith which postal com m unications
were difficult.

L a t in A m e r ic a n S ec tio n

A fter the severance of diplom atic relations betw een th e

S tates of L atin Am erica and G erm any, Ita ly and Ja p a n , and
th e e n try into th e war of some of these States, th e Central
Agency had to extend its activities to nationals of these
countries.
I t was chiefly w ith civilians interned in th e Axis countries
and in J a p a n th a t the L atin Am erican Section was concerned.
Lists were received and forw arded to th e governm ents of the
countries of which th ey were citizens. In certain cases the
delegates of the ICRC inform ed Geneva of th e w hereabouts
of internees who were nationals of L atin Am erican States.
The Section was also concerned w ith seam en from th e A rgen
tine, Brazil and Chile, serving in the B ritish m erchant service,
cap tu red a t sea and interned in G erm any, and w ith South
Am erican airm en tak en prisoner while serving in the Allied air
forces.
We should also m ention the m em bers of the Brazilian E x p e
d itionary Corps who were captured, or who fell in action fighting
w ith th e Allied forces on the Ita lia n front. Their nam es were
ii.

13

193

com m unicated to th e Agency by th e G erm an Official B ureau

and forw arded to th e B razilian M inistry of Foreign Affairs.
Finally, all these civilian internees and PW frequently
requested the Agency to forw ard correspondence and news to
th eir families.

194

S c a n d in a v ia n

S e c tio n

This Section was set up in A pril 1940, at the beginning of

th e m ilitary operations which finally led to the occupation
of D enm ark and N orw ay by th e Germans. Its object was to
deal w ith cases of D anish and N orwegian nationals. A lthough
Sweden was not a t war, the Agency likewise had to handle
questions which concerned Swedish citizens, and for reasons of
language, th ey were also included in th e Scandinavian Section.
A fter th e landing of Am erican forces in Iceland (July, 1941),
th e Section also undertook the few cases relating to Icelandic
nationals.
Because of the p a rticu la r n a tu re of the w ar in D enm ark and
N orw ay, the Germ ans left the service men of these two countries
a t liberty. As Sweden and Iceland did not tak e p a rt in the
actu al fighting, th e num ber of cases affecting th eir nationals
w ith which the Agency had to deal was necessarily small. It
is not surprising, therefore, th a t the ac tiv ity of the Scandinavian
Section in behalf of D anish, Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic
nationals was not extensive.
The m ain ta sk was to search for m erchant seam en from
these countries, who were serving w ith th e Allies and about
whom th eir relatives in the hom eland had no news. The Section
also undertook to search for civilians residing in countries
w ith which th e Scandinavian countries no longer had postal
com m unications.
The Section served as interm ediary for passing on news
to the relatives of N orwegian and D anish volunteers fighting
w ith th e Allies, when these men were tak e n prisoner by the
Germans. I t underto ok a sim ilar task in the case of the small
195

num bers of civilian internees detained by b oth groups of

belligerents.
L astly, th e Section in stitu te d a great m any inquiries regarding
Norwegians an d Danes detained for political reasons and
im prisoned or deported by th e G erm ans. These inquiries, like
all others of this n a tu re , u n fo rtu n a te ly proved unavailing.

196

B e lg ia n

S e c tio n

L u x e m b u r g S e c tio n

B e l g ia n S ec tio n

The Belgian Section was set up on May 15, 1940, during the
E ighteen D ays Cam paign (May 10-28, 1940), when th e
G erm an W ehrm acht advanced from th e banks of th e Meuse
to the coast of th e N orth Sea.
M ilitary Personnel
D uring the days a fter th e capitulation, p a rt of th e Belgian
A rm y was sent in to c a p tiv ity in G erm any, where th e PW
tak en during th e operations were alread y in cam p.
N otifications by lists from th e official G erm an B ureau and
cap tu re cards were first received by th e Agency early in Ju n e :
the flood of inform ation reached its height in Septem ber. Many
applications from th e m ens relatives were received a t the
same tim e in the Belgian Section. In these conditions, and in
order to avoid too long a delay in replying to them , it was
decided to forw ard the inform ation given in th e cap tu re cards
direct to th e fam ilies concerned, w ithout w aiting for cards to
tally in the index. These notifications were sent a t th e ra te
of about 1,500 a week. At th is tim e, th e Section reached its
peak, w ith a staff of 27.
A considerable num ber of prisoners reported to the Agency
th a t th ey were w ithout news of th eir relatives ; hundreds of
thousands of Belgians, fleeing in disorder before th e invasion,
had found perm anent refuge across the Channel, or tem p o rary
shelter in th e N orth, and above all in th e South of France.
The search for these fam ilies called for a good deal of persever
ance, as the difficulties involved were considerable.
197

The general confusion was fu rth e r increased by the presence

in m any d ep artm en ts of the South of France of Belgian units
which had escaped before th e final occupation of th eir country,
b u t who were believed to have been tak e n prisoner w ith th e
m ain forces. W hen these u n its rep o rted them selves a t the
dem arcation line of the occupied Zone of France, in Septem ber
1940, th e y were for the m ost p a rt deported to G erm any and
in tern ed in cam ps. The to ta l strengh of Belgian PW was a t
a t th a t tim e 166,400, of whom 5,600 were officers. The rep a
tria tio n of the Flem ish PW in the spring of 1941 reduced this
num ber to 80,000, a fter which it did not appreciably dim inish.
D uring th e last m onths of the war, 76,000 Belgian PW were
still in G erm an hands, of whom 4,500 were officers.
The D etaining Pow er sent a copy of the official lists of inform
ation direct to the Belgian Red Cross in Brussels. The Belgian
Section had th u s only to forw ard to this organization the
results of its searches concerning missing m em bers of the forces
(a to ta l of more th a n 2,000 a t the end of 1941). These enquiries
were addressed to the N ational Red Cross Societies, chiefly
to th e B ritish, French, G erm an and th a t of the Belgian Congo,
as well as to the French prfectures and the Belgian Offices
in France, Morocco, P ortugal and Spain. Finally, the Section
devised a system of regim ental enquiries by m aking e x tracts
from th e official lists of officers and NCOs of Belgian A rm y
u n its and from these records questionnaires were sent to these
concerned for inform ation about the missing. On the basis of
these ex tracts, questionnaires relating to th e missing men were
sent to those concerned in th e camps.
An im p o rta n t ta sk of the Belgian Section a t this tim e was
th e checking of the m any lists of Belgian PW in G erm any to
whom relief organizations on the Congo wished to send parcels.
The object of this check was to establish the precise address
of th e consignees, as the lists gave only names, and the addressees
freq u en tly changed cam ps.
From 1943 onw ards, the work of the Section relating to
m em bers of the arm ed forces consisted m ainly in obtaining for
th eir relatives news of airm en and seam en who had joined up
in G reat B ritain, as well as the Belgian legionaries fighting
198

in th e Free F rench Forces, and to ensure th e exchange of corres

pondence, official docum ents, and various papers, betw een
P W in G erm any and th e ir relatives. Between the liberation
of Belgium and the end of the war, th e Agency alone in fact
was in a position to tak e charge of th is correspondence, as
com m unications betw een G erm any and Belgium were entirely
suspended.
In spring 1945, th e Section was fo rtu n a te ly in possession
of u p-to-date lists, which the Belgian cam p leaders h ad draw n
up a t its request. The delegation of the ICRC in Berlin, for its
p a rt, forw arded to G eneva a n y inform ation it had been able to
collect regarding transfers of PW and th e liberation of the
various cam ps by th e Allied arm ies.
Since the end of th e w ar, th e Section has a tte m p te d to obtain
inform ation regarding Belgian soldiers who were missing a fter
com pulsory recruitm ent in the G erm an arm ed forces.
Civilian Internees
The num ber of Belgian civilian internees was relatively
sm all : some hundreds a t M iranda de E bro (Spain), lists of whom
were n ot supplied to th e Agency ; ab o u t a h undred in th e F a r
E ast, under Japanese control, whose nam es were com m unicated
th ro u g h th e Belgian Section to th e Belgian A uthorities ; 230
m issionaries interned a t W ei-Shien ; and finally, a few
scattered thro u g h o u t G reat B ritain, Ita ly and N orth Africa.
The Section carried out th e transm ission of more th a n a
million messages betw een th e internees and th e ir relatives.
Civilians
U ntil 1942, an im p o rta n t place in its work was given to
non-interned civilians. D uring th a t period, th e Section was
busy searching for those missing a fter th e exodus of th e p o p u
lation in May 1940. To save tim e, it was necessary to open
enquiries, and som etim es follow them up sim ultaneously in
France, G reat B ritain, Spain, Africa and even America. The
Section w orked in close co-operation w ith th e Belgian Red
199

Cross and its delegations in th e Congo and elsewhere abroad.

Very satisfactory results were obtained in this way. D uring
th e whole period of th e war, the Section was responsible for
th e forw arding of docum ents of every kind, such as wills, certi
ficates issued by th e E ta t civil , bi-m onthly lists of deaths
in th e Congo, d eath certificates of Belgians killed in G reat
B ritain during th e air raids, and others.
Civilian Workers in Germany
The num ber of Belgian civilians em ployed in G erm any
am ounted to about 300,000. The Section was responsible for
th e forw arding of messages betw een them and th eir relatives
u n til th e beginning of 1945, b u t a fter this d ate th e m ilitary
operations allowed only occasional com m unications of th is kind.
Political Detainees
I t is estim ated th a t about 12,000 political detainees were
held in custody by th e G erm an au thorities in Septem ber 1944,
of whom 4,000 were on Belgian territo ry . E ighty-four per cent
of the applications forw arded to th e Germ an Red Cross by the
Agency rem ained unansw erd. O ut of 1,247 enquiries opened
on behalf of political detainees in G erm any, only 25 had a
positive result.
Internees in Concentration Camps
From 1943 onw ards, th e Belgian Section received a con
siderable num ber of applications from relatives concerning
deportees. A p art from these, the Belgian R ep atriatio n s Com
mission sent the Agency a to ta l of 10,000 cards of application.
All tallies established on th e basis of receipts for parcels 1
the only m eans of inform ation a t th e disposal of th e Agency
was passed on.
*

1 See p. 54.
200

The work of the Belgian Section m ay be sum m ed up in th e

fact th a t on Ju n e 30, 1947 its card index held more th a n
1,000,000 enquiry and inform ation cards. The lists of PW in
G erm any draw n up b y th e O K W and cam p leaders am ounted
to 67,000 pages. There were 50,000 individual files (service-men
and.civilians). The num ber of enquiries opened m ay be estim ated
at 150,000 or m ore ; the num ber of docum ents and messages
forw arded by the Section a t 300,000 ; the num ber of com m uni
cations of d a ta sent to prisoners relatives a t 100,000.
The average num ber of the staff was ten. In periods of
increased a ctiv ity , from tw e n ty to tw enty-five assistants, of
whom a th ird were voluntary, gave th e ir services to th e Section.

L u x e m b u r g S ec tio n

The work of the L uxem burg Section was closely related to

t h a t of th e Belgian Section and b o th were under th e sam e
m anagem ent.
Members of the Arm ed Forces
Soon after the occupation of the G rand D uchy of L uxem burg
on May 10, 1940, a large num ber of L uxem burg nationals were
deported to Germ any.
Some were enlisted in th e Germ an
L abour O rganization, others were sent to th e E astern territories
or to concentration cam ps. A th ird category, m ostly young men,
were com pulsorily enrolled in the W erhm acht. This last category
saw active service in all th ea tre s of war, and th e L uxem burg
Section learned through th e m ens relatives th a t several h u n
dreds of them were posted missing.
Enquiries set on foot by the Section were addressed to th e
G erm an Red Cross, which replaced the L uxem burg Red Cross
th roughout the occupation.
A t the beginning of 1946, all
applications concerning L uxem burg nationals enrolled in the
W ehrrnacht and to which th e Section was not in a position to
reply, were handed over to th e L uxem burg Commissioner for
R epatriation, who now had the ta sk of in stitu tin g enquiries in
all countries.
201

A certain num ber of L uxem burg nationals fought w ith the

Allies.
Those who were c a p tu red in 1940 w earing French
uniform were classed by th e G erm an au th o rities as French pri
soners of war, and th eir cases were dealt w ith a t th e Agency by
th e French Section. O thers who were not tak en prisoner during
th e B attle of France, enlisted in th e Foreign Legion and took
p a rt in th e m ilitary operations in N orth Africa. Those who
were c ap tu red were in tern ed in Ita ly and alm ost all were
la te r rem oved to G erm any. The Section dealt w ith the exchange
of news betw een the men in th e Foreign Legion or who had been
tak e n prisoner, and th eir relatives. N otifications of d e a th were
sent to th e G erm an Red Cross, w ith the request th a t the families
of the deceased be inform ed.
Civilians
As from May 15, 1940, the L uxem burg Section received
m any applications from persons who were anxious about th eir
relatives living in th e G rand D uchy. Sim ilarly, people in
Luxem burg were concerned about th e fate of relatives who had
tak e n refuge in France and G reat B ritain, or who had been sent
to G erm any as civilian workers. These cases usually had to
go th rough th e G erm an Red Cross. R equests were sent to it
for the necessary searches to be m ade, for th e com m unication
of reports on the results of such enquiries, and for the tra n s
mission of docum ents of all kinds.
The activities of the L uxem burg Section increased considerably
a t th e m om ent of the counter-offensive launched by the G erm an
arm y under Field-M arshal von R u n d sted t in D ecem ber 1944.
A large num ber of in h ab ita n ts of the G rand D uchy were then
rem oved to G erm any an d th eir fam ilies were left in a sta te of
great anxiety, as postal services were cut betw een the two
countries. The Section m anaged to trace a certain num ber of
th e persons concerned.
On Ju n e 30, 1947, the records of the
Luxem burg Section contained about 5,000 index cards and
1,000 individual files.

202

D u tc h S e c tio n

On May 10, 1940, th e G erm an forces crossed th e frontiers

of th e N etherlands and the D utch forces, com pelled to lay
down th eir arm s a fter five d ay s fighting, were dem obilized and
disbanded, whilst th e m ajo rity of th e prisoners were released.
The D utch Section, set up on M ay 13, 1940, first had to
arrange for an interchange of news betw een the N etherlands
and th e D utch who had tak en refuge in G reat B ritain, or those
living abroad, especially in the D utch E ast Indies. It also
had soon to trace civilians ; the D utch population was subjected
to heavy bom bing from the air, m ass evacuation for m ilitary
reasons, requisitioning of civilian workers, continual arrests
of hostages, an d the Jew s were deported.
In F eb ru ary and M arch 1942, the Indian Archipelago also
suffered w ar and invasion ; in the course of these, m any m em bers
of th e D utch m ilitary and naval forces fell into th e hands of
the Japanese. The Section henceforw ard had to deal w ith PW
and civilian internees in the cam ps of th e F a r E ast.
F or th e sake of clarity, the activities of the D utch Section
have been divided into those concerning events in E urope,
and those relating to operations in th e Indian Archipelago.

(A).

E v e n t s in E u r o pe

A fter the cap itu latio n of the D utch A rm y in 1940, the greater
p a rt of th e prisoners were released, w ith the exception of a few
hundred officers of the regular arm y. In 1943, however, th o u
sands of officers and NCOs were m ustered in assem bly cam ps
203

b y th e occupying au th o rities and sent to G erm any where, in

A pril 1944, th e num ber of D utch PW was approxim ately
10,000. The lists draw n up by th e G erm an H igh Com m and were
sent a t regular in tervals to th e Central Agency, which forw arded
p h o to sta t copies to London 1.
At th e same tim e, th e Section worked in close contact w ith
th e B ritish R ed Cross in searching for D utch seam en and airm en
who had joined th e R oyal N avy or the R .A .F. L ists of the dead
and missing were received from London, com prising about
2,500 nam es, which were com m unicated to the D utch Red
Cross a t The Hague.
The Sections work for civilians was especially heavy. Im m e
d iately a fte r th e events of 1940, telegram s by hundreds and
le tte rs by tho u san d s reached th e Section from the D utch E ast
Indies, S outh Africa, and Am erica, enquiring ab o u t th e fate
of people living in the N etherlands. In th e a u tu m n of 1940, two
delegates from the D utch Red Cross in B atav ia (Contact
B ureau), b rought to Geneva eight large m etal containers which
held 60,000 applications on index cards. B y J a n u a ry 1941, the
Section had tra n sm itte d 100,000 enquiries to H olland, and
had forw arded 63,000 positive replies to th e applicants.
The D utch population, as already m entioned, was especially
h ard hit by th e effects of th e war. D uring th e hostilities, a
to ta l of 570,800 civilian w orkers were rem oved to G erm any, to
th e P ro te c to ra te of Bohem ia and M oravia, or to Poland. From
th e end of 1944, when com m unications betw een G erm any and
p a rt of H olland had been severed, the D utch Section had to
serve as in term ed iary betw een th e civilian w orkers and their
relatives, by th e exchange of messages.
M oreover, num bers of D utch civilians were deported to
G erm any 2. In spite of all the representations which it m ade
in regard to this question, th e ICRC was not able to extend its
norm al assistance to this category of people. The Section was
1 F ro m O ct. 6, 1941, u n til S ept. 1944, to th e W a r Office. F ro m
A u g u st 27, 1943, u n til th e close of h o stilitie s to th e N eth e rlan d s M inister
of F oreign Affairs th ro u g h th e D elegation of th e ICRC .
2 A ccording to in fo rm atio n received a fte r th e lib e ratio n , th e n u m b e r
w as 214,000, in clu d in g 110,000 Jew s.
204

nevertheless able to register the nam es and addresses of a

great num ber of th e D utch deportees, th an k s to th e receipts
for the parcels sent by th e Com m ittee to th e concentration
cam ps, which som etim es cam e back bearing several signatures.
E nquiries received a fter th e liberation concerning D utch
deportees to G erm any were, from Decem ber 1945 onw ards,
forw arded to th e N etherlands R ed Cross a t The H ague, which
had set up a R esearch B ureau able to deal w ith enquiries of
this kind.
Of th e 10,000 D utch enrolled by th e W ehrm acht, about
3,000 were reported missing on th e E astern front. Since th e
C entral Agency received no inform ation from th e Soviet Union,
th e Section could not follow up enquiries ab o u t these men.

(B).

E v e n t s in t h e I n d ia n A r c h ipe la g o

In F eb ru ary 1942, th e Japanese forces landed in th e D utch

E ast Indies. The population had to endure th e hardships of
occupation ; thousands of settlers were arre ste d and p u t to
forced labour in B urm a or in Siam ; other thousands, including
women and children, were in tern ed in the cam ps of J a v a and
Sum atra. The work of th e D utch Section therefore increased,
as regards both civilians and m ilitary personnel, who were cut
off from any contact w ith the hom e country.
From M arch 20, 1942, u ntil a fte r th e end of hostilities, th e
to ta l figures given b y the Japanese official B ureau in Tokyo,
usually by cable, am ounted to 98,000, including 16,800 n o ti
fications of deaths 1.
The inform ation received was brief,
first nam es were often missing or were indicated by initials
only ; th e a rm y num ber, profession and n a tu re of illness were
given in phonetic Japanese in L atin characters, for which a
glossary of professions and m edical term s had to be made.
The applicants, for th eir p a rt, seldom gave precise details. The
su b stitu tio n of initials for th e real first nam e, or of dim inutives,
1 A t th e tim e of th e c a p itu la tio n , th e d a ta received b y th e S ection
h a d am o u n ted to 68,650, in clu d in g 3,540 n o tific atio n s of d e a th s.
205

a com m on practice in H olland, com plicated work on th e cardindex considerably. The D utch Section m ade a list of first nam es
and th e ir usual dim inutives, such as T ruus for G ertrude ; Bep
for E lizabeth ; R iets for F rederick ; K at, K atje, Catho, Trin,
T rientje, or Toosje for C atherine ; Cor, Cees, Koor, Kees, Nel
or Nelis for Cornelis, an d so on.
By p a tie n t and scrupulous work, more th a n 12,000 cards
were m ade to " ta lly up to 1945, and th e inform ation was
forw arded to the applicants.
P h o to sta ts of cables received from th e Japanese official
B ureau were forw arded a t regular intervals to th e D utch Red
Cross a t The H ague a n d in London, also to th e rep resen tativ e
of the D utch E a st Indies Red Cross a t M elbourne. W hen filing
th e inform ation, it was found th a t m any civilian internees
had already appeared on PW lists.
A certain num ber of civilian internees were able to send
news direct to th eir relatives in H olland, and thousands of
reply letter-cards, collected by th e Red Cross a t The Hague,
were received up to A pril 1944 for transm ission to th e D utch
E a st Indies. The inform ation supplied by this exchange of
m ail often led to tallies
and inform ation could th u s be
sent to applicants, especially in Sw itzerland, G reat B ritain,
A m erica and South Africa. Finally, it was som etim es possible
by th is m eans to com plete th e addresses of relatives in H olland.
Com m unications betw een th e N etherlands an d her overseas
te rrito ry having broken down, the Section received a consider
able num ber of requests for news concerning D utch nationals
presum ed in tern ed or prisoners of w ar in the territo ries occupied
by th e Japanese. T housands of enquiry form s were sent to
th e Jap an ese B ureau for m ilitary personnel, or to th e Japanese
R ed Cross for civilians, b u t th e results of these enquiries were
m ost disappointing.
On O ctober 5, 1945, th e first message from B atav ia, d ated
Septem ber 12, was received a t the Agency. A fortn ig h t later,
th e delegation of the ICRC in Cairo inform ed Geneva th a t th ey
could send th e C om m ittees m ail to the D utch E ast Indies.
*

206

The D utch Section, w ith an average staff of over 45 in 1943

and 1944, th u s had to deal w ith num erous task s of every
v ariety . They had m uch correspondence w ith the offices of
the D utch R ed Cross a t The H ague, in Curaao and Surinam ,
w ith th e Am erican, A ustralian and South A frican R ed Cross
Societies, as well as w ith th e N etherlands E m ergency Red Cross
C om m ittee, a com m ittee of th e D utch Red Cross set up in
London in May 1940. Up to Ju n e 30, 1947, th e Section had
received 211,000 lette rs and 12,000 telegram s ; it h ad opened
86,250 enquiries and forw arded 190,000 messages. B y this date,
its index-cards num bered 350,000.
In March 1943, th e records of the N etherlands Red Cross were
com pletely destroyed during heavy bom bing.
The C entral
Agency th en had p h o to sta ts m ade of all lists received in Geneva,
and th e D utch Section m ade duplicates of all correspondence
exchanged. These docum ents were sent to The Hague, th u s
enabling the N etherlands Red Cross Inform ation B ureau to
continue its work.

207

F rench

C o lo n ia l S e c t io n

The F rench Colonial Section was opened in Ju n e 1940, to

include all the cases of co m b atan ts PW , dead and m issing
n atives of the F rench Colonial E m pire 1. If th e rule followed
by th e Agency in establishing natio n al sections h ad been strictly
applied, this Section would have been properly em bodied in the
French Section. B u t for reasons which will be given fu rth er
on, and which were due b o th to th e in tricate n a tu re of the
questions involved, and th e large num ber of cases to be handled,
it was found necessary to open a Section independent of the
F rench Section proper, to deal w ith cases relating to natives.
The w ork u n d ertak en in G eneva for Colonial and N orth
African native co m b atan ts during th e w ar, in certain respects
exceeded th a t of the other n ational Sections, for tw o m ain
reasons : one, because th e w ork was done for people unfam iliar
w ith E uropean custom s and for the m ost p a rt illiterate ; the
other, because the very characteristics of these races dem anded
d istinct w orking m ethods.
The foregoing explains w hy the Colonial Section occupied a
place a p a rt in the Agency. W hereas the m ain n ational Sections
were s ta rte d so to speak autom atically when th e countries
concerned entered th e war, th e establishm ent of th e Colonial
Section was due ra th e r to an initiativ e of th e ICRC.
The rep o rt on the Colonial Section will therefore deal a t
length w ith its p a rticu la r task, th e peculiarities of its stru ctu re
and its working m ethods, which are not described in the first
p a rt of this volume.
1 In th is re p o rt, th e F re n ch C olonial S ection will be called Colonial
S ection ,
208

Besides th e receipt and transm ission of news supplied b y the

D etaining Power, th e work of the Colonial Section touched on
the following points :
(1) M aintenance of th e link betw een th e P W and his next
of kin ;
(2) Search for the missing ;
(3) Identification of the dead and notification to th e home
co u n try of deaths (with a duplicate to the F rench Etat
civil) ;
(4) Cooperation w ith G overnm ent agencies in F rance and in
th e colonies.
Of these four points, th e tw o first were am ong the usual tasks
of the Agency, whereas th e last tw o specifically belonged to the
Colonial Section.

O p e n in g

and

D ev elo pm en t

of

the

S e c t io n

A t th e outset of th e war, the cases concerning native PW

and missing were handled in the sam e w ay as those of F rench
PWT and missing ; b u t this m ethod soon had to be abandoned.
The lack of any Etat civil in certain countries 1, th e illiterate
condition of m ost of the n ativescertain tribes have even no
w ritten languageth eir countless nam esakes, and the fact th a t
the inform ation supplied by th e D etaining Pow er co nstantly
com prised d istorted nam es, led to m any errors and infinite
difficulties in the filing.
To m eet these serious draw backs, and to prevent the cards
referring to native soldiers being lost forever in th e French
card-index, a distinct Section was required, w ith experts having
a knowledge of th e languages, geography and adm inistrative
organization of the various p a rts of th e French Colonial Em pire.
The language difficulties encountered were so great th a t at
1 F o r in stan ce, in M orocco.
II. 14

20 9

one tim e th e ICRC considered the offer of the F rench authorities

in Morocco to organize such a section them selves. B u t this
course would have given an adv an tag e to co m b atan ts of Arabic
tongue over those of Negro Africa or of th e o ther French colonies
(Indo-China, M adagascar, th e W est Indies). It also had one serious
defect : during th e tragic m onth of Ju n e 1940, it seem ed as if
one day F rance would be separated from her colonies and
unable to com m unicate w ith them . The Agency could not
rem ain indifferent to th e fate of these men, th e more so as th ey
num bered a t th e tim e over 70,000, and appeared more helpless
th a n others, because so m any were illiterate. Thus it was
decided th a t th e Section would be organized a t G eneva itself,
an d th e decision was am ply justified by events. .
By Ju n e 1940, when th e Section was opened, all th e cards
belonging to n ativ e soldiers were w ithdraw n from the French
card-index and grouped into th e new Colonial Index.
A t the sam e tim e, a call w ent out for assistants who had
lived in th e countries concerned, both rep a tria te d Swiss and
form er legionaries in th e French colonial arm y ; of these about
fifty responded.
This large in itial staff is explained by th e fact th a t out of a
to ta l of roughly 80,000 cases of PW , dead and missing notified
to the Section during th e W ar, 60,000 were due to th e fighting
in F rance in 1940, and 20,000 only to all th e other cam paigns
together (m ilitary operations in Syria and M adagascar ; cam
paigns of th e Free French Forces in N orth Africa, Ita ly and
Corsica). The F rench cam paign of 1944 had h ard ly any effect
on the Colonial Section, as th e G erm an au th o rities gave no
inform ation about these men.

I n f o r m a t io n

and

Ca r d - I n d e x e s

The in itial work of the assistants was to check every nam e in

th e lists of PW and dead, and th e particu lars concerning the
missing, to correct errors in nam es, and to check and piece
together, w ith th e help of m aps and directories, th e addresses
of next of kin and the places of origin.
210

(A).

Basic Card Index

Once th is w ork was com pleted, th e basic Colonial Index was

established as follows in th e au tu m n of 1940 :
(1) Division by geographical regions, i.e., each of th e p rin
cipal colonies, groups of colonies, or F rench pro tecto rates had
a separate card-index. Thus there were : for N o rth Africa, an
index referring to Morocco, an o th er to Algeria and a th ird to
Tunisia ; for F rench W est Africa, a single index including
Senegal, F rench Nigeria, French Guinea, th e Iv o ry Coast, D aho
m ey, Togo and th e Cameroons ; th ere was an index for Indo-C hina
(Annam, Tonkin and Cochinchina), an o th er for M adagascar,
one for th e F rench W est Indies, etc.
(2) E ach regional index was subdivided according to m ilitary
units. Thus, th e index Algeria had subdivision : 1st Reg.
Algerian T ira ille u rs ; th e index F rench W est Africa had
a subdivision 14th Reg. Senegalese Tirailleurs , and so forth.
(3) W ithin each regim ent, classification was done by alp h a
betical order, according to parentage. F or instance, when filing
A rab nam es, M o h a m e d son of Miloud was placed before
" Mo h a m e d son of T ayeb .
The index dealt only w ith th e fighting in 1939-1940 ; it was
la te r found necessary, on technical grounds, to open independent
card-indexes for each cam paign : Syria, Free French Forces
(Tchad-Libya), M adagascar, etc.
(B).

Num erical Card-indexes

The Section was soon obliged, to m ake a strict check of

id e n tity possible, to supplem ent th e basic card-index by num e
rical indexes, established according to P W num bers and arm y
num bers. This cross-index scheme, in which several indexes
played th eir p a rt, was indispensable :
(a)
In th e case of th e num erical index according to PW
num bers, because th e G erm an authorities had solved th e native
language problem b y m aking num erical, and not nom inal
indexes ;
211

( b) In th e case of the num erical index according to arm y

num bers, because th e Ita lia n s gave no num bers to the native
PW tak en in Libya, b u t m erely registered their arm y num ber
on the cap tu re cards which th e y forw arded to Geneva.
These sam e PW , after the cap itu latio n of Italy , were sent to
G erm any, thence to France, th en back from F rance to G erm any,
provided this tim e w ith PW num bers. The la tte r however
were changed a t each transfer, which called each tim e for a
fresh and painstaking search in th e two num erical indexes.
This clearly shows the need for a double index.
A m ongst the linguistic problem s which confronted the
Colonial Index, the m ost in tricate was undoubtedly the
classification of A rabic nam es. In N orth Africa the ancien
Sem itic custom still prevails ; th e A rabs have, as a rule,
only first nam es : m o h a m e d , son of Hassen, son of Miloud
and so on.
These first nam es give rise to countless v aria
tions and derivatives.
Thus th e first nam e a m a r has
more th en
fifty of these, not to m ention the varieties of its
derivatives 1. In some cases the same m an was notified to the
Agency, either by himself, the cap to r S tate or the next of kin,
under ten or tw elve different nam es, w ithout any possibility,
at first sight, of knowing th a t it was one and th e sam e person.
An A rab m other felt very surprised th a t the Agency had not
y et found her son, for whom she had m ade seven enquiries,
each tim e under a different nam e !
To cope w ith the difficulties of filing and consequent errors,
an exact Table of V ariations and D erivatives of the chief
A rabic nam es had to be established, allowing th e m erging of
cards bearing th e derivatives of a nam e under th e chief nam e,
corresponding to th e basic form .
1 AMARA , AMA RI, AMM AR, A M E R , AM A IR I, A M E R I, A M E U R , AMIR , AMIRI,
A M I E U R , AMOR, AMORA, A MOUR, A M OURI, AMRI, AOMAR, AMAROU, AMROU ,
HAMAR, AOUIMAR, A OUIM EUR, HAM ER, HAM ERA, HAM ERI, H AIM EU R , AHMAR,
HAMOR, HAMOURA, HAMMOURI, HAMRA, HAMRI, HAMROU, HOMAR, HOMARI,
L A A M A R , L A A M A R A , LA A M A RI , L A M O U R , L A M O U R A , L A M O U I R , O U M E R , O MA R,
OMARI, OMEUR, OMEURI, OUMARI, AMRAOUI, HAMRAOUI, AMARAOUI, in
addition, th e m a n y varieties of th e deriv ativ es m a a m a r, a m r a n e an d
BOUAMAR.

212

E xam ple : U nder th e chief nam e a m a r were m erged the cards

bearing the nam es a m a r a , a m a r i , h a m o u r i , etc.
A sim ilar table, b u t draw n up by rule of th u m b , was also
established to help in th e filing of th e nam es of negroes from
W est Africa and from F rench E q u a to rial Africa.
W ith th e assistance of these working tools, th e F rench Colonial
Index reached such a degree of precision, th a t m ost of th e d a ta
in it could be used ; it becam e, and still rem ains, a centralizing
in strum ent, indispensable for th e F rench civil and m ilitary
governm ent dep artm en ts. To reach th is degree of efficiency,
no fewer th a n 800,000 cards had to be m ade out for a to ta l of
60,000 PW and 20,000 missing notified to Geneva.
The subdivision by cam paigns of th e indexes built up after
th e fighting in 1939-1940 proved m ost useful. The index of
Free F rench Forces , of which th ere could n a tu ra lly be no
duplicate in F rance during th e occupation, was in p articu lar of
great interest. The Free F rench authorities in London often
m ade use of its docum entation, and th e Colonial Section was
able to supply th em w ith m any particulars, especially on the
missing a fter th e cap tu re of B ir-H acheim by th e Axis forces in
Ju n e 1942. A bout a th ousand F rench colonial m ilitary per
sonnel of all races were c ap tu red at th e tim e in L ibya and tak e n
to Ita ly . W hen th e la tte r capitulated, about 150 of these men
found refuge in Sw itzerland, where th e y were interned.
As in the case of th e other natio n al Sections, th e Colonial
Section regularly sent to th e ad m in istratio n concernedin this
instance th e Secrtariat AE tat la Guerre in F ran cethe official
rolls com m unicated by th e detaining authorities. In addition, it
carefully noted thro u g h o u t th e whole of the w ar all particu lars in
these rolls, and was th u s able to establish the card-indexes m en
tioned above. U nder these conditions, it was th u s possible to
follow up the PW a t each tran sfer, send th em relief supplies, and
w ithin th e shortest tim e possible, notify th e various French
departm ents. The Section even w ent th e length of checking
the m ail of these men, to note where it cam e from , when
in 1944 official Germ an p articulars practically ceased to reach
Geneva.

213

st a b l ish m e n t

of

xternal

e l a t io n s

The Colonial Section being th u s organized internally, it sought

also to establish external contacts. Its first concern was to get
into touch w ith th e French M inisterial d epartm ents, the civil
and m ilitary ad m in istratio n in N orth Africa, the G overnm ents
General in th e Colonies and th eir representatives, the F rench
R ed Cross, the various relief com m ittees and th e occupation
A uthorities. As from 1941, it a tte m p te d to find correspondents
in all countries to which its work extended.
The F rench adm inistration being disorganized by th e invasion,
offices h ad to be opened in N orth Africa and th e Colonies, in
order to centralize all th e inform ation supplied by Geneva and
to com m unicate it to the n ex t of kin, which th e Agency often
h ad difficulty in reaching itself. These offices, working on the
spot, were able to supply th e required d a ta to th e Agency, and
to help in searching for th e missing and in identifying the dead.
As a rule these a tte m p ts were successful, and close and
continuous contact was established w ith N orth and W est
Africa. R elations w ith Indo-C hina, M adagascar and the French
W est Indies were more difficult to set up owing to the b reak
down of postal services, an d were m aintained only a t the cost
of constant effort.
Parallel to the card-indexes, tw o subdivisions were established
to com plete the organization of the Colonial Section : the
Secretariat and the Deaths Service.

S e c r e t a r ia t

Its ta sk was to establish and to m aintain by all m eans the

link betw een th e PW and his next of kin.
Illiteracy precluding all direct correspondence, there was no
question of w riting to a n ativ e as to an E uropean. The a u th o r
ities under whom he was, or the relief societies who helped him,
had to serve as interm ediaries. F or the PW himself, this
essential in term ed iary was th e spokesm an or the cam p com214

m ander ; for th e next of kin, it was th e R ed Cross or the

adm in istratio n of the co u n try or area concerned.
Moreover, th e PW often gave as an address only th e nam e of
th e chief of the geographical subdivision (caidat, cheikhat,
district) from which he came. Search had therefore to be
m ade for the area in which these subdivisions were located ;
th e messages for th a t area were grouped, and th en sent
to the civil or m ilitary ad m inistration, who undertook to
deliver them . The d u ty of these officials was not easy, especially
if th e relatives were m em bers of nom adic tribes. The answers
were sent to th e Colonial Section, who undertook to com m unicate
them to the PW . The native, as a general rule, resents any
E uropean interference in his life, b u t he quickly grew to u n d er
stan d th a t it was nevertheless in his in terest to write, or have
someone w rite for him.
An average of 4,000 to 5,000 letters per m onth th u s passed
th ro u g h Geneva from 1941, and increased steadily up to twice
th a t figure in the following years.
The natives became
accustom ed to the care of th e ICRC, and brought the Com m ittee
all th eir problem s to deal w ith. All these problem s, from the
g ravest to the seem ingly m ost trivial, were in fact studied and
solved w ith th e sam e care. Thus the m orale of the PW was
kept up during c a p tiv ity and th eir interests safeguarded..
W ithout alw ays understanding w hat th e R ed Cross was, th ey
called it My dear M other, Miss Geneva, Mr. C om m ittee and
showed th eir g ratitu d e in very touching fashion.
As from 1942, alm ost all th e P W mail from native xroops or
addressed to them , passed th rough Geneva. To the m ail for
PW of I939 and 1940, there was soon added m ail from the men
who had belonged to the Free F rench Forces, or who had, on
the contrary, fought against th e Allies. The form er were PW in
Italy , the la tte r in E ast Africa, the Middle E ast or the U nited
S tates of America. The C om m ittees delegations abroad were
th en able to render the g reatest service to th e Colonial Section.
T hey were used as postal relays, when war operations and the
break-dow n of o rdinary connections m ade it necessary. Con
ta c t was th u s m aintained by every m eans possible.
At a tim e when it was impossible to send on original letters,
215

e x tra cts were listed. These lists were handed to delegates

leaving on missions, or were sent in several copies and by
different routes to th e local authorities, who were responsible
for com m unicating them to th e n ex t of kin.
L astly, in 1942 and 1943, broadcasts were organized through
th e F rench R adio to give news of Indochinese PW to their
relatives. The Colonial Section m ade up fifteen-w ord messages
from th e letters of these m en to th eir families. These broad
casts were afterw ards suspended by the occupation authorities
in France, b u t were resum ed in G eneva by the ICRC in 1945,
th u s giving rapid inform ation to next of kin in Indochina of the
liberation of th e Indochinese rep a tria te d th rough Sw itzerland.
In addition to transm ission of PW mail, th e Secretariat m ade
m ore th a n 20,000 individual inquiries during th e w ar (search
for PW or service-m en whose relatives were w ithout news of
them , m atte rs of release, allowances, divorce, etc.). E ach
in quiry involved m any steps, and called for th e g reatest care.
The m a tte r of these inquiries, though not alw ays belonging
to th e province of th e ICRC, h ad nevertheless to be handled
for various reasons ; the m ost im perative of these was the
disruption of com m unications betw een F rance and her E m pire
in 1942. The dispersion of French governm ent services called for
a coordinating body, and the Colonial Section was th a t body.
The M inistry of W ar, in p articular, co n stan tly tu rn e d to it for
help, since the records of the n ativ e regim ents had been taken
back to th e colonies of origin in 1940.
A subdivision of the S ecretariat, the G erm an Enquiries
service, had the exclusive ta sk of handling correspondence w ith
th e OKW , th e G erm an Red Cross and th e cam p com m anders.
The extrem e m obility of th e labour detachm ents (to which
m ost of th e nativ e prisoners were assigned and which were
brought back from G erm any to F rance in 1940, a t th e suggestion
of th e ICRC, on account of th e more tem perate clim ate), and
th e co n stan t transfers of these men, which were not alw ays
notified to Geneva, necessitated a great m any enquiries. D espite
these m ovem ents, the location of the PW was followed up, as
far as possible, and steps were tak en th a t the G eneva Convention
should be applied and the situation of the PW im proved.
216

eaths

Ser v ic e

This service, which began w ork in the beginning of 1941,

undertook the task of looking for the missing who were presum ed
dead and of th eir identification. If requested by th e French
Etat civil, it saw to the notification of deaths to next of kin
through the appropriate local authorities (Red Cross, civil or
m ilitary adm inistrations).
The work of the D eaths Service was all th e m ore arduous
and its responsibility all the greater, as investigations h ad to
be conducted and identification to be carried out of dead, on
w7hose bodies only th e scantiest d a ta had been found (piece of
id e n tity disc, num ber, som etim es a nam e). Use was m ade of
in adequate or disto rted inform ation sent to G eneva b y the
G erm an authorities or th e local m ayors : this was often m erely
th e indication unknow n coloured m an or unknow n
negro . These particulars were tran scrib ed by the Section
on cards, and were specially classified. The D eaths Service
then subdivided its card-indexes according to th e kind of d a ta
which reached it. Thus, there were set up in parallel fashion :
an alphabetical index, an index based on countries and arm y
num bers, and if th e origin of the deceased was unknow n, an
index according to arm y num bers alone.
It m ay be added th a t all d eath notices, including those of
PW , entailed additional investigation to ascertain th e exact
id e n tity of th e deceased 1.
As to th e missing about whom nothing was known, th e
Deaths Service undertook system atic investigations ; th e m ost
successful of these was th e regim ental enquiry , which was
already in use in th e F rench Section.
The illiteracy of th e natives prevented th eir giving personal
inform ation about th eir missing com rades : th u s, the Section
tu rn e d for evidence to their F rench officers and NCO, preferably
those whose ran k brought them into closest contact w ith their
men. The following m ethod was em ployed :
1 In p a rtic u la r a t th e F re n c h " B u rea u x liq u id a te u rs .
217

(1) Lists of the missing who had belonged to the same com
p a n y of th e same regim ent were m ade up :
(2) W ith the help of the M inistry of W ar and of the overseas
G eneral Staffs, a search was m ade for th e surviving officers and
NCO who had com m anded these com panies :
(3) E ach of these officersm ost of them were in c a p tiv ity
received a list of the missing who belonged to their u nit : th ey
were asked to supply relevant inform ation.
These regim ental enquiries helped to clarify a large num ber
of cases of missing ; through a system of cross-checking of the
testim onies received, th ey m ade it possible to recognize the
routes followed by th e units during the fighting. B y questioning
th e m ayors of the com m unes situ ated along these routes,
unsuspected burial places were discovered, and other identifica
tions m ade. Thus, the a n x iety of m any fam ilies was relieved,
and th eir legal position could be established. As an exam ple,
one investigation alone resulted in th e discovery of 38 graves.
The Colonial Section also carefully listed th e graves throughout
all th e com m unes of F rance where fighting had tak en place,
and th u s built up an index of com m unes which proved an
invaluable aid in its work.
The m ost reliable m eans of identifying the native who has no
tat civil is inform ation from his regim ent, and in particular,
his a rm y recruiting num ber. F or this reason it was indispen
sable to work in cooperation w ith the m ilitary a u th o rity under
whose orders he had been. A special working procedure was
therefore adopted : the so-called S huttle lists .
These were rolls bearing the nam es of missing co m b atan ts
and th e particu lars available about them , arranged according
to countries and regim ents. They were draw n up by the
General Staff in the co u n try of origin and travelled back and
fo rth betw een the Staff and Geneva, each of th e parties pro
ceeding m eanw hile to m ake investigations, checking inform ation
w ith particu lars already available and m aking notes on the
lists a t each passage, u ntil the m issing had been found and
identified.
218

I t should be pointed out th a t am ongst these supposedly

missing men, there were m any natives who th rough laziness or
for some o ther reason, h ad given no sign of life. Thus, in 1942,
when 5,000 Tunisians were rep a tria te d , 400 of them who had
been rep o rted as missing, landed safely in th eir country.
O ther m istakes frequently occurred, as a result of n ativ e
custom s. F o r instance, a M oroccan who for some reason had
sold or lent his coat or id e n tity disc to a com rade, would never
recover these articles from th e dead body of th e la tte r, because
according to nativ e belief, he who takes an article from th e body
of a m an killed in b a ttle will himself fall m ortally wounded. In
such cases, the inquirer was led com pletely astray, and th e whole
work of investigation and identification had to be done again.
D espite these difficulties, th e m ajo rity of c o m b a tan ts who
died on th e battle-field or in c a p tiv ity , an d whose deaths had
been notified to th e Colonial Section, were identified. Thus
identification was carried out for 80% of th e T unisians a n d
75% of the Moroccans.
O ther lists, called " stateless , were established b y the
Section and were sent from land to land by the com petent
au th o rities of the various p a rts of th e F rench Em pire. They
contained particulars about dead co m b atan ts whose origin was
unknow n, and the authorities nam ed endeavoured to trace
th eir own nationals.
Each of these tasks, of which the foregoing gives only a brief
picture, entailed a considerable am ount of investigation,
checking, counter-checking and analysis.
F rom 1941, the D eaths Service was asked by th e F rench Etat
civil to notify the next of kin of th e deaths of native troops
which came to the Services notice. This was done through
the m ost appropriate channels in th e countries of origin : the
civil or m ilitary adm inistration, th e F rench R ed Cross in N orth
Africa, th e G overnm ents General or th eir representatives in the
colonies. The num ber of deaths th u s notified am ounted to
15,149 during the war.
Besides being active from th e beginning in th is work of
notification, th e D eaths Service of the Colonial Section becam e
an indispensable tool to the F rench agencies on th e d ay when
219

F ran ce was com pletely severed from her Em pire, i.e. in

N ovem ber 1942. F o r instance, a large num ber of native PW ,
released as unfit for m ilitary service, died in F rench hospitals
betw een 1942 and 1945. The hospitals, which were no longer
in a position to do so them selves, asked G eneva to com m u
n icate th e deaths of these m en to th eir next of kin. The same
occurred in 1944, when th e m o rta lh y am ong native PW in
Germ an hands increased considerably, as a result of the evacua
tion of th e cam ps and air bom bardm ents.
D uring this period, th e Colonial Section was the sole link,
n ot only betw een the governm ent services in the home co u n try
and those in overseas territories, b u t also betw een these services
or th e next of kin, and the n ativ e PW . The D eaths Service
th en really took the place of th e F rench Etat civil ; it established
tem p o rary records, a n d held in G eneva the original d eath
certificates, of which p h o to sta ts only were sent to the next of
kin, because of th e u n c e rtain ty of postal com m unications. The
Section showed th e greatest caution in com m unicating to
occupied F rance th e deaths of n ativ e Gaullist soldiers, or to the
countries connected w ith the Free French Forces, those of
natives enrolled in th e Wehrmacht, since natives were associated
w ith every phase of th e conflict in which F rance had a part,
and were found as prisoners of w ar in K enya, South Africa,
th e U.S.A., Italy , and even as internees in Sw itzerland.
The D eaths Service of th e F rench Colonial Section was thus
led to extend its activities beyond the field of th e Agency
proper. The disorganization in France, which deprived th a t
co u n try of her m eans of action and her archives, m ade it im pos
sible for her during th e war to cope w ith the com plex and
in tric a te ta sk of searching for and identifying the dead am ongst
th e n ativ e troops.
W ithout the in itiativ e of the ICRC, a
large num ber of these dead would have rem ained nam eless
and th eir next of kin would have lived on in u n certainty.
A m ongst th e docum ents preserved in th e records of the
Colonial Section, not th e least m oving are th e acknow ledgm ents
of d e a th notices from the m ost rem ote p a rts of the French
E m pire, sim ply signed w ith a m ark or a finger-print.
*

220

W hen F rance was liberated, the m anagem ent of the Colonial

Section got into touch w ith th e M inistries in Paris and other
offices which would be able to continue th e w ork un d ertak en
in G eneva during th e war. The Section realized th a t th e la tte r
were not yet in a position to do so, and th e ICRC therefore
decided to continue to assist them for some fu rth e r tim e.
D uring th e period which followed, the Secretary for the Colonies
used th e docum entation of th e Colonial Section to m ake out
the budget of pensions and of bonuses due to form er Colonial
PW , and the F rench R ed Cross in Algeria consulted its records
to com plete its own.

221

I ta lia n S e c t io n

The Ita lia n Section was opened on Ju n e 20, 1940, ten days
a fter I ta ly s e n try into th e war. From th e w inter of 1940-1941
onw ards it was extrem ely active, and th ere was to be no decrease
in its w ork up to th e end of hostilities. B oth on account of the
volum e of work handled and the num ber of its staff, th is becam e
one of th e A gencys m ost im p o rta n t d epartm ents.
The tre n d of th e m ilitary operations was not th e only cir
cum stance which influenced th e grow th of the Section and which
caused it to be confronted by new duties and ever-increasing
difficulties. C ertain political events also reacted profoundly
on its work. I t will suffice to recall th e critical and dram atic
events in the sum m er of 1943, which led to the division of
Ita ly into two hostile cam ps, to im agine th e in tric a te n atu re of
some of the problem s encountered by th is Section.
The year 1943, which m arked a veritable tu rn ing-point in
Ita lia n histo ry during the w ar years, sim ilarly affected the life
of th e Ita lia n Section during th is same period and divided it
into tw o d istinct p arts.
(1) The period from Ju n e 1940 to Septem ber 8, 1943, date
of th e arm istice concluded betw een Ita ly and the Allied Powers.
D uring these three years, Ita ly , under a single governm ent,
fought on th e side of G erm any against th e Allies. This phase
was m arked by a m ilitary and political situ atio n which was
m ore or less clear.
(2) The period from Septem ber 1943, u n til th e cap itu latio n
of th e Axis forces in Ita ly on May 2, 1945, during which th e
situation was far m ore com plicated. The occupation by the
Germ an A rm y of a large p a rt of th e country, and th e decla222

ratio n of w ar on G erm any by th e Ita lia n G overnm ent in the

south, divided Ita ly into two hostile cam ps, sep arated from one
an o th er by the b a ttle front. W hereas in th e south, th e forces
which had rem ained under th e G overnm ents orders resum ed
th e fight a t th e side of th e Allies, in th e n o rth , the N eo-Fascist
Republic was set up, w ith th e object of continuing the w ar on
th e side of th e Reich.
These tw o m ain phases, covering th e period of hostilities
were followed by th e th ird , th e post-w ar period. The ta s k of
th e Ita lia n Section in connection w ith th e rep a tria tio n of
Ita lia n prisonerswhich required several m onths for its accom
plishment-and the identification of the dead, prolonged its
work for more th a n tw o years a fter the end of th e war.

I.

F r o m I t a l y s
to

the

e n t r y in t o t h e

ar

(June

io

, 1940)

A r m is t ic e w it h t h e A l l ie d P o w e r s
(S e p t e m b e r 8, 1943)

D uring th is phase the Ita lia n Sections m ethod of work

had to be a d ap ted to th e directions given by th e Fascist G overn
m ent to th e Ufficio Prigionieri di Guerra in Rom e, th e official
inform ation bureau set up by th e Ita lia n Red Cross. The U PG
served th ro u g h o u t this period principally for the receipt of
inform ation sent by the Agency regarding m em bers of th e
Ita lia n forces c ap tu red b y th e enem y, those who had died in
enemy hands, or interned Ita lia n civilians.
D uring the early m onths of th e war, th e UPG was a p p a re n tly
ham pered by these governm ental instructions, and could not
tak e full advantage of th e d a ta received from G eneva ; it was
therefore unable to pass on prom pt a n d accurate news to the
next of kin. Those who know th e very strong feelings of th e
Ita lia n people in everything relating to fam ily life will easily
im agine th e effect which this lack of news had upon th e p o p u
lation. As th ey received no official notification, th e relatives
tu rn e d n a tu ra lly to th e Agency, which alone was able to relieve
th e ir an x iety ; th e Ita lia n Section was th u s in u n d ated w ith
inquiries. W henever it could supply th e required inform ation,
223

it did so. This great volum e of correspondence betw een Ita lia n
fam ilies and th e Agency was, however, rem arked by th e Ita lia n
authorities, who were opposed to it.
A fter discussion w ith th e representatives of th e UPG, the
ICRC was obliged to cease replying direct to fam ilies when
applications m et w ith th e first official inform ation contained
in th e card index. F rom th a t tim e, th e Ita lia n Service sent the
replies to such enquiries to the UPG, which had und ertak en
to tra n sm it th em to th e families in th eir original form . At the
sam e tim e, th e U PG still acting on th e G overnm ents in stru c
tions, conducted a vigorous cam paign to persuade th e Ita lia n
people to address their applications direct to its offices, and
not to th e C entral Agency.
Finally, the Ita lia n censorship
sim ply retu rn ed all such letters to the senders, w ith the request
th a t they address th eir inquiries to th e official B ureau in Rome.
A fter this, the U PG reserved to itself th e rig h t to apply to
th e Agency, in order to com plete its own p articulars, and charged
it to convey enquiries to the detaining Powers concerning the
fate of missing co m batants, or of PW who had not w ritten for
a long tim e.
To give an accurate idea of th e evolution of the Ita lia n
Section, th e principal m ilitary events in Ita ly should be followed
in chronogical order.
Sum m er 1940,
From th e first days of the war, th e Ita lia n Section enquired
into the fate of Ita lia n airm en reported m issing in the Medi
terran ean , of Ita lia n m erchant seam en c ap tu red by the B ritish
forces, and of Ita lia n civilians interned in G reat B ritain, the
Com m onwealth, or B ritish m andated territo ries. Following on
the signature of the F ran co -Italian arm istice of Ju n e 24, and
up to th e w ar w ith Greece, the B ritish Com m onwealth was the
only rem aining adversary of Italy .
At th e end of Ju n e, and during J u ly 1940, Ita ly suffered its
first naval reverses in the M editerranean. The Section a t once
received large num bers of applications from next of kin of the
crews of the ships which had been sunk. The nam es of the
224

survivors c a p tu red by the B ritish were telegraphed to Geneva.

These wires gave only the surnam e and first nam e and ran k of
the P W ; in m any cases the nam es were m isspelt. The Section
at once found itself confronted w ith v ery serious practical
difficulties. N um erous enquiries had to be m ade, often b y wire,
in order to id entify survivors and obtain some enlightenm ent
regarding th e missing. The Section then began th e practice
of questioning survivors regarding missing com rades.
In th e sum m er of 1940 th e Ita lia n land forces s ta rte d to
a tta c k on the confines of L ibya and E g y p t. T hey also advanced
into B ritish Som aliland, which th ey occupied. This was a brief
period of relative calm for th e Section, during which it was able
to perfect its organization. From O ctober 1940 onw ard, a series
of naval b attles took place in th e M editerranean and on
O ctober 28, 1940, Ita ly and Greece were a t war.
The Greek Cam paign (October 1940A pril 1941).
The Ita lia n forces, a fte r initial successes, were th ru s t back
by th e Greek A rm y into A lbanian territo ry , where b itte r
fighting ensued. G reat num bers of Italian s were tak e n prisoner.
The Greek Red Cross, acting as the official inform ation bureau,
supplied Geneva w ith accurate and detailed PW lists, and sent
thousands of messages addressed by th e m en to th eir relatives.
The Ita lia n Section, for its p a rt, in stitu te d yet m ore enquiries
concerning the missing, wounded, and dead, supplied inform a
tion and tra n sm itte d messages to next of kin.
In M arch 1941, G erm an forces cam e into action on the Greek
front, and shortly a fter the Greek A rm y capitulated.
N ot all the Ita lia n PW in Greek hands were released, however,
when th is happened. D uring th e la tte r p a rt of th e hostilities
th e Ita lia n officers had been rem oved to Crete, whence the
B ritish au th o rities took them to E gypt.
*

A large p a rt of th e Ita lia n PW from th e various th ea tre s

of war were assem bled in E g y p t, and afterw ards transferred
11.15

225

to In d ia, South Africa, A ustralia, or G reat B ritain.

These
rem ovals began in 1940, and continued thro u g h o u t 1941 ; th ey
were pursued on an even greater scale in 1942.
The C om m ittees delegates in In d ia, on th eir first visits to
th e cam ps, drew up lists of th e Ita lia n PW , and these were the
first inform ation received by the Agency regarding these men.
C apture cards and official lists did not arrive u n til m uch later.
F irst B ritish attacks in Cyrenaica
(Decem ber 1940 F e b ru ary 1941 ; Novem be r i 9 4 i J a n u a ry
1942).
On D ecem ber 9, 1940, th e B ritish forces a tta c k e d th e Italian s
in th e vicinity of th e E g y p tian border. The offensive continued
u n til F e b ru ary 1941, and led to th e occupation of the entire
coast of Cyrenaica. In desert w arfare, large num bers of PW
are liable to c a p tu re as soon as th e lines of com m unication are
c u t. At th e end of D ecem ber 1940, th e first telegram s giving
th e nam es of Ita lia n PW were received from the Prisoner of
W ar In form ation B ureau, 2nd E chelonthe official B ritish
inform ation b u reau for th e Middle E ast, opened in Cairo in
O ctober 1940 1.
There was a m arked increase in th e am ount of inform ation
received in J a n u a ry 1941 ; during th is period, th e Ita lia n
Section received up to 120 telegram s in a single day, containing
th e nam es of over 10,000 PW . This inform ation was a t once
dispatched to Rom e, so th a t relatives m ight be inform ed
w ithout delay.
In order to gain a tru e idea of the am ount of work devolving
upon the Ita lia n Section a t th is tim e, it m ust be rem em bered
th a t these d a ta had to be entered on cards, and the la tte r filed
im m ediately, so th a t th e y m ight be checked w ith the applica
tions for inform ation on th e index.
The cables from the official B ureau in Cairo gave neither the
place, nor th e date of b irth of PW . These essential details were
1 U p to th is d a te , th e C o m m itte es d e leg a tio n in Cairo had u n d er
ta k e n th e ta s k of c o lle c tin g all a v a ila b le in fo rm a tio n co n cern in g Ita lia n
P W , for tra n sm issio n to th e A g en cy .
226

forthcom ing only when th e Section received the detailed lists

draw n up by th e B ritish au th o rities, and which confirm ed and
com pleted th e telegram s. U nfortunately, th e establishing of
these lists was often delayed, owing to sudden large influxes of
new PW . P ostal com m unications were slow, and prolonged these
delays still fu rth er. The inform ation received by wire was passed
on to enquiries w ith th e necessary reservations ; in th e circum
stances, th e Section had to telegraph to Cairo for additional
details in m any doubtful cases. A great m any enquiries were
also u n d e rta k en to discover th e fate of missing men whose nam es
were not yet m entioned in th e wires frorn the Middle E ast
B ureau.
This B ureau kept G eneva regularly supplied w ith telegraphic
inform ation concerning th e condition of sick or wounded PW
in hospital, inform ing it when a sick PW was no longer " dange
rously , b u t seriously ill, or vice versa. The Section sent
all these d a ta to Rom e .at once, likewise notifications of deaths
wired to Geneva and subsequently confirmed th rough death
certificates m ade out by the B ritish authorities.
W hereas th e Ita lia n Section was concentrating all its efforts
on these tasks, th e first letter-bags from Ita lia n PW to th eir
fam ilies reached Geneva from Cairo. Up till then, mail from
Ita lia n PW in th e Middle E a st had been held up in E g y p t, as
th e postal au th o rities were unable to forw ard it to Ita ly . In
th e sum m er of 1941, th e C om m ittees delegate in Cairo a t last
m anaged to send th is m ail to Sw itzerland, using for the purpose
th e special courier available to the delegation.
The Section a t once took th is o p p o rtu n ity to com plete its
records, and th u s m ake up for the b rev ity of the original c ap tu re
telegram s. The nam e and first nam e of PW w riting th e letter,
his rank, PW num ber, and address in cap tiv ity , as well as his
home addressa detail of p articu la r im portance for identifi
cation purposeswere entered on cards and filed. The work
had to be done quickly, for th ere could be no delay in forw arding
these letters to Ita ly . To deal with th is e x tra task, the Section
had to call on its staff to work overtim e and arranged for nightshifts. D uring the next few m onths, more th an 450,000 cards
were th u s filled in.
227

D uring th e five years of th e war, the Ita lia n Section had to

rely to a great ex ten t on this m ethod of establishing cards
based on tra n sit m ail, in order to fill the gaps in its inform ation,
whenever official details were slow in arriving L The p a rti
culars th u s gathered soon proved to be extrem ely useful as
a m eans of reassuring applicants, for m any of the messages
addressed to next of kin were either lost, destroyed in bom
b ardm ents, or endlessly held up by th e censor. F u rth e r, as
will be seen later, these cards were of great help in identifying
th e dead.
The second B ritish offensive in Cyrenaica lasted from N ovem
ber 1941 to J a n u a ry 1942. Like the first cam paign, it led to the
c ap tu re of m any Ita lia n PW . B ut, since J a n u a ry 1941, the
Ita lia n Section had had o th er tasks besides th a t of concerning
itself w ith Ita lia n s c ap tu red or killed in Libya.
The East A frican Cam paign (Jan. 1941 Nov. 1941).
In J a n u a ry 1941, the B ritish forces also launched an offensive
in E ritrea . A t th e same tim e, th ey c ap tu red Ita lia n Som aliland,
lib erated B ritish Som aliland, and entered Abyssinia.
In
N ovem ber 1941, the last Ita lia n forces in E a st Africa, nam ely
those in G ondar, laid down th eir arm s.
The E a st A frican cam paign m eant a considerable increase
in the work of the Section, because th e forces involved were
large and because m any Ita lia n civilians were resident in this
area.
Serious m aterial obstacles arose in connection w ith the
arm ed forces. Postal services were extrem ely slow, and the
D etaining Pow er had great difficulty, in these inaccessible
regions, to arrange for inform ation as to th e num ber of PW
and killed. At the beginning of th e operations in E a st Africa,
th e ta sk of establishing lists of Ita lia n PW in th e Sudan and
E ritre a fell to th e Middle E ast B ureau. L ater an official B ureau
was established in N airobi (Kenya) 2, which undertook the
1 L ater, th e S ection re so rte d to th is m e th o d w hen G erm a n y refused
to su p p ly th e nam es of I ta lia n m ilita ry in te rn ees (see below , p. 233).
2 H . Q. 2nd E chelon, E a s t A frica C om m and.
228

registration of PW 1. L ater on, th e m ilita ry au th o rities in

K enya took over p a rt of th e PW , who up till th en h ad been
subordinate to Middle E a st Com m and. Thus, to trace Italian s
missing in E a st Africa, th e Ita lia n Section had to approach
sim ultaneously th e official Cairo B ureau, th e B ureau in N airobi,
and even, in some cases, th e C om m ittees D elegation in India,
since some PW were sent to th a t co u n try w ithout being quoted
in th e detailed lists
The Ita lia n Service soon had to deal also w ith Ita lia n civi
lians.
D irect com m unications betw een Ita ly and its E ast
A frican possessions were cut. Accordingly, th e Ita lia n Red Cross
asked th e Agency to serve as in term ed iary for th e forw arding
of vast q u an tities of civilian messages to th e settlers in
E ast Africa. W hen these messages, w ith th e reply, found th eir
way back to Geneva, th e Ita lia n Section recorded on p a rticu la r
file cards th e nam es and addresses of those sending replies.
This was necessary, because m any Ita lia n civilians in E ast
Africa had m oved, owing to th e m ilitary operations, and it was
im p o rta n t to note th eir new addresses.
Thus, it was possible not only to keep tra c k of these civilians,
b u t also to trace the w hereabouts of service-men rep o rted as
missing. The Ita lia n settlers alm ost all belonged to th e m ilitia,
and not to the regular arm y, and had w ith them in E ast Africa
the usual m ilitia kit. D uring the 1941 cam paign, th e y were
called up and enlisted in th e regular arm ed forces. Thus, the
confusion was often twofold : th e enquiry from th e official
B ureau in Rom e gave th e A rm y num ber, whilst next of kin
were looking for the same m an under his form er civilian address.
Moreover, th e B ritish au thorities classified th e m en in their
lists (according as th ey were tak e n in uniform or in civilian
dress), either as PW , in which case th eir A rm y num ber was given,
or as civilian internees , when, of course, th e y gave no
inform ation th a t could lead to th eir identification as m em bers
of the arm ed forces. F u rth e r, the B ritish had left a t lib e rty a
certain num ber of Ita lia n s who were needed for carrying on the
1 T his B ureau, u nlike th e Cairo Office, did n o t an n o u n ce c a p tu re s b y
wire, b u t se n t " pro v isio n al lis ts . , follow ed la te r b y " d etailed lists .
229

public services. W hen the population of E a st Africa was finally

evacuated, these Ita lia n s were often able to choose th e m anner
of in tern m en t th ey preferred, b y reverting to th eir uniform if
th e y th o u g h t it advantageous to be tre a te d as PW .
In these u n settled circum stances, th e u tility of th e inform ation
gained in tra n sit from th e messages coming from E a st Africa
will readily be im agined.
L ater, the B ritish authorities rem oved the greater p a rt of
the Ita lia n population of E a st Africa to civilian internee cam ps
in E ritre a , K enya, T anganyika and Rhodesia, and sent the
Agency lists of all these persons. A bout 10,000 Ita lia n women,
children, and old people were re p a tria te d to Ita ly in the course
of 1942 and 1943.
To c a rry out these duties, the staff of the Ita lia n Section had
to be greatly increased ; betw een the end of 1940 and Decem
ber 31, 1941, it rose from nine to n o workers. In addition, the
Section resorted increasingly to the services of the A uxiliary
Sections w orking for the Agency in various Swiss towns.
The R ussian Cam paign (1941-1943).
The Ita lia n E x p ed itio n ary Corps, which went into action in
th e U kraine on A ugust 7, 1941, suffered its first reverses in the
m onth of D ecem ber, from which tim e its losses were considerable.
The Ita lia n Section was overw helm ed w ith enquiries ; but
no inform ation was forthcom ing w ith regard to Ita lia n P W tak en
in th e U .S.S.R ., and it was u n fo rtu n a te ly unable to give next
of kin any news. All the Section could do was to file these
applications, little guessing how valuable th e y would prove to be,
la te r on, for the purpose of identifying the dead 1.
Sp rin g and Sum m er of 1942.
From th e m ilitary point of view, this period was charac
terized in Africa by the great offensive u n d ertak en by th e Axis
forces, which was halted only a t E l Alamein, 90 kilom eters
from A lexandria, a t th e beginning of July.

1 See below, p. 240.

230

D uring th e first half of 1942, mass tran sfers of Ita lia n P W took
place w ithin th e B ritish Com m onwealth. The Ita lia n Section
had to deal w ith num erous lists referring to these rem ovals.
F urtherm ore, naval w arfare in th e M editerranean was in te n
sified, and m any ships of the Ita lia n N avy and m erchant m arine
were sunk, leading to an influx of enquiries concerning missing
seam en.
It was not only th e next of kin in th e hom eland who were
anxious for news ; the PW likewise were w orried by the lack
of news from th eir fam iliesth e delays in th e transm ission
of PW m ail increased stead ily and were co n sta n tly appealing
to th e Agency, in an a tte m p t to get inform ation of some kind.
These appeals becam e still more pressing when Ita ly began to
experience heavy air bom bardm ents.
The ICRC now succeeded in securing the extension to Ita lia n
P W of th e system of " cap tu re cards , w ith retrospective effect.
H undreds of thousands of these cards th en began to arrive
in Geneva, and c o n stitu ted a m ost valuable source of inform
ation for the Ita lia n Section. U nhappily, illiterate P W en tru ste d
to others th e ta s k of filling out th e ir cards, w ith th e result
th a t th e inform ation given was often incorrect. O ther PW were
barely able to w rite ; th e ir nam es were alm ost illegible and
spelling m istakes plentiful.
This m ade classification of th e
cards in th e index a long and difficult m atte r.
From the Battle of E l A lam ein to the Arm istice with the Allies
(Nov. 1942 to Sept. 1943).
A t th e end of October 1942, the B ritish E ig h th A rm y, a fte r
breaking th rough the Axis front a t El Alamein, advanced in to
Cyrenaica and T ripolitania, and reached T unisia in J a n u a ry
1943, tak in g large num bers of PW in the process.
M eanwhile, on N ovem ber 8, 1942, th e Allied landings took
place in French N o rth Africa, and were followed sh o rtly a fte r
wards by th e appearance of Free French forces and th e e n try of
Axis troops into Tunisia.
Up to th a t tim e, the Ita lia n Section had, as a rule, dealings
w ith only one group of D etaining Powers, th e B ritish Com m on
231

w ealth, which supplied it w ith inform ation th ro u g h five m ain

official B ureaux 1.
A fter th e establishm ent of a com bat zone in Tunisia th e
Section had dealings w ith tw o new D etaining S tates, th e U.S.A.
and Free France. Thus, the Ita lia n P W were more th a n ever
dispersed. In order to trace a m an rep o rted missing on the
A frican front during th is period, the Ita lia n Sectionfailing
receipt of official lists, which reached Geneva only after long
delaysh ad to enquire in four different places : (a) th e official
B ureau in London, which listed the nam es of PW cap tu red
by th e B ritish F irst A rm y ; (b) th e official Middle E ast Bureau,
in Cairo, which recorded th e PW tak e n by th e B ritish E ighth
A rm y ; (c) th e official Prisoner of W ar Inform ation B ureau, in
W ashington ; and (d) th e French au th o rities in Algiers, through
th e in term ed iary of the C om m ittees delegation in th a t city.
The Ita lia n Section had to a d a p t itself rapidly to the various
m ethods of work em ployed by th e D etaining Powers ; a t th e
same tim e, the sudden quickening of th e pace of events called
for ever-increasing efforts. Shiploads of Ita lia n reinforcem ents
were sunk before reaching the A frican coast, and large masses
of Ita lia n troops fell into hands of th e Allies, following on the
cap itu latio n of the Axis forces round Tunis in May, 1943 ; the
Allied offensive was resum ed alm ost a t once (capture of the
islands of P antelleria and L am pedusa in Ju n e, and landing in
Sicily on J u ly 10).
As th e num ber of PW and missing grew rapidly, a great
m ass of enquiries reached Geneva. As the result of G overnm ent
prohibition to w rite direct to th e Agency, the Italian s m ade
arrangem ents w ith relatives or correspondents in Sw itzerland
and overseas countries to tra n sm it th eir applications to Geneva.
W hilst th e fight was raging in Sicily, the Fascist regime
collapsed, on J u ly 26, 1943. On Septem ber 3, Allied forces
disem barked on th e m ainland in Calabria, and a few days later,
on Septem ber 8, an arm istice was concluded betw een the Italian
G overnm ent and th e Allied Powers.
1 P riso n ers of W a r In fo rm a tio n B ureau, L on d o n ; H . Q. 2nd E chelon,
Cairo ; E a s t A frica C om m and, N airo b i ; S o u th A frican R ed Cross,
Jo h a n n e sb u rg (actin g as th e official S o u th A frican B ureau) ; P riso n ers
of W a r In fo rm a tio n B u reau in M elbourne, A u stralia.

232

II.
(S e p t . 8 ,

F rom t h e A r m is t ic e w it h t h e A l l ie d P o w e r s
1943)
in

to

the

ca pitu la tio n

N orthern Italy

of

the

A x is

F orces

(M a y 2 , 1 9 4 5 )

On th e conclusion of the arm istice, G erm an forces occupied

th e greater p a rt of Ita ly and disarm ed th e Ita lia n s units s ta
tioned in Ita ly , France, Y ugoslavia, Greece, and th e D odeca
nese. The Ita lia n fleet succeededthough not w ithout lossin
reaching Allied ports, in accordance w ith the orders of the
G overnm ent, now established in southern Italy .
A fter th e creation of th e N eo-Fascist S tate, th e Germ ans
proceeded to screen th e disarm ed Ita lia n troops. Those
who declared th eir willingness to serve th e N eo-Fascist S tate
were enlisted in th e new arm y form ed to fight against th e Allies,
whilst all th e others were rem oved to in tern m en t cam ps in
G erm any, Poland, and th e Balkans. M any Ita lia n service-men
had m anaged to get aw ay and join th eir families during the
confusion which followed th e arm istice, an d th e Germ ans
organized a system atic search, to round up the able-bodied men
for d eportation to G erm any as civilian workers.

The Problem of the Italian M ilitary Internees (I.M .I.)

At first it looked as though th e 700,000 Ita lia n service-m en
interned by th e Germ ans would be tre a te d as PW , th u s coming
under th e provisions of the 1 9 2 9 Convention.
The Italian
Section actu ally received nearly 200,000 cap tu re cards betw een
Dec. 1 9 4 3 and Ja n . 1 9 4 4 . B ut no more cam e a fte r th a t date.
W hen the C om m ittees delegate expressed surprise a t this
silence, and asked for inform ation concerning th e situ atio n of
these men, the G erm an au th o rities replied th a t th ey were not
PW , b u t m ilitary internees , and th a t the question was an
in tern al m atte r, to be settled direct betw een th e G erm an
G overnm ent and th e N eo-Fascist R epublic.
Consequently,
the C om m ittees delegates were not allowed to visit th e cam ps
in which these men were interned.
233

L engthy negotiations had to be u n d ertaken by th e ICRC,

in order th a t th e IM I, as well as th e conscripted Ita lia n workers,
m ight a t least be allowed to m ake use of the civilian message
system to send news to th eir relatives. From F eb ru ary 1944,
onw ards, hundreds of thousands of these messages were received
by the agency. Before tra n sm ittin g them , the Ita lia n Section
rap id ly took note of the inform ation th ey contained, for record
ing in its files. This involved a considerable am ount of work,
b u t it enabled th e Section to give reassuring news to th e m any
Ita lia n fam ilies who had been evacuated, owing to m ilitary
operations and bom bing, and whom Civilian Messages could not
reach.
In Ja n u a ry 1944 a separate Office was set up a t the Ita lia n
E m bassy, in Berlin 1. This Office refused to supply any inform
ation to the Agency, and gave it only to th e N eo-Fascist G overn
m ent. In J u ly 1944, upon th e urgent representations of the
C om m ittees delegation in Berlin, th e Office sta te d th a t there
was a card-index in V erona containing th e nam es of 300,000
in tern ed Ita lia n service-m en, which it would place a t the
disposal of the Com m ittee. The la tte r, however, never succeeded
in procuring th is inform ation.
I t should be rem em bered th a t, counting the 700,000 I.M .I.,
the volunteer civilian workers, and the conscripted workers,
the G erm ans were holding in all nearly 1,300,000 Italians, i. e.
th ree tim es the to ta l num ber of Ita lia n PW in Allied hands.
The difficulties confronting the Ita lia n Section, which was
overw helm ed w ith applications and had a t its disposal only the
scantiest of details, will be readily understood.
D uring th e sum m er of 1944, th e I.M .I. were converted into
civilian workers em ployed in war industries, or in the Todt
organization ; th ey h ad to work in the zones m ost exposed to
Allied bom bing. The d eath -rate am ong them was th u s extrem ely
high. The G erm an au thorities gave the Agency no official
certificates concerning deaths 2. G enerally speaking, th e only
1 M ilitar- u nd Z iv ilin te rn ie rte n -B e tre u u n g s-D ie n sts te lle .
2 N o tific atio n s of d e a th s w ere se n t b y th e B erlin office to V erona,

an d were n o t c o m m u n ic ate d to n e x t of kin. '

234

notice which th e relatives received of these d eaths were messages

sent back from G erm any and m arked w ith a cross, or bearing
sim ply th e word deceased
The Ita lia n Section in stitu te d
enquiries th ro u g h cam p leaders, who a t once supplied the
required d a ta concerning the deceased. The G erm an authorities,
observing this correspondence, ordered the cam p com m andants
and cam p leaders to furnish no inform ation, except to th e
above-nam ed office in Berlin.
Yet other tasks were soon to be laid on the Ita lia n Section.
The program m e was already a heavy one, since it included the
problem of th e IM I, the enquiries concerning m en missing in
Tunisia and Sicily, and th e following up of th e m ovem ents of
P W consequent upon th eir tran sfer from one D etaining Pow er
to another.

D ivision of Ita ly into two Zones.

From Septem ber 1943, Ita ly was divided into two distinct
zonesth e Southern Zone, under Allied control, and the
N orthern Zone, in th e hands of th e G erm an and N eo-Fascists
forces. The b oundary betw een these two zones g radually m oved
northw ard, as the Allies slowly progressed. At th e beginning
of the w inter of 1943-1944, the front was in th e neighbourhood
of Cassino and th e Sangro, where it rem ained during several
m onths of b itte r local fighting.
Because of th is dividing line, the Agency was henceforw ard
th e only body able to act as in term ed iary betw een th e two
zones. U ntil the end of the war, th e Ita lia n Section m aintained
the co ntact betw een PW in Allied hands and th eir relatives
in the n o rth ern Zone, and betw een the IM I an d Ita lia n w orkers
in Germ any, or in G erm an-controlled territories, and th eir
relatives living in the southern Zone.
The official B ureau in Rome was unable to com m unicate
w ith th e southern p a rt of the country. A bandoning the position
it had tak en in 1941, it requested the Agency in J a n u a ry 1944,
to tra n sm it to fam ilies in southern Italy , th rou gh the m unicipal
authorities, notifications concerning th e d eaths of Italian s
235

killed on the R ussian front, according to evidence furnished

b y th eir com rades retu rn ed from Russia.
In order to ensure th e transm ission of this inform ation and,
in general, of all th e com m unications and messages addressed
to th e southern Zone and to PW in Allied hands, th e ICRC
in stitu te d th e following routing system :from th e Germ ancontrolled areas th e m ail travelled by post to Geneva, thence by
tru c k to Marseilles. From here it was conveyed by one of the
C om m ittees ships to Lisbon, where it was tak e n over by Allied
m ilitary planes ; these flew to Algiers, whence the m ail travelled
to its various destinations. W hen Naples was liberated, the
D elegation in th a t city served as a relay statio n for the whole
of southern Italy .
Mail for the n o rth ern zone and also for G erm any and other
p a rts of E urope under G erm an control followed th e same route,
in th e opposite direction.
The events of Septem ber 1943 led m any Italian s, both
m ilitary personnel and civilians, to seek refuge in Sw itzerland.
The Agency did its best for these persons also and took all steps
to no tify as discreetly as possibleth eir fam ilies in Ita ly 1.
The Ita lia n Section did likewise for the families of m em bers of
th e garrison in th e Dodecanese, who had sought refuge in
T urkey a t this tim e.
F urtherm ore, a t th e close of the year 1943, about 60,000 I ta l
ian Jew s were arrested for racial m otives in C entral and N orthern
Ita ly , and detained in Ita lia n prisons and cam ps ; th ey were
deported afterw ards to B uchenw ald, Auschwitz, e t c .2 E nquiries
poured in, b u t th e Section received no inform ation from the
G erm an au th o rities regarding these deportees. M any Italian s
were also arrested for political reasons and deported chiefly to
the cam ps of M authausen and D achau, and the Ita lia n Section
was kept in com plete darkness concerning th eir fate.
Lastly, it should be recalled th a t m any Ita lia n service-m en
who had gone into hiding to escape in tern m en t by the G erm ans,
1 Ita lia n s in te rn e d in S w itzerlan d cam e u n d e r th e A g en cy s " Swiss
In te r n m e n t S ection , an d n o t u n d e r th e I ta lia n Section.
2 S everal th o u sa n d Jew s seeking to escape th is m enace so u g h t refuge
in S w itzerland.
236

as well as civilians who had m anaged to avoid enlistm ent in

labour b attalio n s, an d young men of the 1923, 1924 and 1925
classes, called up by the N eo-Fascist A rm y, had joined the
underground m ovem ent, th u s swelling th e ranks of th e Resis
tance Forces which had been form ed in th e G erm an-occupied
zone. The Ita lia n Section received no particu lars concerning
the fate of these p artisan s , who fell into th e hands of
the Germans, and th u s was unable to give a n y news to
relatives.
The front, which was sta tio n a ry since J a n u a ry 1944, was
in m otion again in May of th e same year, and on Ju n e 4 the
Allies entered Rome.
In D ecem ber 1943, th e N eo-Fascist G overnm ent had set up
a second official Inform ation B ureau a t A prica (province of
Sondrio), in N orthern Ita ly , which began work sh o rtly a fter th e
fall of Rome. On Ju ly 1, 1944, th is B ureau asked to be tre a te d
b y the ICRC on th e sam e footing as th e B ureau rem aining in
Rome, and wished to receive copies of all com m unications sent
to Rom e by th e Agency. Obviously, this system of duplicating
all com m unications added greatly to the work of th e Ita lia n
Section, which was now beginning to receive num erous enquiries
and applications for inform ation from th e A prica Bureau.
Meanwhile, th e Allies had liberated the greater p a rt of France.
Italian s serving w ith G erm an u n its in F rance or conscripted
b y the T odt organization to work on th e coastal fortifica
tions, were tak e n b y th e Allies 1. The Ita lia n Section received
lists of men tak e n prisoner by regular F rench troops, by th e
F .F .I., and by B ritish or Am erican forces.
A t th is tim e th e Am erican and B ritish authorities, wishing
to m ake th e best use of Ita lia n labour for th e benefit of the
Allied w ar effort, proposed th a t these Italian s should be g ran te d
th e sta tu s of co-operators , which gave th em considerable
advantages.
Thus, lists of co-operators in France, the
U.S.A., G reat B ritain, th e Middle E ast, etc. began to reach
th e Ita lia n Section.
1 A m ong th e se m en en liste d in th e " T o d t o rg a n iz a tio n were manyform er IM I.

237

The Allied advance in Ita ly , which progressed rap id ly during

th e sum m er of 1944, slowed down in O ctober, and the front
rem ained sta tio n a ry during th e w inter m onths along a line pas
sing south of Spezia and Bologna. Ita ly was now divided into
th ree sections :
(a) The southern zone, nam ely Central and Southern Italy ,
under Allied control.
(b) The fairly extensive zone which included the fighting
area and th e rear on either side. This entire region was quite
inaccessible as regards correspondence and th e transm ission
of news.
(1c) The n o rth ern zone controlled by the Germans.
In April, 1945, the front was again in m ovem ent, and after
a few weeks of fighting the G erm an forces in Ita ly cap itu lated
on May 2.
T hroughout th e entire Ita lia n cam paign, th e Section had to
follow th e progress of operations w ith the greatest care, in
order to find th e m ost suitable routes for forw arding mail to
th e various zones.
By the sum m er of 1944, the Section reached its peak ; its
staff, which num bered 158 w orkers on Ju n e 30, 1944, still
stood a t 129 on A pril 30, 1945.
Before dealing w ith the post-w ar period, it should be m en
tioned th a t, th ro u g h o u t the war, the Ita lia n Section was called
upon the en ter upon num erous enquiries and investigations
relating to civilians who were free. Ita lia n em igration has led
to th e form ation of num erous large colonies of Ita lia n s in
various p a rts of the world, p a rticu larly in N orth and South
Am erica. M embers of these colonies, cut off from th eir native
co u n try and deprived of news of th eir relatives, frequently
applied to th e Agency to trace m em bers of th eir fam ily whom
th e ir messages had failed to reach.

238

III.

P ost-W

ar

and

P e r io d . R e p a t r ia t io n o f P r is o n e r s
I d e n t if ic a t io n o f t h e D e a d

Repatriation of Prisoners
The advance of the Allied arm ies through G erm any and
A ustria in 1945 led to th e release of form er IM I. These the
G erm ans had gradually been tran sferrin g from th e east tow ards
th e west, in the face of the advancing Soviet forces. These men
rem ained, however, during m any m onths in th e hands of the
occupying authorities, and th eir rep a tria tio n , which was con
siderably delayed owing to the destruction of railw ays and b rid
ges, began only in th e au tu m n of 1945. The Agency tried to
relieve th e an x iety of relatives by broadcasting th e nam es of the
released, as well as those of form er deportees who had survived
th e concentration cam ps.
The rep a tria tio n of th e Ita lia n from overseas took even longer,
owing to th e scarcity of shipping. Postal services were still
irregular and slow in m any areas, and both relatives and PW
continued to w rite to Geneva for news.
In th e sum m er of 1945, the Agency considered th a t the
Allied A uthorities would now be able to tra n sm it inform ation
concerning P W direct to the official Ita lia n B ureau, and decided
to abandon th e work of indexing the particu lars tak en from the
lists of rep atriates. The work of th e Section th u s gradually
decreased.
N evertheless, eighteen m onths after th e end of
hostilities, the num ber of men aw aiting rep atriatio n was still
nearly 200,000. We need feel no surprise, therefore, th a t the
Section had to pursueon a reduced scale, naturally-its
various work for P W and internees. It was, in p articu lar,
concerned about th e Italian s tak en by the Y ugoslav forces.
L ists showing the nam es of some 10,000 PW arrived from Bel
grade a t the end of 1945, and th e Section passed on this inform
ation to next of kin.

239

Identification of the Dead

As was sta te d above, the deaths of Ita lia n m ilitary personnel

and civilian internees in G erm any were not notified to the
Agency. A fter th e w ar, however, th e official Ita lia n B ureau
received from various sources a great m any notifications of this
kind. As, however, the inform ation given was for the m ost p a rt
incom plete or incorrect (names m isspelt, address of next of kin
om itted, etc.), th e B ureau asked the Ita lia n Section for help
in th e difficult task of identifying the dead.
The Section agreed to this request, and reverted to the cards
m ade out when th e IM I messages to next of kin passed through
th e Agency in tra n sit, and also to the cards based on letters
or messages addressed to IM I and retu rn ed from G erm any w ith
a cross, or th e word deceased . Finally, all the various
kinds of inform ation assem bled in its files was scrutinised. By
th e end of 1947, th e Section had succeeded in identifying and
supplying th e hom e address of 90% of the cases subm itted
to it.
F u rth e r, the official B ureau in Rom e had received from
Italian s re p a tria te d from Russia statem en ts concerning the
d e a th of some of th eir fellow PW . Such evidence rarely included
the address of th e families. W hile there was no official inform
ation concerning men who had fallen, or who were c ap tu red in
Russia, the Section had kept a card-index of all th e applications
for inform ation received since 1941. The relativ es address was
noted on these cards ; th is inform ation was passed on to the
Rom e B ureau, and th e la tte r was th u s enabled in a great m any
cases to get in touch w ith the next of kin.
D uring more th a n tw o years a fter the end of hostilities the
Ita lia n Section, working in close co-operation w ith th e official
B ureau continued this work of identification. This task was
indispensable, firstly, to p u t an end to th e suspense of th e dead
m ens relatives, and also in order to settle the la tte r s legal
and financial statu s.
*

24O

Technical difficulties encountered by the Italian Section.

A fter this review of th e principal phases of th e Sections

activities, we can exam ine more closely some of the technical
difficulties m et w ith in connection w ith th e identifying of PW
and deceased.
One of the m ain obstacles arose from th e system of m ilitary
num bering used in the Ita lia n Arm y. In Ita ly , each m ilitary
d istrict (recruiting centre) had its own m ilitary recording and
num bering system . E ach m an s id e n tity disc bore his individual
num ber, preceded by a num ber, in brackets, representing the
district. Thus, two m en from different districts m ight have the
same individual num ber. If the district was not m entioned in
the particulars furnished to the Agency, or in th e applications
received, the individual num ber, in cases of duplication of
nam es and in the absence of an y other d a ta , was w orthless as
a m eans of identification. M oreover, th e m ilitary districts had
destroyed th eir archives after 1943, a t the approach of the
enem y ; thus, there was no m eans of verifying registration
num bers a t th e recruiting centres.
The PW registration num ber m ight to some e x te n t have
served in place of the A rm y num ber, b u t was h ardly more
reliable. To tak e the case of transfers alone, the lists reaching
Geneva gave only the nam e, first nam e and PW num ber of the
men to be tran sferred ; the num bers were frequently wrong or
interchanged. These men were given new num bers in their
new place of detention, since each areain th e B ritish Common
w ealth, a t leasthad its own num bering system . Lists announc
ing th e arrival of PW in a new detention zone, b u t giving only
the new PW num ber and not the form er num ber, m ade it
frequently impossible to identify the men u n til the more detailed
lists had been forw arded. The Section was th u s obliged to
in stitu te enquiries in all urgent cases 1.
1 Som e I ta lia n P W in A llied h an d s even exch an g ed n u m b e rs w ith
o th ers, in th e hope of being tra n sfe rre d to a n o th e r a re a or, on th e co n
tra r y , to avoid such tran sfe rs. T he m en w ere inform ed of th ese tra n sfe rs
n o t u n d er th e ir nam es, b u t u n d e r th e ir P W n um bers.
I. l 6

241

As b o th the A rm y num ber and the PW num ber proved

unreliable as a m eans of distinguishing nam esakes, th e Ita lia n
Section a tta ch e d p a rticu la r im portance to th e nam es a n d addres
ses of p a re n ts or wives. H ere again, m any difficulties arose.
For instance, it is a com m on practice in Ita ly for a m arried
wom an to sign letters w ith her m aiden nam e, w ithout m en
tioning her h u sb a n d s nam e. Since women w riting to Geneva
often quoted only th e first nam e of th e son or husband for whom
th ey were enquiring, the resulting com plications can easily be
im agined.
Again, dialects are still in frequent use in Ita ly , and relatives
often em ployed such dialects in m aking th eir requests. Fam ily
nam es and place nam es were often so disto rted as to be unrecog
nizable. The PW likewise, on th eir cap tu re cards, frequently
gave inform ation which was ju st as inaccurate. The official
lists them selves were draw n up on th e basis of form s filled in
b y th e P W and often reproduced these m istakes.
As an instance of th e degree of sim ilarity which som etim es
occurred betw een identifying elem ents, we m ay m ention th a t
th e Section received one day an enquiry concerning a service
m an for whom th e card index gave tw o different PW addresses.
The Section enquired in order to find out which of the addresses
was correct. I t was th en discovered th a t th ere were in rea lity
tw o m en, each having th e same nam e and first nam e, born on
th e sam e day of th e sam e year in th e sam e tow n of Sicily, and
whose fathers, b o th living in th e same tow n, had the sam e first
nam e. The tw o men, m oreover, belonged to the same un it, and
were c ap tu red on th e sam e day in th e sam e b a ttle . It was only
th a n k s to th e ir m o th e rs nam e th a t th e y could be distinguished.
F rom th is it will be seen th a t even the m ention of th e fa th e rs
first n am ea m a tte r of p aram o u n t im portance in I ta ly m ay
not suffice to identify a m an w ith certain ty , and th a t indication
of th e m o th e rs m aiden nam e and first name-likewise of great
im portanceth en becomes th e sole determ ining factor.
If identification of the living was often difficult, th a t of the
dead was still m ore so. The Ita lia n Section did not overlook
a n y possible source of inform ation in this field, and th u s began
th e practice of exam ining th e personal belongings of Ita lia n
242

soldiers killed in b a ttle , or of deceased PW , which th e official

B ureaux of several detaining S tates h ad sent to the Agency.
In view of th e increasing u n c e rta in ty of m eans of tra n sp o rt,
it h ad been decided a t th e end of 1943 to keep these articles
in tru s t a t G eneva u n til th e end of th e war. T hanks to the
careful scru tin y of all th is pro p erty , th e Ita lia n Section succeeded
in identifying a great m any of th e dead, and was th u s able,
th ro u g h th e official Ita lia n B ureau, to inform next of kin, who
otherw ise m ight perhaps have rem ained in d oubt for several
years more.
The Ita lia n Sections card index of casualties was in all
respects a valuable source of inform ation for th e official B ureau
in Rom e, and th e la tte r c o n stan tly referred to it to supplem ent
its own d ata.

243

G reek

S e c tio n

The ou tb reak of hostilities betw een Ita ly and Greece on

O ctober 28, 1940, m ade it necessary for the C entral Agency to
set up a Greek Section. I t began work early in Novem ber.
At first, the duties of the Greek Section were to collect and
send on to the Greek Red Cross, which was serving as the Greek
Inform ation B ureau, details of Greek P W cap tu red in the w inter
and spring of 1940-1941, and of civilians in tern ed in Axis
territo ry . An arm istice was concluded on April 23, 1941 and
during th e four years th a t followed when Greece was occupied
by Italian , G erm an and B ulgarian forces the Section dealt
w ith the various classes, m ilitary and civilian, of persons
who had been c ap tu red or detained ; it acted as in term ed iary
for messages, and in response to requests m ade a great m any
enquiries.
The num ber of P W was relatively small. It will be recalled
th a t the Greeks kept the in itiativ e during th e w inter cam paign
of 1940-41, and th a t the troops surrounded in E pirus and
M acedonia, who surrendered on April 23, 1941, were set free,
in fulfilm ent of the term s of the arm istice concluded w ith th e
W ehrm acht a t Salnica. F u rth er, prisoners from the Ionian
Islands and, on this account, considered to be prospective
Ita lia n nationals, were also released. In the same way, release
was given to those who came from te rrito ry claim ed by Bulgaria.
A great num ber of Greek officers and men left Greece secretly
at the beginning of the occupation to join up w ith the Allied
forces in the Middle E ast. Greek units were form ed which
took part, for exam ple, in the Libyan cam paign. The Greek
Section had the work of tracing men from these units who fell
244

in action, were tak en prisoner or were missing. The Greek

N avy also left Greek w aters a t the tim e of th e occupation, to
place th e fleet a t th e disposal of the Allies. T h at led late r to
the capture of Greek sailors, p articu larly in Africa and the
F a r E ast. N um bers of Greeks who lived in France, G reat
B ritain or the U nited S tates enlisted in th e forces of these
countries and fought on various fronts, in p articu lar the W estern
F ro n t in 1944. T h at fact explains the presence of Greek PW
in G erm an camps.
W hen th e arm istice was signed in Septem ber 1943, betw een
Ita ly and the Allies, a great m any Greek prisoners were tra n s
ferred by the G erm an arm y from cam ps in Ita ly to others in
G erm any. A few hundreds, however, m anaged to escape to
Sw itzerland, where th ey were interned. E vents th a t followed
in Ita ly brought a stead y flow of enquiries to the Central Agency
from P W 's next of kin, who were w ithout news.
A great p a rt of the Greek Sections activities concerned men
of th e Greek M erchant Service, which sailed all th e seas. Before
the war, th e Greek m erchant m arine num bered over 600 vessels,
totalling nearly tw o million tons ; also m any vessels sailing
under other flags had Greek crews. The Section received a
great m any enquiries regarding these seam en, an d this led to
an exchange of correspondence w ith the B ritish and Am erican
Red Cross Societies. To aid the searches, a card index was set
up for all vessels m anned by Greek crews. The cards recorded
all inform ation received on th e vessels concerned, the nam es of
m em bers of the crews who were the subject of enquiry, th e steps
tak en for tracing them and the replies received. B y referring
to th e crew lists contained in th e index, th e Section was fre
quently able to open an enquiry on a missing seam an in th e
hom e p ort where one of his com rades was known to be. This
index of ships was, in every respect, an invaluable aid to the
w ork in th e Section.
The political detainees in the hands of th e occupying forces
and the civilian workers did not involve m uch work for th e
Section ; the Greek Jew s, on the o ther hand, were a source of
m uch concern. The greater num ber of these Jew s lived, before
th e war in Salnica, where th e y form ed a large colony. D uring
245

th e w ar, alm ost all G reek Jew s were deported, and th e Section
received over 8,000 enquiries. Corresponding requests were
sent to th e G erm an R ed Cross as to th e fate of these deportees,
b u t w ith one or tw o exceptions th e enquiries proved fruitless.
*

All enquiries m ade in Greece were forw arded by the Section

to th e Greek R ed Cross Society, acting as th e official Inform ation
B ureau, and to whom all praise is due for th e scrupulous care
which th ey gave to this arduous task. In tu rn , the Greek Red
Cross tra n sm itte d a great m any enquiries from Greece to th e
C entral Agency. The joint efforts of th e tw o organizations
were helped by the presence in G eneva of a perm anent delegate
of th e Greek R ed Cross.
I t m ay be said th a t it was not the num ber, but th e difficulty
and in tricacy of the enquiries th a t characterised the ta sk of the
Greek Section. Owing to the fact th a t the D etaining Pow ers
were also th e occupying Powers, enquiries of a simple n a tu re
could be dealt w ith locally.
D uring th e occupation, th e Greek Section was indeed a link
betw een Greece and th e num erous colonies of Greek nationals
in m any p a rts of the world, in p a rticu la r C onstantinople, E gypt,
South Africa, the U nited S tates, the A rgentine, A ustralia, and
a constant interchange of enquiries passed through Geneva.
All civilian messages concerning Greek seam en were sent
to the Greek Section from the Civilian Message Section. The
G reek Section, w ith the aid of its card index of ships, was alone
able to send on the messages. It also sorted all civilian messages
for Greece in geographical order, according to th e zones of
occupation. In m any cases, the messages only bore the nam e
(som etim es m utilated) of a sm all village, a district or street of
a tow n unnam ed, and only persons fam iliar w ith the language
and geography of the co u n try were able to com plete the
addresses.
W hereas geographical difficulties were frequent in th e Greek
Section, th e language question was a still greater obstacle. As
the cards could not be m ade out in Greek script, the Section had
246

recourse to an exact m ethod of transcribing nam es in L atin cha

racters and adopting special filing m ethods. The only m eans of
transcribing, filing and tracing cards, w ithout risk of error or
duplication, was by using these m ethods, devised by a specialist
in Modern Greek. The principal organizations w ith which the
Greek Section was in contact, in p articu lar th e Greek Red Cross,
adopted this system of transcribing names.
F u rth e r difficulties were due to the phonetic spelling of Greek
nam es by correspondents in Ita ly and America. The first
step to be tak en was to give these nam es the sta n d a rd spelling.
For instance " h a l c h i d i s and c u c i u m p i s (Italian spelling)
had to be altered to c h a l k i d i s and k o u t s o u m b i s , and
c h a k o u s and q u r k u v a s e l e s (American spelling) were
rectified as " t s a k a o s and k o u r k o u v a s s i l i s .
These exam ples show th e custom adopted by m any em igrants
to ad ap t th eir nam es to the countries where th ey settle. A
great m any Greeks in th e U nited S tates simplified their nam es
by abbreviation, A m ericanization or tran slatio n 1. As an
instance of the difficulty caused by this practice, we m ention
th e case of a P W who signed Tom E s l e r b u t who w rote to
explain th a t his real nam e, in Greek, was Anastassios A s l a n i s .
T hroughout the w ar the m ail in this Section was precarious.
Postal com m unications betw een Geneva and Greece wrere cut
off, and although the Section took avantage of all m eans open
to the ICRC, it frequently occurred th a t weeks, and even
m onths passed by w ithout mail being received from, or sent to
Greece.
Merhbers of th e Greek Section were not m any in num ber, the
average staff during the W ar years was five, the highest figure
being nine in 1944 ; th eir work quickly decreased a t the end of
th e W ar and finished in 1946.

1 See page 105.

247

Y u g o s la v

S e c tio n

The Y ugoslav Section was opened on May i, 1941, a fter th e

w ar h ad extended to Y goslavia. Owing to the general tre n d
of hostilities in th a t co u n try it was im possible for the Section
to act regularly as an in term ed iary for the transm ission of
official inform ation. Its role was therefore chiefly th a t of an
agency for th e exchange of news betw een n ex t of kin.
A t th e outset, th e Y ugoslav Section was faced w ith a com plex
situation. A fter a brief resistance, th e Y ugoslav arm y capi
tu la te d on A pril 17 before th e Axis Powers 1, and the country
was to ta lly occupied by th e enem y. In addition to the G erm an
and Ita lia n zones of occupation, there were H ungarian and
B ulgarian zones. The frontier areas had been annexed, and
w hat rem ained of Y ugoslavia was divided into tw o new S tates :
" Free C roatia and the Serbian S tate . M oreover, the
form er G overnm ent had sought refuge abroad.
D uring th e first period of its existence, th e Section received
a great num ber of capture cards from G erm any, and PW lists
from Ita ly ; by the end of 1941, it was in possession of th e nam es
of m ost of th e Y ugoslav P W held by these tw o States.
As Y ugoslavia was now com pletely cut off, th e Section at
once received from practically every q u a rte r of th e globe
applications relating to co m b atan ts presum ed to be PW in Axis
hands, and concerning civilians resident in Yugoslavia. It
therefore soon had to u n d ertak e enquiries w ith th e app ro p riate
n atio n al Red Cross Societies, and here th e difficulties began.
As a result of the situation to which th e co u n try was reduced,
1 T he a tta c k b y th e A xis Pow ers began on A pril 6.
248

there were no less th a n seven n ational Red Cross Societies whom

these investigations m ight concern : th e Germ an, Italian,
H ungarian, B ulgarian and A lbanian R ed Cross Societies, and
two tem p o rary bodies, the Serbian Red Cross in Belgrade and
the C roatian Red Cross in Zagreb. L astly, a Y ugoslav Red
Cross C om m ittee had been set up in London.
The Section had only vague and incom plete indications as to
the ex ten t of the territories in which each of these organizations
could work, as inform ation was confined to occasional reports
published in th e press. These territories were, moreover,
co n stan tly changing 1. It was extrem ely difficult to determ ine
exactly which of the national R ed Cross Societies was com petent
for an y given place. In m any cases, letters addressed to small
localities situ ated in ill-defined frontier areas were retu rn ed to
G eneva by th e Red Cross Societies of the tw o neighbouring
occupants, both statin g th eir in ability to deal w ith such
mail.
Moreover, in spite of every a tte m p t, a large num ber of PW
were never able to obtain news of th eir relatives in Y ugoslavia.
There were several reasons for this : firstly, th e co n stan t dis
placem ent of th e guerillas and of th eir activities, particu larly
in C roatia, which p revented all postal connections ; secondly,
th e persecutions inflicted on the Serbian population in Croatian
territo ry , which led to the exodus of th e in h ab ita n ts tow ards
Serbian areas under G erm an occupation. L astly, th e d e p o rt
ation of populations and th e tran sfer of civilian workers, which
defeated every a tte m p t a t obtaining news.
We can here give only a faint idea of the constant difficulties
w ith which th e Y ugoslav Section had to contend in carrying
out enquiries. The following schedule of enquiries carried out
since its opening shows, however, th a t positive results were
achieved in m any instances.

1 T he situ a tio n w as as follows : G erm any h ad an n e x ed p a r t of S lovenia

w ith M aribor, a n d occupied a large e x te n t of S erbia, in clu d in g th e B a n a t.
I ta ly h a d an n e x ed th e re s t of S lovenia w ith L ju b lja n a , a n d a larg e
p o rtio n of th e Y ugoslavia coastlin e w ith Susak, S plit, S ibenik, etc.
She occupied a co nsiderable p a r t of th e new C ro atian S ta te b eh in d th e
co astlin e, to g e th e r w ith M ontenegro. A p a r t of Y u g o slav M acedonia
249

Number of enquiries
from i. i. 41
to 30. 6. 47

Object of search

S ervice Men an d C ivilian In te rn e e s .

Positive results

. . .

6,414

C463

S u n d ry C ivilians (deported, n o n -in te rn e d

civilians, e t c . ) .......................................................

13 ,144

5-390

T o ta l . . .

19,558

6,853

By Ju ly 1941, a new elem ent had entered the picture :

resistance m ovem ents appeared, followed shortly by the recon
s titu tio n of organized arm ed forces. These a t once a ttack ed
th e forces of the occupant and of the Croatian S tate. The
engagem ents led to fresh captures and m ore deaths am ongst
Y ugoslav com batants.
A fter the arm istice concluded in Septem ber 1943 betw een
Ita ly and th e Allies, th e Germ an forces disarm ed and interned
Ita lia n forces stationed in Yugoslavia. D alm atia was atta ch e d
to the C roatian S tate, and th e rem ainder of the Yugoslav
provinces, which had been annexed or occupied by the Italians,
cam e u n d er G erm an occupation.

To a greater ex ten t th a n for PW , the fate of civilian internees,

deportees and displaced civilians was a concern to th e Section ;
in this field its m eans of action were extrem ely lim ited.
The areas of Y ugoslavia w'here th e populations suffered most
severely by collective d eportation were Serbia and Slovenia ; a
fair proportion of the population of the la tte r d istrict had been
tak e n to G erm any. The Section was also inform ed of the
existence in N orw ay of civilian internee cam ps, where a large
num ber of Yugoslav p artisans had been deported.
The Agency never received a n y lists of internees or deportees
from G erm an sources, and the a tte m p ts of the Section in behalf
of these civilians were unavailing. The difficulties in respect of
h ad been
H u n g a ry
tu rn , h a d
Y ugoslav
250

a tta c h e d to A lb an ia an d , like th e la tte r, occupied b y I ta ly .

h ad an n ex ed th e M ed ju m u rje a n d th e Baclca. B u lg aria, in
occupied a p o rtio n of E a ste rn S erbia an d th e larg er p a r t of
M acedonia.

th e internees held by th e C roatian au th o rities were likewise very

great. These au th o rities considered such internees as political
prisoners, and th e Section never received an y lists of th e C roatian
cam ps, th e existence of which cam e to th eir knowledge only
th rough letters from relatives. P ractically com plete lists were
however received from the Italians, tow ards th e end of the war.
A lthough, a t the ou tb reak of war, Y ugoslavia despite its
15 million in h ab ita n ts included only 70,000 Jews, the Section
received a large num ber of enquiries from Jew ish next of kin
in all p a rts of th e world. E nquiries about Jew s residing in the
provinces occupied by G erm any were u n fo rtu n a te ly always
fruitless.
Three Jew ish cam ps were know n to be situ a te d in Serbia.
The detainees, who had been q u artered th ere tem porarily, were
afterw ards tak e n to an unknow n destination, and nothing fu rth er
was ever heard of them . In addition, a large num ber of Jew s
interned in C roatia were deported to Auschwitz, K atto w itz and
o th er concentration cam ps. No news was ever received from
them again.
*

In August 1944, as a result of steps tak e n by the ICRC w ith

th e G erm an A uthorities, lists of Yugoslav prisoners in th e cam ps
in G erm any were drawm up by th e spokesm en and sent to
Geneva. Most of these lists were received by J a n u a ry 1945,
b u t th e rem ainder never arrived, in consequence of the situation
in G erm any.
At the end of 1944, postal connections were established anew
betw een the Agency and the Yugoslav Red Cross in Belgrade,
via Marseilles and Rome. Thousands of messages addressed
to PW in G erm any, a n d which had been sent off before the
liberation, then reached the Section.
From May 1945, after the liberation of Y ugoslavia and the
establishm ent of fresh postal connections w ith Belgrade, the
work of the Section dim inished considerably.
As th e P W and deportees could n ot be rep a tria te d im m e
diately after th e arm istice, lists of about 18,000 Y ugoslav P W
and civilian deportees who had been liberated by th e Allied
251

forces were broadcast to th eir relatives and friends, by m eans

of th e ICRC broadcasts, for which the Yugoslav Section had to
m ake arrangem ents.
From the au tu m n of 1946, th e chief ta sk of the Section was
to draw up and despatch certificates of c a p tiv ity to form er
prisoners of war.
The filing of th e Yugoslav card-index was beset w ith diffi
culties. These were m ainly caused by th e m ixture of
Cyrillic and L atin characters in the original docum ents, in
p a rtic u la r th e cap tu re cards, and th e juxtaposition of SerboC roat, G erm an and Ita lia n spellings. D istortion of names,
w hich was v ery frequent, did not m ake th e ta sk of the filingclerks any easier. S trict observation of precise filing rules,
which h ad been d rafted in a handbook prepared by specialists
of th e Serbo-C roat language, enabled these difficulties to be
overcom e.
W hen th e w ork was a t its peak, th e personnel of th e Section
am o u n ted to fifteen.

252

R u s s ia n

S e c tio n

D espite th e fact th a t the USSR h ad only ratified the G eneva

Convention for th e Relief of the Sick and W ounded and was not
am ongst th e S tates which had signed the 1929 Convention
relative to th e T reatm en t of Prisoners of W ar, the day after the
outb reak of war betw een G erm any and R ussia the ICRC
inform ed the G overnm ent of the Soviet Union th a t it was fully
prepared to collect and tra n sm it inform ation on th e wounded
and on PW on the E astern front. The USSR accepted this
proposal in principle as regards PW , and declared its willingness
to supply inform ation on P W cap tu red by Soviet forces, in so far
as the S tates a t w ar w ith th e U SSR observed the same rule.
The countries a t war w ith Russia, to whom the ICRC m ade
the same proposal, gave a reply sim ilar to th a t of the USSR.
Subsequently, th e Soviet G overnm ent also agreed to the Com
m itte e s schem e to open an office in A nkara for receiving and
relaying inform ation on PW on behalf of the C entral Agency.
A delegate of the Com m ittee got into touch w ith th e Soviet
E m bassy in T urkey to m ake this arrangem ent l. I t was th u s
hoped th a t, in respect of exchange of inform ation, m en cap tu red
011 the E astern front would have the benefit of the C om m ittees
help. The Central Agency, therefore, installed the R ussian
Section on Septem ber 1, 1941.
In October and N ovem ber 1941, th e ICRC tra n sm itte d to the
Soviet G overnm ent, by the in term ed iary of its delegate in
A nkara and of the Soviet E m bassy in th a t tow n, the first lists

1 F o r d etails on these n eg o tiatio n s see Vol. I, P a r t I I I , ch ap , 11.

253

of R ussian PW which had m eanw hile reached th e C entral

Agency, b u t th e Moscow Official B ureau, the establism ent
of which the Soviet E m bassy in A nk ara had announced,
forw arded no list of PW in R ussian hands in exchange. The
m ajo rity of th e S tates a t w ar w ith R ussia argued th a t failure
of reciprocity released them from an y obligation and ceased to
forw ard nam es of R ussian PW to the Agency.
The co ntact established in this field betw een th e Com m ittee
and the Soviet au th o rities was th u s in terru p ted , and th e hope
th a t th e Agency m ight act as in term ed iary for exchange of
news betw een prisoners tak en on the E astern front and th eir
next of kin gradually faded.
The R ussian Section was therefore in a peculiar position.
As no inform ation arrived from official sources, its scope was
very lim ited. Also, it rem ained out of touch w ith th e Moscow
Official B ureau. It, nevertheless, kept up a certain activ ity ;
this was due m ainly to the fact th a t th e R um anian G overnm ent
continued to send lists of Soviet prisoners in its hands. A bout
75,000 nam es cam e in from R um ania, and ap p aren tly covered
the to ta l num ber of R ussian PW in th a t country. O ther
countries a t w ar w ith th e USSR sent the nam es of 4,500 Russian
PW tak e n by them 1.
The Section received inform ation from o ther sources which,
while less im p o rtan t, nevertheless proved very valuable, on
account of th e silence surrounding th e fate of Soviet prisoners.
The following am ong these sources m ay be m entioned :
(1) A certain num ber of R ussian prisoners who had escaped
from G erm any and Ita ly into Sw itzerland and who gave the
nam es of com rades still in c a p tiv ity 2.
(2) Messages sent to relatives by PW , m ostly from Finland,
and some from R um ania and Italy .

1 3,000 n am es w ere s e n t in b y th e F in n ish a u th o ritie s , 914 b y th e

Ita lia n s, 348 b y th e G erm ans, 250 b y th e H u n g aria n s.
2 O ver 8,000 S o v iet m ilita ry personnel w ere in te rn e d in S w itzerlan d
(escaped P W fro m G erm an a n d I ta lia n cam ps). T h eir cases cam e w ith in
th e d u tie s of th e In te r n m e n t Section.

254

(3)
Various R ed Cross Societies and adm inistrative bodies,
which occasionally furnished inform ation on PW and on men
who had died.
It should fu rth e r be m entioned th a t a certain num ber of
Soviet prisoners in G erm any were enlisted, v o luntarily or under
compulsion, in th e G erm an arm y or in special units fighting
w ith it. Some of these men were captured by the Allies and
th eir nam es then appeared on lists of G erm an PW sent by
th e official bureaux of th e Allied Powers to Geneva.
The R ussian Section received only a very sm all num ber of
enquiries concerning m ilitary personnel. Most of the requests
cam e from persons who lived outside Russia, or in Soviet
te rrito ry occupied by the enem y : very few applications came
from unoccupied Russia.
The enquiries the Section was asked to m ake were lodged
w ith th e Finnish, R um anian, G erm an Red Cross Societies, and
in some cases w ith th e Alliance of Red Cross and R ed Crescent
Societies of the USSR. The only response to these applications
cam e from the Finnish and R um anian R ed Cross Societies.
The G erm an Red Cross sta te d it would reply direct to the
inquirer, if contact could be m ade w ith th e applicant.

Alm ost all inform ation relating to civilian internees received

by the Section concerned escaped PW interned in Sw itzerland.
These civilian internees, like the m ilitary, were th e care of
th e In te rn m e n t Service. The R ussian Section m erely looked
after their mail and th eir requests for enquiries.
Of the civilian internees outside Sw itzerland, the Agency
received only a few hundred names, m ostly from th e C om m ittees
delegations in various countries, th e R ed Cross Societies in
detaining S tates and some internees them selves or th eir next
of kin.
The Agency pursued a certain num ber of enquiries, m ost of
which were sent to the C om m ittees delegations, and to the
255

Ita lia n and G erm an Red Cross Societies.

The inform ation
g ath ered by these m eans was very scanty.
M any more enquiries were m ade concerning free civilians
th a n about civilian internees or m ilitary personnel. The m ajority
of th e free civilians sought were Jew s who had num erous relatives
and friends resident abroad, in p a rticu la r in Palestine. As m ost of
these persons were resident in R ussian territories occupied by
th e Axis forces, it was scarcely possible to m ake enquiries,
about them . I t was only as these territories were gradually
liberated th a t th e Section was able to send messages to them .
M any messages were retu rn ed w ith the rem ark : Gone a w a y ,
U n k n o w n , Incom plete a d d re ss . A te n th p a rt only was
retu rn ed w ith replies from th e person concerned, from neigh
bours or from th e Soviet (house com m ittee) of th eir form er
dwelling.
*
*

The Section encountered two difficulties of a purely technical

n a tu re ; to overcom e them it had recourse to the services of
a staff w ith a perfect knowledge of the R ussian language and
script, and able to spend a considerable am ount of tim e on
certain work.
The first difficulty was the fact th a t nam es in lists or on
enquiry forms were usually w ritten by persons ignorant of the
Russian language and script. The nam es were generally
w ritten in L atin characters and had th u s undergone m utilation,
as some R ussian characters have no L atin equivalent. The
Sections index cards were m ade out in R ussian characters.
I t was therefore necessary to rew rite in R ussian characters all
nam es appearing in docum ents. W ithout indication of the
system used for the tran scrip tio n of the nam es, this task was
not alw ays an easy one 1.
The other difficulty lay in the fact th a t messages had to be
tra n sm itte d to the USSR a t a tim e when the w estern and
south-w estern territories of the country were occupied by the

1 F in la n d alone in d ic ated th e sy stem of tra n sc rip tio n used.

256

Axis forces. E ach address therefore h ad to be checked in

order to determ ine w hether th e message should be sent to th e
Alliance of Red Cross and R ed Crescent Societies in Moscow,
or to the N ational Red Cross Society of one of th e U S SR s
adversaries. As th e greater num ber of th e messages h ad to go
to villages, such research often took a very long tim e.

I I . 17

257

C z e c h o s lo v a k

S e c tio n

A t the outset of hostilities the Agency had set up two separate

sections w ithin th e so-called Grouped Countries Section :
th e Czech and the Slovak Sections. These tw o Sections existed
side by side u n til the reconstitution of th e Czechoslovak S tate,
in May 1945, when th ey were am algam ated to form a N ational
Czechoslovak Section.
It will be recalled th a t th e occupation of B ohem ia and Moravia,
in M arch 1939, by the G erm an forces and th e constitution of
Slovakia as an independent S tate, com pleted the dism em berm ent
of Czechoslovakia and tem porarily p u t an end to its existence.
Bohem ia and M oravia were annexed by the Reich and were
c o n stitu ted a P ro te c to ra te ; the in h ab ita n ts of these areas
therefore did not become Germ an, and the men were not liable
for m ilitary service 1.
In these circum stances, when hostilities broke out in Sept
em ber 1939, the countries of the P ro tecto rate were not involved
in th e war. A few of th eir nationals, however, enlisted in the
belligerent forces. As regards Slovakia, this co u n try entered
into th e w ar in Ju n e 1941 against th e U .S.S.R. and sent two
divisions to th e E astern front. I t is clear from the above why
th ere were relatively few Czechoslovak prisoners of war.
In the course of the war a certain num ber of Czech volunteers
in foreign arm ies were tak en prisoner. G erm any considered
1 F o rm e r C zechoslovak n a tio n a ls belonging to th e G erm an m in o rities
re sid e n t in te rrito rie s an n e x ed b y th e R eich in consequence of th e M unich
ag re em e n t w ere n a tu ra lly enrolled in G erm an u n its. T hose ta k e n
p riso n er w ere th e re fo re d e a lt w ith b y th e G erm an Section.
C a p tu red m em bers of th e H u n g a ria n m in o rity were d e a lt w ith b y th e
H u n g a ria n Section.

258

th em as nationals of th e co u n try th ey had been serving, and

tra n sm itte d th eir nam es to th e Agency. The la tte r was able,
in particu lar, to send the com petent au thorities in G reat B ritain
inform ation on Czech prisoners who had fought in th e B ritish
forces, and who were P W in G erm any. On th e other hand, th e
U.S.S.R. sent th e Agency no inform ation on Slovak m ilitary
personnel c a p tu red by th e Soviet forces.
The Agency set
enquiries on foot in response to requests for inform ation on
m en who were missing on th e E astern front, b u t no replies were
received.
The Agency received no inform ation on Czechoslovak com
b a ta n ts who fought in th e Soviet forces and were c a p tu red b y the
G erm ans. I t was only when th e w ar had ended th a t it learned
of th e existence of these p articu lar PW .
The a c tiv ity of the Czechoslovak Section in behalf of civilians
was even m ore restricted th a n for m ilitary personnel. The
Section was indeed able to be of service to th e few Czechoslovak
nationals in tern ed in certain countries, or who sim ply had
no news of th eir relatives because of th e in te rru p tio n in postal
com m unications.
On th e o ther hand, it could accom plish
h ard ly a n y th in g in th e search for inform ation on tens of th o u s
ands of deportees, m any of whom died in the concentration
cam ps.
Only 1,500 nam es of deportees in T heresienstadt
(Terezin) reached th e Section in 1944 on receipts for relief
parcels the ICRC had despatched to this place.

259

A m e r ic a n S e c t io n

The A m erican Section was set up on D ecem ber 9, 1941, when

th e U nited S tates becam e involved in th e conflict. The U.S.
Forces having in general in itia ted operations, except a t the
beginning of th e w ar in th e Philippines and in the Pacific
Islands, the num ber of Am erican prisoners was small. The A m eri
can Section, therefore, never w ent th rough th e periods of im pro
visation and of m ass arrival of d ata, in th e w ay experienced by
certain other Sections of th e Agency. It also had th e benefit
of p ast experience and was th u s in a position to m eet require
m ents a t all tim es w ithout m uch difficulty.
The Prisoners of W ar Inform ation B ureau of the Office of the
P rovost M arshal General in W ashington, and th e Am erican
R ed Cross, who worked in close co-operation and were rem ark
ably well organized, served as an efficient inform ation bureau
for A m erican next of kin and considerably lightened the A gencys
task. The Am erican Section was th u s able to give th e whole of
its a tte n tio n to the business of sending on inform ation on PW
received from D etaining S tates to the Official B ureau in
W ashington. R elatives living in A m erica preferred, in fact, to
apply direct to A m erican organizations, as postal com m uni
cations betw een the S tates and Sw itzerland took a long tim e
and were uncertain during the war.
The U nited S tates Forces were in action on two fronts a t the
sam e tim e ; the work of th e Am erican Section in respect of
the Pacific th e a tre of war and th e E uropean will be exam ined
separately.

260

ar

in

the

a c ific

A part from engagem ents in W ake and G uam Islands and

in the Philippines, when the U nited S tates lost alm ost all the
land forces th a t w ent in to action, operations in the Pacific
were for th e m ost p a rt carried out by th e Air Force and the
N avy, and relatively sm all num bers of m en were em ployed.
All the P W looked after by th e A m erican Section were
cap tu red during the first m onths of th e fighting. L ater, the
only m em bers of th e Am erican Forces tak e n prisoner were the
airm en forced down during raids on Ja p a n , or on territories
occupied b y th e Japanese. No difficulties, therefore, arose in
sending inform ation concerning these men, since th e work was
spread out, as it will be seen, over the whole period of the war.
J a p a n was not a signatory to th e 1929 Convention relative
to th e tre a tm e n t of PW . W hen J a p a n came into the war, the
ICRC a t once invited the Japanese G overnm ent to m ake declara
tions which would practically have th e same effect as adherence
to this Convention. The Japanese G overnm ent, having received
assurances of reciprocity, a t once agreed to exchange inform
ation on P W and civilian internees, and a Japanese official
Info rm atio n B ureau was set up by Im perial Decree on December
27, 1941 h
The C om m ittees D elegation in Tokyo, after m any a tte m p ts,
a t length succeeded in securing, in April 1942, from the Japanese
au th o rities particu lars concerning Am erican com batants and
civilians c ap tu red when W ake and Guam Islands were taken.
The details were a t once cabled to the Agency.
As postal com m unications betw een Sw itzerland and the
U nited S tates were uncertain and difficult, th e Am erican Section
decided to cable to th e W ashington Official B ureau all inform
ation on prisoners, in advance of the despatch of p h o to sta t
1 T he H u ry o jo h o k io k u or th e Ja p a n e se M in istry of W a r In fo rm
atio n B u reau on P riso n ers of W ar. On th e m a tte r of J a p a n s ag re em e n t
to ap p ly , nm tatis m utandis, th e 1929 G eneva C onven tio n re la tiv e to
T re a tm e n t of P riso n ers of W ar, see th e c h a p te r on th e W a r in th e F a r
E a s t in Vol. I, w here th e su b je c t is d e a lt w ith in d etail.
261

copies of docum ents. This practice, which was one of the

special features of the Section, had for sim ilar reasons already
been em ployed by th e B ritish Section since 1940.
In May 1942 the Japanese Official B ureau sent th eir first cable
announcing captures. In th e following m onths th e y yielded
only little inform ation, and it was not u n til D ecem ber 1942,
seven m onths after th e end of the Philippines cam paign, th a t
th e Japanese finally cabled to G eneva the first notifications of
captures in these operations.
The work of the Section in 1942 in regard to the war in the
Pacific was alm ost wholly in behalf of civilians, m ost of whom
had been m em bers of the Am erican colony in the Philippines,
The enquiries which came in by thousands, entailed, as a rule,
application to the Japanese Red Cross for inform ation. The
results, however, of these enquiries were m ost un satisfacto ry 1.
A large num ber of these civilians were, however, able to
exchange messages w ith their relatives in the U nited States.
The Japanese Red Cross cabled them to the Agency and the
la tte r to th e A m erican Red Cross. This system com pensated,
to a certain degree, for the poor response to enquiries.
Mention should also be m ade of the im p o rta n t investigation
w ork carried out by the C om m ittees Delegations in Shanghai
and H ongkong concerning civilians in China.
Com m unications from the Japanese Official B ureau about
m ilitary personnel tak en prisoner during the Philippines
cam paign, and subsequent notifications of transfers and deaths
of prisoners, came in slowly all th rough the war. Even a t the
tim e of th e surrender, the Japanese authorities had still not
com m unicated all the nom inal lists of men cap tu red by them ,
or of those who had died while in their hands. O rdinary and
diplom atic mail were too slow, and these com m unications were
therefore m ade by cable.
As enquiries to th e H uryojohokioku on missing m em bers
of the forces proved fruitless, the Am erican Section, after a
tim e, abandoned th a t course. The only enquiries m ade th e re

1 See also Vol. I, c h a p te r a lre a d y m entioned .

262

fore to the B ureau were those for supplem entary details about
men whose cap tu re had already been officially notified.
In 1944, the Japanese authorities took th e initiativ e of
arranging an exchange of cable messages betw een P W and
th eir next of kin. The restrictions the Japanese authorities
had previously laid on th e exchange of correspondence m ade
th is move p articu larly welcome. The messages, which all
passed through Geneva, were assem bled in th e U nited S tates
both on departu re and arrival by the Am erican R ed Cross.
In the F a r E ast, transm ission of cables devolved on the Jap an ese
official B ureau. This system came into force in J a n u a ry 1945.
I t worked satisfactorily for messages from nex t of kin to PW ,
b u t very few messages arrived for relatives from th e F a r E a st h
Thus th e only service of th e Japanese official B ureau was to
cable inform ation on capture, transfers and deaths of A m erican
m ilitary personnel to the Agency. Such inform ation was often
sent only after considerable delay. No lists were ever forw arded
confirm ing d a ta given in these cables, and no news reached the
Agency concerning w ounded and sick prisoners. The Japanese
official B ureau also failed to send any d e a th certificates. W hen a
reckoning is m ade of th e sm all success in seeking inform ation from
th e B ureau, of the fact th a t the A m erican Section was quite
unable to m ake contact w ith cam p spokesm en, and of the restric
tions on m ail im posed by th e Japanese m ilitary authorities, it
m ust be a d m itte d th a t the situation was far from satisfactory.

uropean

T heatre

of

O p e r a t io n s

Since the chief adversary of the U nited S tates in this th e a tre

was G erm any, alm ost all Am erican P W c ap tu red during
E uropean operations fell into G erm an hands. Thus, th e work
of th e A m erican Section in respect of th e operations in E urope
was necessarily closely linked w ith its relations w ith th e G erm an
official B ureau 2.
1 See page 61.
2 O b erk o m m an d o d er W e h rm ac h t, W e h rm a c h ta u sk u n ftste lle
K rieg e rv e rlu ste u n d K riegsgefangene, u su a lly called O K W ,

fiir

263

Up to th e tim e of th e Allied landing in N orth Africa, on

N ovem ber 8, 1942, th e only forces sent in to action by the
A m erican Com m and were those of the USAF. Inform ation
relative to Am erican airm en cap tu red or shot down on d u ty
was, th roughout the war, g ran ted p rio rity transm ission. The
OKW , fulfilling th e agreem ent on reciprocity, telegraphed this
inform ation, usually w ithout delay, to Geneva, as th ey did in
th e case of B ritish airm en. On receipt this inform ation was
tra n sla te d in to English and cabled b y the A m erican Section
to th e Official B ureau in W ashington. The office in W ashington
was th u s able to give word, alm ost a t once, to the relatives of
airm en casualties, w ith details of each case.
A fter N ovem ber 8, 1942, and a fter th e successive landings,
th e A m erican forces were engaged in m ajor operations in N orth
A frica and in Europe. These troops suffered no serious reverses,
b u t th eir increasing share in th e Italian cam paign, and later
th e p a rt th ey played after th e Allied landing in N orm andy in
1944, led to the cap tu re of some tens of thousands of men by
th e Germ an forces.
G enerally speaking, the O K W was able to fulfil its duties
as Official B ureau till th e end of the fighting. D uring the last
m onths of th e war, however, intensive bom bing gradually
disorganized the G erm an ad m inistrative departm ents, and lists
sent by th e O K W often arrived too late to be entirely useful.
In these circum stances, lists draw n up by cam p leaders and cap
tu re cards filled in by prisoners them selves, which came direct
to th e Agency in a com paratively short tim e, were extrem ely
valuable. W hen this inform ation was found to contain new
details it was cabled to the W ashington Official B ureau along
lines explained below.
The A m erican Section set on foot enquiries chiefly at the
request of the W ashington Official B ureau. These researches
which covered the missing, identification of PW or of the dead,
th e sta te of health and location of P W cam ps, were made,
according to the p articu lar case, by w ay of the Germ an Official
B ureau, cam p leaders, and, less frequently, the Germ an Red
Cross. R esults were on the whole satisfactory.
The Section was of service in th e forw arding of a considcr264

able volum e of m ail a n d messages. Thus, th o u g h th e m ajor

portion of prisoner of w ar m ail w ent th ro u g h th e ordinary
postal channels, th e Section, a fter checking addresses and
som etim es a fte r com pleting them w ith th e help of th e d a ta
contained in th e card-index, sent over a million a n d a half
letters and messages to camps. This large am ount of m ail was
due to the fact th a t, on th e stre n g th of agreem ents concluded
betw een the Agency and th e Am erican authorities, n ex t of
kin in th e U nited S tates were allowed to w rite to P W by w ay
of Geneva im m ediately on receiving cap tu re cards, and w ithout
having to w ait for fu rth e r details inform ing them of the prisoners
exact place of detention. This arrangem ent m eant th a t n u m
bers of P W were able to get news from hom e in a relatively
short tim e.
One of th e chief characteristics of the w ork of th e A m erican
Section was close and stead y co-operation w ith cam p leaders.
Their help was indeed of very great service in providing inform
ation, atten d in g to enquiries, and th e transm ission of m essages.
*

The working m ethods of th e A m erican Section were, in

general, sim ilar to those of other N ational Sections. Two
features should be m entioned, however, as th ey distinguished
this Section from the others.
W h ereas all th e other N ational Sections built up th eir cardindexes w ith card entries in typescript, th e Am erican Section
used W atson M achine cards, on which inform ation was sim ul
taneously recorded in ty p escrip t and registered by m eans of
ap p ro p riate perforations 1.
W hen th e Am erican Section was opened, the B ritish Section
had already recognized th e usefulness of P W lists draw n up
w ith the help of the H ollerith m achines, according to a rm y or
PW num bers. Lists m ade in this w ay brought to g eth er cards
relating to th e sam e m an, even in cases where several m en had
1 See A p p licatio n of H o lle rith m achines to th e w o rk of th e C entral
A gency, p. 108.
265

th e sam e nam e or where the nam es were d isto rted : w ithout this
system , the cards relating to one m an would have been filed
separately. I t was therefore decided th a t the lists of A m erican
P W should be draw n up in this way, and th a t for the A m erican
Section, th e H ollerith cards should be a t once established in
duplicate. One copy was filed in the card-index and the other
used for establishing lists. The H ollerith cards filed in the
Sections index served th e sam e purpose as th e ty p escrip t cards
in th e other Sections.
As explained above, the A m erican Section cabled inform ation
received from various sources on P W and internees to the
W ashington Official B ureau. This inform ation very often came
through, however, in a sequence different from th a t of events,
and frequently inform ation on the sam e m an was received in
ex actly th e sam e form from different sources. In these cir
cum stances, it is obvious th a t had the A m erican Section cabled
all d a ta as received to W ashington, the U. S. Official B ureau
would have been obliged, in dealing w ith such a flow of notifica
tions, to classify them itself ; further, cable charges would have
been very high.
To m eet these difficulties, the Section m ade use of a system
already tried out by the B ritish Section, and which can be
sum m arized as follows. On a rriv al in the Section d a ta were
sorted into tw o categories, each of which was dealt w ith in a
different way. In the first were placed all docum ents giving
nam es of P W or of deceased who, app aren tly , were unknow n
to the Agency.
This inform ation was im m ediately cabled
to W ashington ; the cards were m ade subsequently and
filed in the index. The second class included all docum ents
providing supplem entary d a ta or notification of tran sfer to
other cam ps of PW already on the A gencys files. In this
case inform ation was first entered on cards which were checked
w ith th e card-index, and the filing clerks th en decided, on the
basis of inform ation already registered, if it was necessary or
not to cable the inform ation ju st received.
In M arch 1945, the peak period of the Am erican Section, the
staff num bered 45.

266

J a p a n e s e S e c tio n

The Japanese Section was opened in D ecem ber 1941, a fte r

th e e n try of J a p a n into th e war.
U ntil th e a u tu m n of 1944, th a t is, for m ore th a n tw o and a
half years, th e Japanese Section concerned itself alm ost exclu
sively w ith civilians, either in tern ed or a t liberty. D uring this
whole period, the num ber of Japanese soldiers who fell into
enem y hands was extrem ely sm all, p a rtly because th e Japanese
forces co n stan tly had th e upper hand during th e first m onths
of hostilities, and p a rtly because th e forces engaged in the
la te r fighting were relatively small. A few lists of PW cam e in
from th e official B ureaux of New Zeland, A ustralia and the
U nited S tates. The forw arding of these lists to th e Japanese
au th o rities c o n titu te d th e only work th e Section did for the
benefit of th e Japanese PW , since no one was ever concerned
to ask for news of them . It is know n th a t to be a PW has alw ays
been considered in J a p a n as a disgrace reflecting on th e whole
fam ily 1.
W ith regard to civilians, th e situ atio n was very different.
The large Japanese colonies in th e U nited S tates, C anada, A us
tra lia an d In d ia were, from th e outset, subject to security
m easures such as intern m en t, rem oval and assem bly in p a rticu la r
centres. The nam es of all Japanese in te rn ed or evacuated were
com m unicated to th e C entral Agency by th e au th o rities of the
countries who had tak en these m easures. The forw arding of
such inform ation to J a p a n was not th e only ta sk of th e Section.
R elatives and friends in J a p a n becam e anxious, either because
1 See V ol. I, " C onflict in th e F a r E a s t .
267

th ey had failed to receive a n y notice of intern m en t, or sim ply

because th ey had been w ithout news, as a result of th e b rea k
down of postal com m unications.
A large num ber of such
enquiries reached th e Japanese Section, and each case was
tak e n up w ith th e com petent a u th o rity of th e co u n try in ques
tion, or very often w ith the C om m ittees delegations. These
enquiries led to no im m ediate results, for these countries are
sep arated by im m ense distances from Sw itzerland, and the
process of censorship added g reatly to the delay in the delivery
of m ail. I t was only a fter several m onths th a t replies cam e in ;
the Section was th en in a position to answ er alm ost all the
applications.
From the a u tu m n of 1944, th e work of the Japanese Section
changed. U ntil this date, it was chiefly a tracing bureau for
civilians, now it becam e prim arily an in term ed iary agency for
th e transm ission of news of PW and civilian internees. This
happened a t a tim e when th e final B ritish and A m erican
offensive was launched in th e Pacific, the first incident of which
was the cap tu re of the M arianne Islands. These operations led
to the tak in g prisoner of m any Japanese soldiers by the Allies
an d to the in tern m en t of a g reat num ber of civilians living
in th e c a p tu red territories.
U ntil th e end of the w ar and for some tim e afterw ards the
m ain ta sk of the Section was to forw ard to the Japanese
au th o rities th e inform ation it received from th e official B ureaux
in th e U nited S tates, A ustralia, C anada and New Zealand, and
from th e C om m ittees delegation in India, on the subject of
PW and internees.
*

One of the distinguishing features of the work of the Japanese

Section was the extensive use it m ade of the telegraph in
tra n sm ittin g inform ation to J a p a n : this was the only rapid
m ethod of com m unicating w ith this country. As a rule, all
inform ation received by wire from the official B ureaux of captor
S tates was sent to Ja p a n by th e same means.
The work of th e Section in keeping the card-index up to
d ate encountered great difficulties in th e Japanese language.
268

There could, indeed, be no question of W estern people using

Japanese characters. In w riting th is language, a system of
phonetic tra n sc rip tio n is used which renders as accurately
as possible th e sounds of th e Japanese language, a n d which
allows the w riting of Japanese in L atin characters. The
principal source of difficulty for the Section was the c u rren t use
of two system s of tra n slite ra tio n , which are m arked by notable
differences. One of these m ethods, devised a t th e end of the
n in eteen th century, was em ployed b y th e Jap an ese official
B ureau ; the other, know n as the H epburn system , was used
by th e official B ureaux of th e ca p to r S tates and by civilian
internees in th eir enquiries. The Japanese Section was forced
to introduce special rules of filing which took b o th system s into
account, and which allowed cards of application and inform ation
to be filed next to each other.
Finally, m ention should be m ade of the fact, which had alw ays
to be borne in m ind in the Section, th a t a person m ight be
known and referred to under several different nam es. The
confusion of fam ily nam e and first nam e, and the frequent
inaccuracy, no less frequent, of certain other details of id en ti
fication, such as age, m ade classification still m ore difficult.

269

H u n g a r ia n

S e c tio n

The H ungarian Section was set up as a result of the o u tb reak

of war betw een G erm any and the Soviet Union, in Ju n e 1941.
H u n g ary went into th e w ar as an ally of the Reich on Ju n e 27.
D uring th e greater p a rt of the war, the H ungarian Section had
com paratively little w ork to do ; b u t a fter th e spring of 1944,
an d even m ore during th e period which im m ediately followed
th e end of th e w ar, events in H ungary led to a considerable
increase in th e activities of the Section.
No H ungarian u nit saw service on th e W estern front. Only
a few th o u san d H ungarian nationals belonging to th e G erm an
racial group fought in th e ranks of the W ehrm acht, m ainly
as SS troops. The H ungarian Section had to deal w ith the
notifications of c ap tu re of these m en and applications from
th eir relatives, m ost of whom had rem ained in H ungary.
In th e E ast, on th e o th er hand, th e H ungarian arm ed forces
took an active p a rt in operations. At first, th eir role was m ainly
confined to th e occupation of te rrito ry conquered b y th e W ehr
m acht. Thus, up to the w inter of 1942-1943, th e y only suffered
very sm all losses. Things changed, however, a t th e tim e of the
R ussian break -th ro u g h a t Voronesh in J a n u a ry 1943, during
which th e H ungarian arm y serving in th e R ussian cam paign
lost nearly half its stren g th , either killed or as prisoners : it is
estim ated th a t a t th a t tim e 80,000 men fell into th e hands of
th e Soviet forces.
Failing an y inform ation as to these PW , since the C entral
Agency received no official inform ation from the Soviet Union,
th e H ungarian Section had to confine itself to registering the
270

num erous applications for enquiries and for news, to which

these events gave rise.
N evertheless, a certain num ber of H ungarian PW in th e
Soviet U nion were able to com m unicate w ith th eir relatives in
H ungary, since th e men in certain of th e cam ps had been
provided w ith special m essage-cards. These messages som etim es
passed th ro u g h the C entral Agency, and th e H ungarian Section
had in th a t case to forw ard them . The H ungarian R ed Cross,
for its p a rt, forw arded to the Agency inform ation received from
th e USSR th ro u g h th is exchange of messages, which enabled
th e Section to give news to m any fam ilies living abroad, espe
cially in th e U nited States.
The H ungarian Section, during this first period of its activities,
had to deal w ith some hundreds of civilian internees, including
a good m any seam en, who were scattered over a num ber of
countries.
In M arch 1944, when the situ atio n on th e E astern front
becam e m ore and m ore th reaten in g , G erm any went ahead
w ith th e m ilitary occupation of H ungary, which was followed
on O ctober 15 of th e sam e year, by th e setting up of the A rrow
head Cross (Croix flches) regime. These events inau g u rated
a period of political persecution, during which more th a t 15,000
political prisoners and several hundred th ousand Jew s were
deported.
A pplications for enquiries coming from H ungary and from
various o ther countries, p articu la rly from th e U nited S tates,
began to pour in. The H ungarian Section saw its activities
g rea tly increasing, th e more so since application cards con
cerning men missing on th e E astern front were a t the same tim e
reaching it from the H ungarian Red Cross in great num bers.
The Section, which had h ith erto occupied only one or tw o people,
rose gradually a stre n g th of about ten assistants. U nfortunately
th e great am ount of work done by the Section a t this tim e was
to a large ex ten t unproductive, for the Agency received no
inform ation from the Soviet Union concerning the prisoners, nor
from G erm any in respect of the deportees ; only chance inform
ation som etim es enabled it to reply to applicants.
The Section did nevertheless, a t this tim e have an oppor
271

tu n ity of acting usefully for th e Jew s who were interned in

Sw itzerland, especially w ith regard to the forw arding of m ail
to H ungary, P alestine and th e U nited States, and the giving
of inform ation to relations in those countries.
Tow ards th e end of th e war, th ere was a fresh upheaval in
H ungary, and th e Section w ent th ro u g h a period of intense
activ ity . The re tre a t of the G erm an arm y was followed by the
occupation of th e co u n try b j' th e Soviet forces. The greater p a rt
of the H ungarian a rm y was driven into G erm any, and so were
th e H ungarians of school age who had been enrolled in sem i
m ilitary units. In all, there were about half a million men.
The troops of th e regular arm y fell into the hands of B ritish,
F rench and U nited S tates forces, who, during th e next few
m onths, sent capture-cards in great num bers to th e Agency, and
also m any official lists and d e a th certificates ; this a t last gave
th e H ungarian Section an o p p o rtu n ity to do practical work,
based on accurate inform ation and th e tallies of enquiries
and replies. A t th e sam e tim e, a large num ber of letters and
cards sent by these m en to th eir relatives reached th e Section.
Serious difficulties, however, arose in respect of the forw arding
of all these d a ta to the relatives. They were of the sam e kind
as those m et w ith a t th is tim e as regards com m unicating to
G erm any inform ation concerning the PW and th e dead of
th e G erm an arm ed forces. P ostal com m unications w ith H u n
g ary were still cut off, a n d th e H ungarian population, like the
G erm an, h ad been m uch scattered b y recent events. Thus,
nearly 500,000 H ungarian civilians of all kinds, driven by
events, had tak e n refuge in A ustria and B avaria.
A ltogether, m ore th a n one-ten th of the population of H ungary
h ad been th u s displaced. A pplications therefore poured into
th e Agency. I t was a t this post-w ar period th a t the H ungarian
Section was m ost active ; its personnel num bered fifteen a t the
beginning of 1946.
To m eet as far as possible the difficulties of forw arding
inform ation to H ungary, and to reach the addressees more
speedily, th e Section system atically resorted to the broadcasting
of lists of nam es a t th is tim e. In th e case of T ransylvanians,
nam es were read first in H ungarian and th en in R um anian.
272

D uring th e year 1946, the rep a tria tio n of H ungarian PW in the

hands of th e W estern Pow ers, following on th a t of th e A ustrians,
led to a gradual dim inishing in th e work of th e H ungarian Sec
tion. This was accen tu ated by th e reopening of th e p o stal traffic
and th e re tu rn to H ungary of certain groups of refugees an d eva
cuees. Some of those who rem ained in A ustria and in G erm any
were referred to o th er organizations. Thus, in th e second p a rt of
1946, th e activities of th e H ungarian Section were m uch reduced,
and only a sm all correspondence section was henceforth required.
*
*

The filing of cards in th e H ungarian index was m ade espe

cially arduous by reason of th e phonetic tra n slite ra tio n of
H ungarian nam es.
F urtherm ore, owing to the continual
changes in th e frontiers of H ungary, it was often difficult to
decide which cases should be allotted to the Section. F u rth e r
obstacles lay in th e frequent tra n slite ra tio n of th e nam es of
applicants and of persons sought for into Germ an, R um anian,
Serbian, Slovak, R uthenian, etc.
The to ta l correspondence received by th e H ungarian Section
up to Ju n e 30, 1947, am ounted to more th a n 50,000 letters, to
which several hundred telegram s should be added. It sent out
more th a n 60,000 messages. Finally, th ere were nearly 350,000
cards in its card-index a t th a t date.

11. is

2 73

R u m a n ia n S e c t i o n

The R um anian Section was set up in Ju n e 1941, as a result

of th e e n try of R um ania into the w ar on th e side of G erm any
against the Soviet Union.
The h istory of R um ania during the second W orl W ar falls
into two quite distinct periods, separated by th e R usso-R um anian arm istice of A ugust 24, 1944. D uring th e first period
R um ania fought against the Soviet Union, and during the second
it fought against G erm any. These tw o phases each in th eir
tu rn influenced th e activities of the Section.
The cam paign in R ussia involved heavy losses for the R um a
nian arm y, both in killed and in prisoners. Since the USSR
had not supplied a n y inform ation concerning these men, the
R um anian Section had to confine itself to classifying th e great
num ber of applications received from R um ania ; more th an
40,000 of these were received up to 1944, m ost of them coming
from th e R um anian R ed Cross. A ttem p ts were m ade to obtain
inform ation from th e USSR b y m eans of enquiries, b u t th ey
were unsuccessful.
A lthough the Agency received no official inform ation, m any
R um anian PW in th e USSR were able to send m essage-cards
giving news to th eir relatives. The R um anian Section received
from the R um anian R ed Cross about 5,000 nam es of PW who
had sent out news in th is way, which m ade it possible to reply
to applicants living outside R um ania.
In D ecem ber 1941, a sta te of w ar was declared between
R um ania, G reat B ritain, and the U nited S tates ; the R um anian
Section had henceforth to forw ard lists and messages, and to
set on foot enquiries w ith regard to th e civilians who were
interned by degrees in th e countries of the B ritish Common274

w ealth and Am erica. Am ong these, m ention should be m ade

of th e m em bers of crews of oil tan k e rs which were stopped and
exam ined by th e B ritish N avy ; these men were in tern ed in
India.
A t th e request of relatives living abroad, th e R um anian
Section also set on foot m any enquiries in R um ania itself,
in respect of R um anian civilians, and it was often possible
to supply definite inform ation to th e applicants, especially
to those in N orth Am erica.
The arm istice of A ugust 24, 1944 led to th e change in alliance
and to th e e n try of R um ania into th e w ar on th e side of the
Allies.
Am ong th e m any R um anian divisions who, a fter th a t tim e,
fought on th e side of th e Allies, th ere were tw o which were
form ed of ex-prisoners in U .S.S.R. By reason of th e chaotic
situ atio n in G erm any a t th a t tim e, th e Agency did not receive
m uch inform ation w ith regard to R um anian PW c ap tu red by
th e G erm an forces. C ertain cam p leaders took th e in itiativ e
them selves in preparing lists of th e ir fellow -countrym en in the
cam ps and m anaged to send th em to Geneva. In th e sam e way,
it was possible to send a certain num ber of c ap tu re cards to the
Agency.
The Section also received c ap tu re cards and lists in respect
of about 2,000 R um anian PW who were tak en in G erm any in
som ew hat exceptional circum stances. These were R um anian
m ilitary personnel assigned to th a t co u n try by th e G overnm ent
for m ilitary train in g or co-ordination. Being cut off on G erm an
te rrito ry by th e arm istice of A ugust 24, these m en were tak e n
prisoner. The Section telegraphed all th eir nam es to th e R u m a
nian R ed Cross.
W hen th e R um anian internees in th e concentration cam ps
were released by th e Allied forces, th e Section broadcast several
th o u san d nam es of th e survivors b y wireless ; th e nam es of the
T ransylvanians were read out in R um anian and H ungarian.
The broadcasting of lists of nam es was th e only m eans of
giving speedy inform ation to next of kin, m any of whom were
them selves displaced. A fter broadcasting, th e lists were for
w arded to th e R um anian R ed Cross.
275

The Section had to deal w ith a special category of R um anian

subjects, th a t of th e V olksdeutsche or m em bers of the
G erm an racial m inority in R um ania, who were natives of
T ransylvania or of th e B an at, and who had been enrolled in the
G erm an arm y. Several thousands of th em were c a p tu red by
th e B ritish, F rench and U nited S tates forces, and the Agency
received capture-cards, lists and id en tity cards concerning
them . Most of th em were shown in these docum ents, or described
them selves as R um anians ; therefore the Section had to deal
w ith them , w orking in close co ntact w ith th e G erm an Section.
This inform ation was com m unicated to the R um anian Red
Cross, to be passed on to the fam ilies concerned.
A certain p roportion of m em bers of th e G erm an racial
m inority had retire d into G erm any and A ustria w ith the Germ an
troops. At the end of th e war, several thousands of these
V olksdeutsche rep o rted them selves to the Agency as dis
persed R um anian civilians ", and asked for news of th eir
relations. In certain cases, the R um anian Section was able to
p u t m em bers of fam ilies th u s scattered in touch w ith each other.
Finally, it should be said th a t the staff of the R um anian
Section was never more th a n three, an d th a t on Ju n e 30, 1947
it had nearly 120,000 cards in its index.

B u lg a r ia n

S e c tio n

On F e b ru ary 19, 1941, B ulgaria joined th e T rip a rtite P act

and allowed G erm an troops to en ter her te rrito ry . This act led
her to break off diplom atic relations w ith Belgium , G reat
B ritain , th e N etherlands and Poland, and brought her into
th e war.
The cam paigns in Y ugoslavia and Greece were the principal
m ilitary events in which th e B ulgarian A rm y took p a rt. B ut
th e fighting was done m ainly by th e G erm an A rm y, and the
B ulgarian troops, although th e y had occupied p a rt of Serbia,
M acedonia and E a ste rn Thrace, did not m ake co ntact w ith th e
Y ugoslav and Greek forces.
In these circum stances th ere were no B ulgarian PW a t this
stage, so th a t th ere was no question of form ing a B ulgarian
Section a t th e C entral Agency.
I t was not u n til J a n u a ry 1942, th a t th e ICRC notified th e
B ulgarian G overnm ent th a t the services of th e Agency were a t
its disposal, in accordance w ith th e P W Convention of 1929.
In point of fact, although no form al sta te of w ar existed betw een
B ulgaria and th e Soviet Union, a large num ber of B ulgarians
fought in th e ran k s of th e G erm an A rm y on th e E astern F ro n t,
and th e Agency had already received some applications con
cerning missing men. The attem p s m ade b y the Section to get
inform ation concerning B ulgarian soldiers missing on th e E astern
F ro n t were however unsuccessful.
The breaking off of diplom atic relations betw een B ulgaria
and G reat B ritain brought about the in tern m en t of a num ber of
Bulgarians, especially in Palestine, E g y p t and India.
The
Section forw arded any inform ation received concerning them
2 77

to th e B ulgarian R ed Cross. It also set enquiries on foot w ith

th e B ritish authorities.
A t th e end of 1944, B ulgaria declared w ar on G erm any.
D uring th e engagem ents which followed, several hundred B ul
garians were tak e n prisoner. A lthough th e G erm an official
B ureau did not com m unicate any inform ation regarding these
m en to th e C entral Agency, th e cam p leaders forw arded nom inal
rolls, which the Agency passed on to the B ulgarian R ed Cross.
The sta te of w ar betw een B ulgaria and G erm any brought
ab o u t th e separation of B ulgarian stu d e n ts in G erm any and
m em bers of th e sm all agricu ltu ral settlem ents in G erm any and
Y ugoslavia from th eir relatives and friends in B ulgaria. The
B ulgarian Section acted as in term ed iary am ongst these people
in th e exchange of news. I t continued to c a rry out this task
a fte r th e w ar, as postal com m unications betw een B ulgaria and
G erm any were n et restored again u n til a long tim e after.

278

F in n is h S e c t io n

W hen in N ovem ber 1939, war broke out betw een Finland
and the USSR, th e ICRC inform ed the F innish G overnm ent
th a t, although F in lan d had not ratified th e 1929 P W Conven
tion, the Com m ittee was prepared to receive and tra n sm it
inform ation concerning th e w ounded and prisoners. A t th e sam e
tim e, the ICRC m ade all th e necessary p rep aratio n for a F innish
Section at th e Central Agency. The F innish G overnm ent
inform ed the ICRC th a t it h ad in stru cted the F innish Red
Cross to co n stitu te an official Inform ation B ureau, as required
in A rt. 77 of th e Convention.
The Soviet G overnm ent, however, supplied no inform ation
on Finnish prisoners, and th e Agency was unable to be of any
service to th e Finnish P W c ap tu red in th is first cam paign.
In Ju n e 1941, when th e G erm an forces invaded Russia,
F inland once more took up arm s against th a t country. At the
s ta rt of this second R usso-Finnish war, th e ICRC rem inded
both G overnm ents of th e term s of the 1929 G eneva C onvention
proper and of th e F o u rth H ague C onvention of 1907 on the
laws and custom s of w ar on land, b o th Conventions having
been ratified by F inland and Russia. B oth agreed to apply
th e tre a ty stipulations of these Conventions, subject to reci
procity. They fu rth e r undertook to allow PW to fill in cap tu re
cards and to exchange nom inal lists of PW . U nfortunately,
no lists ever arrived from Russia and when this p a rticu la r con
flict ended in 1944, the Section had been unable to do an y th in g in
behalf of Finnish PW.
Certain tasks were nevertheless fulfilled by the F innish
Section. In Decem ber 1941, G reat B ritain and th e Dom inions
279

declared th ey were in a sta te of war w ith Finland. M any

Finnish vessels th en a t sea or in h arbour were seized by the
B ritish N avy.
The crews were in tern ed and considered as
civilian internees by th e Pow ers who held them . A t th e begin
ning of 1942 inform ation on these seam en began to reach the
Agency, which th e Section forw arded to th e Finnish R ed Cross.
F u rth e r, fairly large Finnish colonies exist in the B ritish
C om m onwealth, th e U nited S tates and South Am erica. These
people, cut off from th eir hom e co u n try and gravely concerned
ab o u t th e fate of th eir relatives and friends, applied to the
Agency. The F innish Section s ta rte d enquiries w ith the Finnish
Red Cross w hich was, in m ost cases, able to reply in due course.

280

B a ltic S e c tio n

In Ju n e 1940, th e territories of E sthonia, L a tv ia and L ith u an ia

were once m ore brought w ithin th e U .S.S.R. In th e following
year, a fte r th e G erm an advance tow ards th e E ast, these three
S tates were in tu rn occupied by the G erm an arm ed forces.
Finally, in D ecem ber 1943, th e Soviet forces took possession
of th em y et again.
As a consequence of these events, th e citizens of these three
countries were recru ited in to either Soviet or G erm an forces,
and num bers of people were evacuated or deported.
I t was not n n til th e end of 1942, however, th a t th e C entral
Agency had to deal w ith cases relating to th e citizens of these
th ree States. A t th is tim e, nationals of th e B altic S tates dom i
ciled in C anada, South Africa and th e U nited States, were
anxious ab o u t th e fate of th eir relatives still living in those
S tates, and sent a num ber of applications to th e Agency. In
Ja n u a ry 1943, therefore, th e Section for B altic C ountries was
set up in order to deal w ith th e cases of E sthonians, L atvians
and L ithuanians. To th e above applications others were added
from citizens living in th e Soviet Union whose countries of
origin were th e B altic States. These requests cam e by way
of th e C om m ittees delegation in Teheran. Most of these appli
cations were th e subject of enquiries m ade to th e G erm an
Red Cross. W ith th e exception of enquiries concerning Jew s,
for which no replies were received, th e results on th e whole were
satisfactory ; replies, however, only cam e in a fter long delay.
As there was no possibility of carrying out enquiries in the
U .S.S.R., th e Section for B altic Countries, in order to reply to
applications, a tte m p te d to obtain inform ation regarding citizens
281

of th e B altic S tates in th a t co u n try by sending messages to

th em direct. Only eighty of these were retu rn ed to the Agency
w ith replies, after an in terv al of m ore th a n two years.
In F e b ru ary 1945, th ere was an increase in th e num ber of
enquiries received from South Africa and th e U nited S tates.
U n fo rtunately, all com m unications w ith th e B altic S tates had
been broken off a t th is tim e.

282

Sundry Nationalities

The Agency was called upon to extend its work to include

certain co m b atan ts and civilians who were nationals of non
belligerent countries. This applied in p a rticu la r to nationals
of Abyssinia, A fghanistan, A ndorra, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Sw itzer
land and Turkey, as well as to non-Je wish stateless, in possession
or not of a N ansen passport. N ationals of a n e u tra l country,
or stateless persons who h ad been resident for m any years in
a co u n try now suddenly involved in th e war, som etim es enlisted
in the arm ed forces of th a t country. N ationals of n eu tral states
also left th eir own country to enlist in the forces of one or the
other group of belligerents.
In th e event of these volunteers being tak e n prisoner, the
D etaining Pow er usually considered th em as nationals of the
S tate th ey had served, and sent inform ation concerning them
to the Agency.
A few belligerent S tates took m easures to confine certain
nationals of neu tral countries resident in th eir territo ries :
some of these were interned, others detained. These S tates
sent inform ation on these persons to th e Agency. No official
inform ation, however, reached th e Agency, as is well known,
concerning deportees in concentration camps.
The Agencys work consisted in tra n sm ittin g to th e relatives
of these prisoners and civilian internees any inform ation received
about them . These com m unications usually w ent th ro u g h th e
m unicipal authorities of the places of residence of relatives, or
th rough th e interm ediary of th e clergy. Inform ation relative
to prisoners was also sent to th e official B ureau of th e Pow er
th ey h ad served.
283

The Agency was often asked to u n d ertak e search, not only

for volunteers and for civilian internees, b u t also for civilians
of whom th e enquirer h ad lost all trace, following on th e b reak
down of postal com m unications.
The m ost frequent cases of this kind were those of Swiss
nationals and of stateless persons.

284

A u s tr ia n S e c t io n

Since th e annexation of A ustria by G erm any in 1938 an d up

to the end of th e war, nationals of th e form er A ustria h ad in
fact G erm an n atio n ality . D uring th e w ar th ey did not co n stitu te
special u n its in th e W ehrm acht, b u t were scattered th roughout
th e arm y as a whole, in such a w ay th a t th ey took th eir share
in all th a t befell nationals of th e Reich. T heir capture, or th eir
decease, were announced to the C entral Agency by th e Allied
official B ureaux as th e c ap tu re or decease of G erm an m ilitary
personnel. The Agency, whose national Sections, as we know,
were based on th e n a tio n a lity of the prisoners, defined by the
frontiers as th e y existed on Septem ber 1, 1939, could only
tak e in to account the de facto situation, in dealing w ith A ustrian
nationals w ithin the fram ew ork of the G erm an Section, w ithout
m aking any distinction.
The reco nstitution of a national A ustrian G overnm ent as a
result of the collapse of th e T hird Reich, led th e ICRC, in the
m onth of May 1945, to consider th e settin g up of a Section in
th e C entral Agency, which would look a fter A ustrian nationals
and th u s help them , to some degree, to escape th e disastrous
consequences of the dissolution of any official centralizing body,
such as th e O .K .W . and th e G erm an Red Cross, a n d of all the
G erm an m achinery for the giving out of inform ation supplied
b y Geneva.
In order to set up an A ustrian Section in Geneva, it was
first necessary th a t th e detaining S tates should agree th a t
com m unications concerning PW who declared them selves to be
A ustrians and were recognized as such, should thenceforth be
m ade sep arately from those concerning Germ ans, and th a t
285

capture-cards, lists, id e n tity cards and d eath certificates should

specify clearly th e A ustrian natio n ality . The ICRC took the
in itiativ e in m aking rep resen tatio n s for this purpose ; in Ju n e
1945 it applied to th e Allied Pow ers seeking th eir agreem ent.
A lthough the various detaining S tates did not all m eet this
request a t th e sam e tim e, or in an equally satisfactory m anner,
th e Agency was soon receiving an increasing num ber of d a ta
which were clearly m arked as referring to A ustrians.
On J u ly 2, 1945, an A ustrian Service was set up w ithin the
G erm an Section. On O ctober 1, it becam e an independant
Section, the last to be established in th e C entral Agency.
In order to allocate inform ation received and applications
for enquiries to th e new Section, th e Agency decided to define
m em bers of th e forces who should be regarded as A ustrians in
th e following m anner.
(1) All those referred to as such by th e detaining Power
in the docum ents which it forw arded to Geneva.
(2) All those who declared them selves to be A ustrians on
th eir capture-cards.
(3) All those whose relatives described them as A ustrians
in th e ir applications.
(4) Failing an explicit definition of th e n a tio n a lity on th e docu
m ents, all those whose place of b irth and address of p aren ts (last
domicile) were b o th in A ustria, taking as a basis the frontiers of
th a t co u n try as th e y existed in 1938, before the Anschluss.
W hen the A ustrian Service (which later becam e the A ustrian
Section) was set up, inform ation and applications poured in,
and th e card-index speedily increased. I t was at this tim e th a t
th e Allied official B ureaux sent to G eneva a vast am ount of
d a ta on th e c ap tu re and the d eath of m em bers of th e W ehrm acht during th e last period of th e war. A considerable pro
portion of th is inform ationit m ay be estim ated a t 10 per
cent-concerned A ustrians.
The staff working in the new Section were obliged, as a m a tte r
of routine, to consult th e card-index of the Germ an Section
286

for all the inform ation and requests received, since th a t index
contained a considerable am ount of d a ta concerning A ustrians,
which had reached th e Agency before th e settin g up of an
independent Section.
The A ustrian Section was th u s v ery quickly faced by an
onerous ta s k ; its staff had to be therefore considerably increased :
in th e sum m er of 1946, it reached the figure of ab o u t 30 people.
The Section was also g reatly assisted by the A uxiliary Sections
in Sw itzerland ; in the end, tw o w orking team s were set up
b y th e Agency am ong the A ustrian m ilitary personnel interned
in Sw itzerland.
D uring the first m onths of its existence, the A ustrian Section
experienced the sam e kind of difficulties as th e G erm an Section,
b y reason of the dissolution of the the O.K .W . and the G erm an
Red Cross, which during th e w ar had tak e n over all th e work
of d istrib u tin g the inform ation supplied by th e C entral Agency.
As in G erm any, the C om m ittees delegations in A ustria were
called on to m eet this deficiency as far as possible, u n til qualified
national bodies were set up. It was for this reason th a t, u n til
th e end of the year 1945, th e A ustrian Section sent all th e d a ta
it received to th e delegation in Vienna, which was responsible
for forw arding them to th e provincial branches of the A ustrian
Red Cross or to the relatives. The delegations on th eir p a rt
assem bled countless applications from relatives a n d sent them
to Geneva.
As soon as the A ustrian Red Cross was reco n stitu ted , th a t
organization took over the task carried out in o ther countries
by th e official Inform ation B ureaux, since circum stances did
not allow of th e settin g up of such an office in A ustria. A t first,
the A ustrian Red Cross m et w ith great difficulties in its work,
as it was still in ad eq u ately equipped and was divided into
several regional sections which were not in touch w ith each
other, b y reason of th e division of th e co u n try into zones of
occupation.
In F eb ru ary 1946, th e A ustrian R ed Cross research services
were am algam ated, and it was decided to set up a central
card-index a t Salzburg. From th a t tim e onw ards, th e A ustrian
Section sent all th e inform ation it received to this index centre,
287

a n d was th u s able to do w ithout th e interm ediary of the Com

m itte e s delegation in A ustria.
These m easures, however, could only represent a first stage
tow ards th e com plete co-ordination of research in respect on
A ustrian m ilitary personnel and civilians. In fact, investiga
tions w ith regard to th e E a ste rn F ro n t were, for practical
reasons, centralized a t Vienna and Graz, and not a t Salzburg 1.
I t was now a case of organizing co-ordination betw een the
three research centres. This aim was achieved during a national
conference of the heads of all th e Suchstellen in A ustria, which
was convened by th e A ustrian Red Cross a t the suggestion of the
ICRC. I t was held a t Salzburg a t th e end of O ctober 1946,
under the chairm anship of a representative of the C entral
Agency.
From th a t tim e, the Agency was increasingly able to tran sfer
its duties in behalf of th e A ustrians to th e national organiza
tions, and as a result of th a t fact, th e tim e approached for the
A ustrian Section to be w ound up. This w inding up was fu rth er
hastend by th e re p a tria tio n of th e A ustrian PW in the hands of
th e W estern Powers 2.
As from May 1, 1947, the Section m aintained only a small
correspondence service, which was m ainly occupied in seeking
evidence as to deaths.
Up to Ju n e 30, 1947 th e m ail received by the A ustralian
Section am ounted to 377,542 letters, 280,373 messages to be
forw arded and 312 telegram s. F urtherm ore, up to th a t date,
this Section had s ta rte d 6,026 enquiries. Finally, a t the same
date, there were 480,031 cards in its card-index.

1 T he Suchstelle in V ien n a d e a lt w ith enq u iries co n cern in g th e E a ste rn

fro n t in th e s tr ic t sense of th e te rm , an d t h a t a t G raz w ith th o se c o n
ce rn in g P W cam ps in Y ugoslavia.
2 I t sh o u ld be rem em b ered th a t th e re p a tria tio n of A u strian p riso n ers
cam e a fte r th a t of th e Ita lia n s, b u t before t h a t of th e H u n g a ria n an d
G erm an prisoners.
288

M e d ic a l P e r s o n n e l

The Medical Personnel Section of th e C entral Agency, or

Medical Section, dealt w ith individual cases of m em bers of the
m edical personnel and those of sim ilar statu s. The Section
was form ed owing to th e fact th a t this personnel, called P ro
tected Personnel , enjoyed a d istinct sta tu s, laid down b y the
1929 Geneva Convention for th e relief of the w ounded and sick
in arm ies in the field C
The principal duties of the Medical Section were th e following :
(1) E nquiries and steps relating to individual m em bers of
P ro tected Personnel.
(2) E nquiries and steps relating to th e sta te of health of PW ,
a n d th e rep a tria tio n of th e sick and wounded.
(x)

Protected P ersonnel2

The Medical Section was divided into Services which cor

responded to the various N ational Sections of th e C entral
Agency. In line w ith these, th e Medical Section had ad o p ted the
criterion of n a tio n a lity to classify cases relating to P ro tected
Personnel and the sick and wounded in cap tiv ity . E ach su b
section worked in close co-operation w ith th e corresponding
N ational Section.
1 F o r all general q u estio n s co ncerning
Vol. I, P a r t I I, chap. C.
2 As defined b y A rts. 9, 10 an d n
fo r relief of th e w ounded an d sick.
II.

19

P ro te c te d

P erso n n el, see

of th e 1929 G eneva C o n v en tio n

289

On th e whole, th e enquiries and ngociations conducted by

th e Medical Section in behalf of P ro tected Personnel covered
th e sam e ground as th e N ational Sections, i. e. researches, the
transm ission of inform ation and messages, etc.
In addition to th is work th e Medical Section was concerned
w ith th e recognition of P ro tected Personnel who had been
c a p tu red and dealt w ith the applications for th eir rep a tria tio n ;
th is was the m ain field of its activities.
Enquiries.
D uring th e sum m er of 1940, the Medical Section set on foot
a great num ber of enquiries for m edical personnel who were
missing and presum ed to be retain ed in G erm any. In p a rticu la r
cases and for m edical officers especially, th e m ethod was to
send a le tte r of enquiry to th e G erm an Red Cross. The results
were in general v ery satisfactory. W hen research was m ade on
whole units, and th e application was accom panied by a list of
th e missing personnel (at th a t period chiefly relating to nurses),
a special ty p e of enquiry was opened : these enquiries were
addressed a t the same tim e to th e G erm an and th e French
R ed Cross. The results obtained were excellent, when it was a
question of missing persons belonging to th e sam e unit.
The sam e ty p e of enquiry was resum ed in 1941 and developed
according to th e principles applied by th e N ational Sections
for th e regim ental enquiries 1. The Medical Section th en m ade
enquiries am ongst the m edical personnel detained in the cam ps,
and half th e replies received by this m eans were positive.
The Section continued its enquiries during th e succeeding
years. Special m ention should be m ade of the grow th of the
Ita lia n Service from 1941 onw ards.
Ita lia n PW in B ritish
hands were frequently m oved, and the cam p lists often reached
th e Agency a fter great delay. N evertheless, th e Service was
able to register th e fact, th a t several th ousand Ita lia n m edical
personnel were re p a tria te d fairly speedily by m eans of convoys
from E g y p t and India.
1 See p. 49.

290

The G erm an Service began to grow m ainly from 1943 onw ards.
The first lists arrived from N orth Africa. P h o to sta ts of all
lists containing G erm an m edical personnel received in Geneva
were sent in duplicate to B erlin, one copy for the O K W (which
h ad th e responsibility of forw arding inform ation to relatives),
and one for th e G erm an R ed Cross.
Certificates of Identity.
As we have seen, th e m ost im p o rta n t d u ty of th e Medical
Section was to keep vigilance over th e application of the Geneva
C onvention to P ro tected Personnel.
A rticle 21 of th e G eneva Convention lays down th a t P ro tected
Personnel shall be provided w ith an id e n tity docum ent to
c ertify th eir sta tu s, which th e y shall in no case be deprived of :
in case of loss th e y have th e rig h t to obtain a duplicate. In
point of fact, m any of th e m edical personnel recently c ap tu red
were not in possession of th is v ital docum ent some had never
received such a paper, some had lost it ; in o th er cases it had
been destroyed in th e course of events, or by application of
official orders ; finally, in some instances th e docum ent had
been tak e n aw ay from th e PW a t the tim e of his capture, in
violation of tre a ty stipulations.
French M edical Personnel. From the au tu m n of 1940,
thousands of applications for certificates of id e n tity for French
personnel began to reach th e Medical Section. This question was
tak e n up w ith the com petent au th o rities concerned, th a t is,
w ith form er recruiting centres which had m eanw hile become
dem obilization depots. The applications were forw arded to
these offices and in re tu rn the Medical Section received
certificates of id e n tity proving th a t the PW concerned were
recognized to be m edical personnel. These certificates, which
consisted of a single sheet of paper stam ped by th e dem obili
zation depot, were seldom accepted by the G erm an authorities,
on th e grounds th a t th ey could easily .be forged. In spite of
these difficulties, a considerable num ber of m edical personnel
were given recognition and later on rep a tria te d .
291

The Medical Section also received num erous requests for

re p a tria tio n from P W s next of kin. R epresentations were m ade
by th e ICRC to the G erm an authorities, who replied however,
th a t in accordance w ith an agreem ent m ade w ith the French
G overnm ent, only m em bers of m edical personnel who were not
em ployed in cam p infirm aries or m ilitary hospitals would be
recognized as eligible for rep a tria tio n . All the applications,
therefore, had to be refused.
The agreem ent for th e reten tio n of m edical personnel in
G erm an cam ps was m oreover confirm ed by th e French G overn
m ent. The applications for m edical id e n tity cards and re p a tria
tion had to be henceforth addressed to th e A rm y Medical
Service in Paris, which u ndertook th e necessary steps.
B ritish M edical Personnel. In 1941 the sam e problem arose
for B ritish m edical personnel in G erm an hands. The Medical
Section got in touch w ith th e B ritish G overnm ent, and sent it
th e lists of duplicate certificates required. These papers were
tra n sm itte d th rough th e P rotecting Power.
The D om inions applied to th e Medical Section for the tra n s
m ission of duplicates to applicants in G erm any, b u t th e D etain
ing Pow er refused to recognize these docum ents, on the grounds
th a t th ey bore dates la te r th a n th a t of c ap tu re of the applicant
(duplicates of course bore th e d ate of issue). In spite of all
representations m ade in B erlin, these difficulties continued
u n til the end of hostilities.
No re p a tria tio n of B ritish p ro tected personnel took place
u n til O ctober 1945. D uring th e first exchange of w ar disabled
and sick, a few hundred m edical personnel were able to leave
w ith these convoys.
Belgian M edical Personnel. The work of th e Belgian
Service in sending on m edical certificates was greatly simplified
b y the fact th a t th e Belgian R ed Cross assum ed the task of
obtaining recognition by th e occupying Pow er of Belgian
p ro tected personnel. All applications received a t G eneva were
tra n sm itte d to Brussels in the form of lists, a fte r being registered
in the index.
292

Ita lia n M edical Personnel. U ntil the Ita lia n cap itu latio n in
Septem ber 1943, applications for duplicate certificates were
forw arded to th e Ita lia n R ed Cross in Rom e, which assum ed th e
ta s k of seeing th a t these docum ents reached th e applicants
th rough the P rotecting Power. A fter th e arm istice of 1943, there
was no longer a n y possibility of obtaining id e n tity certificates
for m edical personnel in cap tiv ity , and th ere was therefore no
m eans of giving any help on this question. Ita lia n m em bers of
the forces held by th e Germ an arm y were not considered as
PW by the G erm an G overnm ent, b u t as m ilitary internees.
The G erm an au th o rities therefore refused Ita lia n m edical
personnel th e protection of the Geneva Convention, on the
grounds th a t the arm ed forces to which th ey belonged had not
been c ap tu red in th e course of m ilitary operations.
German M edical Personnel. The Medical Section did not
have to deal w ith id e n tity certificates for G erm an protected
personnel u n til th e end of hostilities. The G erm an Red Cross
forw arded duplicates direct th ro u g h th e P rotecting Power. A
few single applications were received a t Geneva, which the
G erm an Service forw arded to th e G erm an Red Cross.
From th e close of hostilities, and owing to the absence of
a P rotecting Power, th e G erm an Service received a great num ber
of applications for id e n tity certificates from G erm an m edical
personnel retain ed in France, G reat B ritain, th e U nited S tates
or in th e zones in G erm any occupied by th e th ree Powers.
The Medical Section was therefore faced w ith a fresh problem ,
as the a p p lican ts co u n try of origin no longer had any govern
m ent and th e N ational Red Cross had been dissolved. In
addition, th e records of the m edical personnel, in Berlin, had
been destroyed during the bom bing. A pplications continued to
accum ulate in the Medical Section, w ithout it being possible
to satisfy the applicants.
Relief of M edical Officers.
In 1943, an agreem ent was concluded betw een F rance and
G erm any to organize th e relief of m edical officers on d u ty in

293

c a p tiv ity . The G erm an G overnm ent said th ey were unable to

su p p ly a list of F rench m edical officers in PW cam ps who ful
filled th e conditions required for th eir replacem ent by col
leagues sent from France. The delegates of th e ICRC in Berlin
u ndertook to collect th is inform ation in course of th eir visits
to cam ps, and a g reat num ber of lists were th u s forw arded to
G eneva ; these had usually been draw n up by the cam p leader
or th e Senior Medical Officer. The lists were assem bled, copied
and forw arded to th e F rench authorities, who m ade use of
th em to organize the planning of the replacem ents.
Affiliated, Societies.
The Medical Section had to exam ine applications from m em
bers of societies affiliated to th e N ational R ed Cross Societies,
such as th e F rie n d s A m bulance U nits, K nights of M alta, and
others, who wished to be recognized as m em bers of p ro tected
personnel. Since th e m em bers of these societies had no recog
nized certificates of id en tity , th e Medical Section was unable to
supply of proof these m en were a tta ch e d to a Medical Service,
and th e ir efforts in this direction were only successful in a few
cases.

(2).

M edical enquiries and Repatriation of sick and wounded.

D uring th e sum m er of 1940 a new ta sk began for the Medical

Section which was to ex ten d considerably a t a la te r date.
The N ational Sections, and th e F rench and Belgian in p a r
ticu lar, began to receive applications for th e rep a tria tio n of
sick or seriously w ounded PW . Since th e arm istice convention
signed betw een F rance and G erm any contained stip u latio n s
relating to PW , the ICRC was no longer in a position to see
th a t th e Geneva Convention was applied as a whole, and th e
sick and w ounded could not apply to th e Mixed Medical Com
missions. The N ational Sections passed on these applications
to th e Medical Section which, having a doctor in charge, was
especially qualified to deal w ith them .
294

The Medical Section did not receive th e lists of th e sick and

w ounded for which A rt. 4 of th e G eneva Convention provides.
The G erm an au th o rities declared it to be an im possible ta s k to
supply such lists, because of the great num ber of PW tak e n
during th e B a ttle of France. N evertheless, th e y gave th e Medical
Section th e o p p o rtu n ity of corresponding direct w ith the Ger
m an cam p m edical officers in order to o b tain news individually
of p a tie n ts in infirm aries and m ilitary hospitals. Fam ilies in
F rance and Belgium , having relatives who were PW in G erm any,
applied to th e ICRC to have th em re p a tria te d . The Medical
Section based its enquiries to cam p m edical officers on th e
Model D raft A greem ent for direct re p a tria tio n or accom m o
dation in a n e u tra l co u n try of PW for reasons of h ealth, annexed
to th e 1929 Convention. T hey ev entually applied for the im m e
diate rep a tria tio n of sick PW , if these m en fulfilled th e conditions
laid down in th e Model D raft A greem ent.
The Medical E n q u iry Service rem ained in close co n tact
w ith th e N ational Sections for th e opening of enquiries concern
ing sick or w ounded PW . The index-cards concerning these
men were filed in th e N ational Sections, who handed th e file
to th e Medical Section a fter it had been checked. The R egistry
also forw arded correspondence from n ex t of kin of sick PW , or
from cam p leaders, direct to the Medical Section, which checked
th e m aterial w ith the N ational Sections before opening a m edical
enquiry. Such enquiries were usually based on a request from
the P W himself, his relatives, or th e cam p leader.
To enable an enquiry to be opened w ith th e cam p m edical
officer th e following facts had to be know n :
(1) The exact address of th e PW .
(2) The illness from which he was suffering when th e appli
cation was m ade.
(3) If he was undergoing tre a tm e n t or in hospital.
(4) A ddress of his next of kin.
W hen full inform ation was available, th e Medical E nquiries
Service, a fte r m aking out duplicate cards, w rote to th e cam p
Senior Medical Officer. This enquiry was alw ays signed by the
295

m edical head of th e Section-an essential precaution, since

th e passing on of diagnosis details was som etim es confidential.
Replies generally took from four to six weeks to reach the
Medical Section, an d were forw arded to th e applicants, a fter
being su b m itted to th e head of th e Section. If the diagnosis
revealed an illness justifying an application for rep a tria tio n
under th e term s of th e Model A greem ent, th is application was
a tta c h e d to th e acknow ledgem ent sent to the cam p m edical officer.
All correspondence concerning each case dealt w ith was
registered on the card filed in th e Medical Section. E ach PW
had his personal dossier. No diagnosis was given on the cards
of th e N ational Section.
The Medical Section also received lists regularly from some
D etaining Pow ers of PW in th e ir hands who were p a tie n ts in
hospital. These lists, besides enabling th e Section to keep the
relatives of those concerned inform ed of th e p a tie n ts sta te of
h ealth, also allowed sta tistic s of diseases and causes of deaths
to be kept up to date. These sta tistic s gave an indication of the
sta te of h ealth in the cam ps, and were also a useful aid to the
P harm aceutical Section in allocating consignm ents of m edica
m ents an d m edical supplies am ongst th e various cam ps.
M ixed M edical Commissions.
B ritish and U nited S tates PW in G erm any, as well as PW
in Allied hands, could present them selves before th e Mixed
Medical Commissions which visited th e cam ps a t regular
intervals. Various m ethods were used by th e Medical Section
in requesting th e D etaining Pow er to present sick PW to these
Commissions. These requests were based on an application
from any of th e following :
(1) Sick or w ounded PW .
(2) PW m edical officer tre a tin g th e case.
(3) Camp leader.
(4) P W s next of kin.
(5) N ational R ed Cross.
(6) Pow er of origin.
296

(7) R equests were also based on results of m edical enquiries

carried out by th e Medical Section.
Lists of th e sick were draw n up regularly ; one copy was sent
to th e head of th e Medical Commission, one to th e G overnm ent
of th e D etaining Pow er, and one to th e delegation of th e ICRC
in th e co u n try were th e Commission was due to c arry on its
work, in order th a t a delegate could verify if th e m an had really
been exam ined.
The Medical Section was however, despite num erous rep re
sentations m ade by th e ICRC, never able to verify officially th a t
th e decisions tak e n by th e Medical Commissions were p u t into
effect. V ery often m en were kept in cam ps, when, as th ey
claim ed, th e y h ad been passed for rep a tria tio n . The ICRC had
occasion to establish th a t th eir claims were som etim es justified ;
in th a t event, it took action w ith th e D etaining Power.
Delegates Reports.
The Medical Section was especially concerned w ith conditions
of health and hygiene in th e cam ps. D a ta tak en from the
delegates rep o rts were recorded on cards : the inform ation
g athered in the course of th e m any cam p visits form ed a basis
for intervening u ltim ately w ith the D etaining Powers, when the
conditions of hygiene in cam p prem ises did not conform to the
conditions stip u lated in th e 1929 Convention. In the case of
epidem ics, it was possible to pursue collective enquiries.
Epidemics.
In th e w inter of 1943, the delegation in Berlin reported th a t
cases of ex an th em atic ty p h u s had occurred in PW cam ps, and
th a t it seem ed a m a tte r of urgency to vaccinate all m edical
personnel working in m ilitary hospitals. An extensive enquiry
was opened w ith all G erm an cam p m edical officers. The forms
sent to them were very accurately filled in and gave precise
details on th e num ber of m edical personnel and of those carrying
out desinfection and delousing, a t the sam e tim e recording
th eir n atio n ality . F inally th ey rep o rted on the num ber of men
alread y vaccinated and on the q u a n tity of vaccines required.
297

(3) Artificial L i m b s

The A rtificial Lim bs Service, a tta c h e d to th e Medical Section,

was set up in order to provide m edical aid for PW who, although
am putees, were still detained in c a p tiv ity .
The Service also
supplied d en tal m aterial ; its a c tiv ity is described in Volume I II .

A few figures of significance will serve to close this sum m ary

of activities of th e Medical Section from Septem ber 1939 to
Ju n e 1947 :
E nquiries un d ertak en concerning Medical Personnel.
63.000
A pplications for duplicates of id e n tity certificates dealt
22.000
w ith by th e S e c tio n .........................................................
Messages tra n sm itte d for Medical Personnel . . . 49.000
24.000
Medical enquiries u n d e r ta k e n ............................................
Cases dealt w ith ....................................................................... 200,188

298

C ID ( S u n d r y C i v i l i a n

I n te r n e e s S e c tio n )

The CID (C ivils interns divers) Section was set up in 1940

to assem ble all searches for persons who had been interned
by police regulations. These people, unlike th e o rdinary civilian
internees, did not benefit by tre a ty p rotection and fu rth e r,
had no P rotecting Power. T hey were refugees of various origin,
m ostly Jew ish fugitives, b u t th e y also included m en who had
survived from th e In te rn a tio n a l B rigades which had fought in
Spain, veterans from labour service units, and others. These
cases could not be allocated to th e N ational Sections, as it was
im possible a t th e tim e to determ ine w ith any c e rta in ty the
n a tio n a lity of each person. To deal w ith them , a separate
Section had to be set up.
From A pril 1942, th e CID Section took over all cases of
stateless persons, w ith th e exception of those in possession of
N ansen passports. The enquiries included refugees, in m ost
cases of G erm an or Czech origin, scattered th ro u g h o u t th e world.
In th e a u tu m n of 1942, the Section was given th e enquiries on
Jew s on G erm an origin, or belonging to countries under G erm an
dom ination, who had been deported to E a ste rn regions. From
th a t tim e th e CID Section becam e m ore extensive.
D uring 1943, it was decided to h an d over all cases of persons
of a definite n a tio n a lity to th e N ational Sections, a n d to re ta in
in th e CID Section only those concerning G erm an and A ustrian
Jew s, and stateless persons.
In these circum stances, th e d a ta on which th e Section worked
were in ev itab ly very vague. N othing was know n ab o u t the
d estination of th e convoys in which th e persons under enquiry
h ad been included. E qually, there was no indication of th e date
299

of th eir arrest, an d th ere were no responsible organizations

from which to seek inform ation. The Section had, therefore,
to m ake enquiries from various organizations which m ight
possibly in tim e be able to supply inform ation. These were
th e N ational R ed Cross Societies, th e In te rn a tio n a l M igration
Service, m unicipal authorities, relief societies or charitable
in stitu tio n s, various religious bodies and p riv a te persons.
E n q u iry form s were also sent to all th e cam ps know n to the
ICRC in the hope of reaching some of the persons under enquiry.
The CID Section also dealt w ith th e transm ission of messages
to or from Jew ish internees. T housands of messages were sent
out, b u t th e replies received were few.
On th e whole, th e results achieved by th e CID Section were,
b y force of circum stances, v ery disappointing.
Alm ost the
whole of its w ork was concerned w ith Jew s, and it is comm on
knowledge th a t n either G erm any, nor countries under Germ an
control would give an y inform ation on these people.
A t the peak of its a c tiv ity in 1944, th e CID Section had
a staff of 15 persons.

300

IMPA

The IM PA Section ( Im m igration into P alestine ) was set

up on D ecem ber i , 1943, to assem ble individual cases concerning
Jew ish fam ilies in G erm any or occupied countries.
The decision to assem ble these cases w ithin one Section was
due to the fact th a t all those concerned were exposed to th e
sam e risks. In accordance w ith th e m ethod followed a t th e
Agency, th is id e n tity of circum stances called for th e form ation
of a separate service. These people could no longer claim th eir
n atio n ality , which th e G erm an G overnm ent no longer recog
nized. The N ational Sections were therefore not qualified to deal
w ith questions concerning them .
These cases had form erly been handled by the various
N ational Sections, if th e n a tio n a lity was know n, or by th e
CID Section, when the n a tio n a lity was unknow n or doubtful.
The principal lines of w ork of the IM PA Section were :
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(1)

Im m igration certificates for Palestine.

S outh A m erican passports.
H andling of applications and opening of various enquiries.
B roadcasting.
Im m igration Certificates for Palestine.

In an a tte m p t to delay th e d ep o rtatio n of Jew ish fam ilies,

the IM PA Section adopted a form w hereby th e people concerned
were told th a t some of th em had been placed on Palestine
im m igration lists, and th a t others m ight be listed in due course.
The te x t, which quoted a reg istratio n num ber, was th en sent
either by wire, by collective le tte r or by one of th e message
301

form s used by th e Agency, in th e hope th a t these docum ents

would enable those concerned to get th e d ate of th eir d e p o rta
tion postponed.
The IM PA Section had, firstly, to co-ordinate all general
inform ation relating to reg istratio n on th e im m igration lists,
and to verify th e applications and entries recorded. In order
to obtain th is inform ation, th ey applied to th e various Jew ish
organizations such as th e Jew ish Agency, th e W orld Jew ish
Council, th e P alestine Office, as well as th e Jew ish com m unities.
The work done by th e Section in regard to im m igration
certificates was considerable and required th e m ost scrupulous
a tte n tio n to detail. The ICRC was determ ined th a t no m eans
should be neglected to come to the help of th e Jew s living under
a th re a t. U nhappily, as it m ight have been feared, th e results
did not correspond to the exertions m ade. A lthough th e IM PA
Section sent out m any ten s of tho u san d s of im m igration
certificate num bers, only 285 people to th eir knowledge were
able to benefit by these in practice.
(2)

South Am erican Passports.

The Section also had to deal w ith various questions connected

w ith obtaining p assports of S outh A m erican an d C entral
A m erican S tates for Jew s who wished to leave Europe.
(3)

Enquiries.

From May 1945 onw ards, a fter the close of hostilities, the
IM PA Section began careful search for th e people, w ith whom
it had been concerned during the war. Since the people who
were th e subject of the enquiry had. in p ractically all these
cases, disappeared w ithout leaving an y clue, the results proved
of course sadly disappointing. Cases of deported children were
very num erous and especially distressing.
(4)

Broadcasting.

Since J u ly 1945, the IM PA Section took p a rt in th e b ro ad

casting of th e IC R C 1, by publishing lists of survivors of concen

1 See p. 82.
302

tra tio n cam ps, th u s bringing to the knowledge of fam ilies, often
them selves displaced, news of relatives from whom th e y had
not heard for m any years.
Finally, during 1947, tria l broadcasts were m ade in th e
a tte m p t to obtain inform ation from survivors of concentration
cam ps, who m ight possibly have knowledge of facts concerning
those who had disappeared.

303

internment in Switzerland

The Section of th e Agency for cases of in tern m en t in Sw it

zerland (called th e In te rn m e n t Section ) was organized in
J a n u a ry 1942 to bring to g eth er for tre a tm e n t, individual cases
of m ilitary internees and refugee civilians in Sw itzerland. The
following distinctions were draw n betw een the various c a te
gories of m ilitary internees and civilian refugees :
(1) M ilitary Internees proper, according to A rt. 11 of the
F ifth H ague C onvention of 1907.
(2) Escaped Prisoners of W ar, according to A rt. 13 of the
sam e Convention.
(3) M ilitary Refugees. Such were, for instance, m em bers of
th e Ita lia n forces belonging to u n its disarm ed by th e Germ an
troops and who, feeling them selves to be in danger, had come
singly or in groups to Sw itzerland, where th e y were interned.
(4) Partisans, m ainly Ita lia n s who sought refuge in Sw itzer
land, singly or in groups, som etim es accom panied by th eir
relatives.
(5) Deserters.
(6) Defaulters, men having left an arm y th ey did not consider
th a t of th eir country. This was th e case of num erous A lsatians.
(7) H ospital Cases, sick foreign soldiers nursed in Sw itzerland
in accordance w ith th e term s of special conventions concluded
w ith th e S tates concerned.

304

(8) Civilians, com prising :

() Em igrants, provided w ith valid papers an d a visa for
a co u n try of destination, an d staying tem p o rarily in Sw itzer
land whilst aw aiting an o p p o rtu n ity to continue th eir
journey.
() C ivilian Refugees: civilians w ithout papers or w ith
papers which h ad already expired, stateless persons, and
others enjoying rig h t of asylum .
(c) Political refugees, whose lives were in danger in th eir
own co u n try and who also enjoyed th e rig h t of asylum .
(d) Persons passing through, i. e. various civilians tem p o ra
rily harb o u red in Sw itzerland 1.
These cases were en tru sted , from 1942, to a separate Section,
and no longer to th e A gencys N ational Sections, for practical
reasons and to rem ain in close co ntact w ith the Swiss au th o rities
concerned, in p a rticu la r th e F ederal Com m issariat for In te rn
m ent an d A ccom m odation, th e com petent m ilitary a u th o rity
for in tern m en t.
The duties of th e In te rn m e n t Section were th e following :
(1)
To receive and en ter in card-indexes th e inform ation on
m ilitary or civilian internees supplied by th e responsible Swiss
A uthorities, or g ath ered from p riv ate sources.
In th e case of m ilitary internees th e Section itself sent id e n tity
cards bearing the ICRC heading to in tern m en t cam ps, for
com pletion. These were accepted b y th e Swiss au th o rities as
equivalent to th e capture-cards used in belligerent countries.
The Section fu rth e r received from these au th o rities lists of
tran sfers indicating changes of cam p, rem ovals to hospital and
escapes, and also d e a th certificates.
As regards civilians th e Swiss authorities, on a request from
th e ICRC, sent th e Agency copy of th e id e n tity card as filled up
b y each civilian refugee on entering Sw itzerland.
1 T he to ta l n u m b e r of refugees w ho cam e in to S w itze rlan d b etw een
th e b e g in n in g of th e w ar an d D ecem ber 31, 1946, a m o u n te d to 295,381
(103,869 m em bers of th e forces, 124,963 civ ilian s an d 66,549 persons
p assin g th ro u g h th e co u n try ).
II.

20

305

On th e basis of th is inform ation the In te rn m e n t Section

kept m ilitary and civilian card-indexes, arranged according to
n atio n ality , up to date. In line w ith o ther special Sections it
m ade out liaison cards for th e N ational Sections concerned.
Com m unication of death certificates to the hom e countries
of internees did not devolve on the In te rn m e n t Section, b u t on
th e N ational Sections of th e Agency.
(2) R eply to various enquiries m ade by internees or by th eir
relatives.
W hen inform ation in th e Sections card-indexes was insuffi
cient, enquiries were sent to N ational R ed Cross Societies or
to other organizations.
(3) Transm ission of messages exchanged betw een internees
and refugees and th eir relatives.
In exceptional cases, when internees and refugees could
not correspond direct w ith th eir relatives owing to the suspen
sion of postal com m unications betw een Sw itzerland and a p a rti
cular country, perm ission was given for the use of the civilian
message form , reserved in principle for exchange of news
betw een civilians of enem y countries.
(4) Supply, on the request of the persons concerned, of
official certificates of in tern m en t, to allow form er internees to
o btain a rrears of pay, disablem ent indem nities, or relief allow
ances.
*

Up to 1943, th e staff consisted of only tw o persons. The

F rench internees of the 45th A rm y Corps, who cam e into
Sw itzerland in Ju n e 1940, retu rn ed hom e a fter a short tim e,
and th e Sections m ain work a t first consisted therefore in
looking a fte r th e 13,000 Poles who cam e in a t the same tim e
and who rem ained in Sw itzerland u n til the w ar had ended.
A fter J a n u a ry 1943, however, an increasingly large num ber of
foreign civilians were allowed to enter Sw itzerland, and their
id e n tity cards were sent to the C entral Agency.
306

The events of Septem ber 1943 in Ita ly accounted for the

big developm ent of th e Section. A large num ber of B ritish,
Greek and Y ugoslav service men, tak in g a d v an tag e of the
collapse of th e Ita lia n forces, left th eir prison cam ps and suc
ceeded in reaching Sw itzerland, followed sh o rtly afterw ards by
a m uch larger num ber of Ita lia n s soldiers and civilians. In
view of th is influx of new refugees and the increase of w ork which
it m eant for th e Section, th e staff had to be considerably
enlarged. I t th u s rose, in M arch 1944, to tw enty-seven and a t
the m om ent of its g reatest expansion, it had as m any as fortyseven assistants.
D uring 1945 it was possible for alm ost all m ilitary internees
and most civilian refugees to be rep a tria te d . The Swiss a u th o r
ities regularly sent th e In te rn m e n t Section nom inal lists of
service men re p a tria te d and individual re p a tria tio n cards of
civilian refugees. These rep atriatio n s had th e effect of greatly
reducing the work of th e Section, which from Septem ber 1, 1945,
ceased to exist ; its card-indexes were th en divided am ongst
the various N ational Sections. H ow ever, up to th e close of
1946, a secretariat of two persons continued to m aintain
liaison betw een th e A gencys N ational Sections and th e Swiss
official bodies for tre a tm e n t of special cases, and in p a rticu la r
for requests of certificates, as m entioned above

307

Dispersed Families

One of the significant features of the la te r years of th e recent

w ar was th e m igration of large num bers of people from th eir
own hom es, under com pulsion of m any kinds ; some were cap
tu re d by th e enem y, some fled before th e invaders, some had
th e ir hom es d e v a sta te d by th e w ar : others were evacuated by
order of th e n ational or th e occupying au thorities, and there was
also uprooting of populations and th e ir resettlem en t, mass
requisitions of labour, v o lu n ta ry or forced em igration, and
finally d ep o rtatio n s for political reasons or on racial grounds.
These displaced people were, in large com m unities or singly,
scattered to all points of the com pass, w ithout regard for law
or order. Som etim es th e in junction fell on a whole region ;
som etim es individual persons were suddenly obliged to leave
th e ir hom es and abandon th e ir fam ilies who, in th eir tu rn and
under th e stress of other circum stances, were often sw ept aw ay
to unknow destinations.
The consequences of tearin g these people aw ay from th e ir
hom es and th u s breaking up fam ily life, were fu rth e r aggravated
b y th e fact th a t the people so displaced found it difficult, if
n ot impossible, to give a n y news of them selves for long periods.
The disruption of fam ily and o ther v ital ties was inhum an and
som etim es irreparable. I t was essential therefore th a t effective
m easures should be tak e n to save a situ atio n which m ight
prove disastrous to th o u san d s of people.
The ICRC has alw ays considered th a t one of its principal
duties in w ar tim e is to try to m aintain and to re-establish
fam ily ties betw een persons sep arated by th e events of war.
In add itio n to w ork in behalf of PW , th e A gency was concerned
308

w ith the problem of m aking search for th e addresses of these

civilians or th e ir place of in tern m en t, or of forw arding news of
th em to th eir relatives. The account of th e grow th of th a t work
and of th e efforts of th e Agency in behalf of several millions of
civilians scattered th ro u g h o u t th e world, is alread y know n. The
search for dispersed fam ilies was th u s well w ithin th e general
scope of th e A gencys work.
*

In J u ly 1943, th e ICRC in stru cted th e C entral Agency to

devise a sta n d a rd enquiry card, by which persons who had been
obliged to leave th eir home on account of th e w ar could register
and give details of m em bers of th eir fam ily whom th e y wished
to trace. This was th e card known as P 10,027. W hereas the
ICRC was fully aw are of th e difficulties in store, it could not
foresee a t th e tim e how far this enquiry card would be available
to deported civilians and others who had had to flee th e country.
I t was foreseen th a t in certain countries it would be necessary
to aw ait the end of th e w ar before the displaced persons could
com plete th e cards. H ow ever, th e C om m ittee took th e view
th a t all things considered, th e system was th e m ost suitable
for th e various categories of persons it was intended to help.
The usefulness of a card-index depends on its being com plete
in detail. The first problem was th a t of g etting word to these
dispersed people th a t th e y should register a t G eneva and
fu rth er, of convincing th em th a t it was in th eir own interests to
do this. The ICRC therefore decided to m ake th e schem e known
by a circular lette r, on Dec. 1, 1943, to all N ational R ed Cross
Societies an d other n ational or in te rn atio n a l organizations,
which were likely to give practical help. I t also sent details of
th e arrangem ent to its delegations abroad in order th a t th ey
m ight inform G overnm ent au th o rities and ask for th eir support
in th e issue of th e registration cards and in m aking known
th e ir use.
The C om m ittee m et w ith encouragem ent in its efforts by the
replies it received and by th e support given to it. A great
m any Red Cross Societies and organizations asked for supplies

309

of P 10,027 cards, p rin te d in various languages, and by the

spring of 1944, cards duly filled in began to reach the Agency.
In A pril 1944, a t the request of AMGOT (Allied M ilitary
G overnm ent in Occupied T erritories), the C om m ittee sent a
m em ber of staff from th e Agency on a mission to N orth Africa,
S outhern Ita ly , and Cairo. The object of his jo urney was to
get in touch w ith refugee aid organizations in these countries
and, w ith th e help of Card P 10,027, to m ake a re tu rn of the
n um ber of th e refugees and record the nam es of those from whom
th e y were separated.
T hanks to th e courtesy of certain G overnm ents, cards were
m ade available to the public in post offices. Supplies were also
d istrib u ted to the offices which had been set up in some coun
tries for the issue and forw arding of Red Cross Civilian Message
form s. Local branches of Red Cross Societies, the centres set
up by organizations such as the In te rn atio n a l M igration Service,
th e In te rn a tio n a l Refugee O rganization, and refugee relief
centres also received supplies.
A t the request of th e ICRC, th e In te rn a tio n a l P ostal Union
g ran ted free postage for the cards, a great ad v an tag e to senders.
The despatch of the cards to G eneva when filled in, either
sep arately or collectively, m et w ith difficulties in certain
countries and for various reasons. W hen cards could not be sent
by th e usual postal route, th e C om m ittees delegates consulted
th e au th o rities and the censorship offices as to o ther m eans of
despatch, such, for instance, as the em ploym ent of special
messengers.
The cards were only intended to be p u t to effective use when
th e w ar had ended. The plan was th en to set about extensive
searches in G erm any and the G erm an occupied territories.
N evertheless, the ICRC considered th a t the m aking of a central
card-index for dispersed persons should not be delayed, and
th a t it should be rea d y to serve its purpose as soon as circum
stances allowed. To th is end, a separate section, th e D ispersed
Fam ilies Section, was set up a t the C entral Agency.
From th e s ta rt, th e ICRC was aw are of the need to assem ble
in one card-index all inform ation and enquiries relative to
m em bers of dispersed fam ilies of all nationalities : in its opinion,
310

th a t was th e only m eans of constructing a reliable record.

The criterion of n a tio n a lity generally used in the w ork of the
Agency would, as far as displaced persons were concerned,
no d oubt prove a very unreliable basis of classification. M any
of these persons and refugees in p articu lar, had m otives for
concealing th eir n a tio n a lity and even for claim ing a n a tio n a lity
which th e y considered would be m ore advantageous to them .
Therefore, a single in te rn atio n a l card-index, even if its construc
tion entailed m uch difficulty, appeared to the ICRC as the only
ratio n al solution.
One of th e principal difficulties which arose in settin g up
a central card-index resided in the fact th a t it was not possible
to foresee fu tu re events and world conditions a t th e close of
of hostilities. The num ber of displaced persons in E urope a t
th a t tim e was estim ated a t 20 or 30 millions, an d it was fore
seen th a t the index would have to be g reatly expanded if the
schem e were accepted by all countries. This opinion was con
firmed by events ; it did not seem th a t the E uropean situation
could develop w ith such ra p id ity and it could be assum ed th a t
displaced fam ilies in th e occupied territo ries, separated by the
fighting zones, would m ake extensive use of th e reg istratio n
card to become reunited. I t was therefore necessary to provide
all useful m achinery, even if a d ju stm en ts had be m ade as the
situ atio n changed.
W hen form ing th e D ispersed Fam ilies Section, th e Com
m itte e s sole aim was to re-establish co ntact betw een scattered
m em bers of a fam ily. The field of its w ork had th en to be
lim ited to m em bers of dispersed fam ilieshence th e nam e of the
Sectionand could not include all displaced persons ", W ith
this in view, and in order to define clearly th e term diepersed fam ilies
th e rule was laid down th a t th e person m aking
th e enquiry and the person whose w hereabouts were being
sought m ust (1) b o th have left th eir usual residence and be unable
so re tu rn home by th eir own efforts ; (2) be sep arated by a
frontier and unaw are of each o th e rs address. The ICRC was
still faced w ith a big task, as the num ber of persons belonging
to dispersed fam ilies could not be precisely estim ated, although
it m ight be presum ed th a t it would reach several million.

311

As soon as th e Section had been set up, th e N ational Sections

of th e Agency were in stru cte d to com m unicate to it all cases
of dispersed fam ilies in th e ir files, in order to m ake th e cardindex of th e section as com prehensive as possible.
The value of th e cen tral card-index under construction lay
in th e fact th a t it included all nationalities, b u t it was precisely
in th e m aking of th is index th a t th e problem s arose. In some
cases, m em bers of th e same fam ily were living in different
countries, of which th e y had become nationals and to th e lan
guage of which th e y had ad o p ted the spelling of th eir names.
There were instances of five different nationalities w ithin one
fam ily a n d several different spellings of th e fam ily nam e. To
ensure th a t cards relating to th e sam e fam ily would come
to g eth er in th e index, a system of phonetic filing was needed,
w hereby all cards of th e sam e nam e were assem bled, w hether
th e y were Slav, L atin, Teutonic or English. Specialists were
ap p ointed to d raft, on th e basis of th e experience gained by the
Agency in th is field, rules for th e a d a p ta tio n of the various
pronunciations to F rench phonetic spelling.
O ther difficulties were caused by illegible w riting, bad spelling,
incom plete or forged id e n tity papers and th e unknow n origin
of m any sm all children.
A lphabetic and phonetic filing in one index had therefore
to include the possibility of o th er filing m ethods a t a later
date, for instance, b y n atio n ality , place of origin, last residence,
etc. The dispersed fam ilies card-index was therefore set up in
duplicate, one on W atson Business M achine cards, in order
to perm it fu tu re re-arrangem ent.
*

As soon as U N R R A was form ed a t A tlantic City, in N ovem

ber 1943, th e ICRC got in touch w ith this organization and
inform ed it of th e action tak e n by th e Com m ittee to solve the
problem here discussed. The D irector of U N R R A took form al
notice of th e com m unication on Dec. 14, 1943.
In th e course of th e subsequent negotiations, U N R R A asked
th e ICRC to operate as a central tracing bureau. This task
312

was accepted b y th e ICRC in th e belief th a t it was being called

upon to centralize th e work of th e n atio n al tracin g bu reau x
set up b y U N R R A .
M eanwhile, th e ICRC, during a conference w ith U N R R A in
Paris in th e sum m er of 1945, was invited to come to an agreem ent
w hereby th e Com m ittee should, as soon as th e m ilitary a u th o r
ities gave th eir sanction, be read y to d istrib u te its registration
and tracing cards to th e ad m in istrativ e officers of th e D isplaced
Persons cam ps, especially those in G erm any. Indeed, by far th e
largest num ber of D Ps who had not yet been able to register
w ith G eneva were presum ed to be in G erm any. This d istrib u
tio n how ever excluded form er enemies, and could be m ade only
to m em bers of th e Allied nations who had lost all trace of th eir
fam ily a n d who did not wish or could not re tu rn to th eir home
country. The ICRC agreed to u n d ertak e th is work, which was
in line w ith its own earnest desire to extend its schem e for
helping dispersed fam ilies ; a t th e tim e it stressed its regret th a t
a whole category of D Ps were th u s excluded from th e issue
of P 10,027 cards.
On th e stre n g th of th e arrangem ent concluded w ith U N R R A ,
the Agency arran g ed for th e first million of these cards to be
p rin ted on a revised tw o-leaf p a tte rn ; it had th em conveyed to
G erm any w ith p rin te d in structions to those in charge of th e
cam ps, to g eth er w ith th e tra n sla tio n in several languages of
th e details p rin te d on th e cards.
The ICRC h ad now only to aw ait th e m om ent when it could
begin th e distrib u tio n in bulk of these cards in G erm any, in
accordance w ith th e agreem ent reached in Paris.
The sanction of th e Allied M ilitary A uthorities for th e issue
of th e cards was how ever a long tim e in coming, despite rep eated
applications by th e ICRC. Finally, U N R R A set up a Central
Tracing B ureau, a t th e beginning of 1946 a t F ra n k fo rt, which
was la te r tra n sfe rre d to Arolsen, near Cassel, in th e Am erican
Zone. The Allies recognized this B ureau as th e sole com petent
body for dealing w ith cases of D P, th u s including dispersed
fam ilies in th e arrangem ent.
The ICRC th u s found th a t th e project had been a b ru p tly
tak e n out of its hands, although in its opinion it was b e tte r

313

equipped th a n any other organization to c a rry out th e scheme,

on the grounds th a t it was a n eu tral body recognized th roughout
the w orld and therefore clearly in the best position to centralize
inform ation on dispersed people in all p a rts of the globe. There
was now no prospect th a t the efforts of the Com m ittee over a
period of two years, could reach th eir aim , since th ere rem ained
no likelihood th a t th e Agency could issue th e P 10,027 cards
in G erm any, where there was th e greatest call for its scheme
and where displaced persons, evacuated people, foreign workers
and inm ates in refugee cam ps am ounted to millions. H ad the
ICRC been able to use in G erm any th e system it had devised,
it can be claim ed w ith some assurance th a t it would have
obtained far-reaching results. In proof of this, m ention need
only be m ade of th e C om m ittees action a fte r the end of the
w ar in d istrib u tin g P 10,079 cards, designed to enable
G erm an fam ilies to get into touch again w ith relatives who
were PW .
I t therefore only rem ained for th e ICRC to m ake the best
use of the d a ta in its possession, in order to give aid a t least
to those people whom it had u n d ertak en to help. This was
accom plished by co-operation w ith th e U N R R A C entral Tracing
B ureau a n d by forw arding to it such inform ation as continued
to reach Geneva.
These are the statistics, up to th e end of M arch 1946, of
P 10,027 cards which reached G eneva duly filled in :

1944 .....................
1945 .....................
1946 (to M arch 31)

76,300
155,948
14,996
T o t a l ......................247,244

These figures im ply double th e num ber of cases. The to ta l

num ber of cards prin ted , and in p a rt actu ally issued was over
th ree million.
The Section stopped w ork on card-indexing cases on April 1,
1946. The card-index m ade w ith W atson Business Machines
cards was arranged alphabetically according to nationalities
and placed in th e records of the Central Agency. The cards of
314

th e o th er index, com prising in p a rticu la r P 10,027 cards filled

in and retu rn ed , were filed in the indexes of th e ap p ro p riate
N ational Sections, which continued to deal w ith cases in arrears.
N ational Sections which were still receiving fresh enquiries,
th ere after advised th e senders to apply to th e N ational Tracing
B ureaux which U N R R A had set up in the various countries 1.
The organizations in terested in th e m a tte r were a t the sam e tim e
asked to discontinue despatch of such enquiries to th e Agency,
and to ensure th a t in fu tu re no more P 10,027 cards were
d istrib u ted or com pleted. The ICRC th en acted as the natio n al
B ureau for Sw itzerland.
The general public having been in ad eq u ately inform ed of the
existence of th e C entral T racing B ureau a n d th e N ational
B ureaux, th e C entral Agency still received in the course of the
following m onths, a large num ber of enquiries and of P 10,027
cards.
The N ational R ed Cross Societies were therefore re
quested, in Ju n e 1946, to publish th e necessary inform ation
in th e press.
*

In J u ly 1947, the In te rn a tio n a l Refugee O rganization took

over from U N R R A all work in respect of D Ps and th e p a rt
of th e ICRC in tracin g and reuniting dispersed fam ilies was
at an end.

1 T he C en tral T ra cin g B u rea u se t u p b y U N R R A had u n d e rta k e n

to deal w ith cases of sta te less persons an d w ith all th o se w ith w hich
th e N a tio n a l T ra cin g B u rea u x could n o t deal.

A F E W FIG U R ES CONCERNING T H E CENTRAL AGENCY

AS ON JU N E 30, 1947
N umber of Cards in the Indexes.
A u s t r i a n .................................................................................
B a l t i c ......................................................................................
B elgian.....................................................................................
B r itis h .........................................................................................
B ulgarian.................................................................................
Colonial ( F r e n c h ) ................................................................
C zech o slo v ak .........................................................................
D u t c h .....................................................................................
F in n ish.....................................................................................
French
.....................................................................................
G e r m a n .....................................................................................
G r e e k .....................................................................................
H u n g a r ia n .............................................................................
I M P A ......................................................................................
Internm ent in S w itz erla n d ...............................................
I t a l i a n .........................................................................................
J a p a n e s e .................................................................................
P o l i s h .....................................................................................
R u m a n i a n .............................................................................
Scandinavian
....................................................................
Spanish, Portuguese, L atin American
.....................
Sundry cases
....................................................................
U.S.A.
.................................................................................
U.S.S.R.....................................................................................
W a t s o n .....................................................................................
Yugoslav .............................................................................

480,000
44,000
590,000
1,811,000
5,000
525,000
82,000
289,000
2,000
5,893,000
9,451,000
125,000
337,000
144,000
56,000
4,906,000
208,000
780,000
119,000
50,000
38,000
115,000
477,000
215,000
8,574,000
682,000

Mail I tems
R ece iv ed ...................................................................................... 54,500,000
Despatched ..............................................................................50,400,000*
* In clu d in g 23,858,000 tw en ty -fiv e-w o rd M essages.
316

CO NTENTS
Introduction
Pages

O R IG IN A N D F O U N D A T I O N .............................................................................. 5

Part I
D U T IE S , S T R U C T U R E A N D G E N E R A L M E T H O D S
OF W ORK

Duties of the Central P W Agency

............................................

10

Structure of the Central P W A g e n c y ...............................................

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

T he A gency C o m m is s io n ................................................................
T he M a n a g e m e n t..............................................................................
G eneral S e c t i o n s ..............................................................................
N a tio n a l S e c t i o n s ..............................................................................
Special S e c t i o n s ..............................................................................
N o m en c la tu re of S ections of th e C e n tral A gency . . . .

15
15
16
18
19
20
22

General Methods of W o r k ...................................................................

I.

25

M a il a n d T e l e g r a m s .................................................................
1 . R e ce ip t an d S o r t i n g .................................................................
(A) M a i l ........................................................................................
(B) T e le g r a m s ...............................................................................
2 . D e s p a t c h .........................................................................................
(A) M a i l .........................................................................................
(B) T e le g ra m s ...............................................................................

27
27
27
28
28
28
29

I I . T r a n sm issio n of I n fo r m a tio n to o f fic ia l I n fo r m a tio n

B u r e a u x .............................................................................................
1 . T ran sm issio n of Official I n f o r m a t i o n .................................
(A) T ransm ission b y th e L ists S e c t i o n ...............................
(B) T elegraphic T ransm ission b y N a tio n a l S ections . .
2 . T ransm ission of Unofficial I n f o r m a t i o n ............................

31
32
32
35
35

317

III.

E n q u i r i e s ....................................................

38

1.

A ppl ic a t io n s

A p p lic atio n s
.............................................................................
(A) R e c e ip t....................................................................................
(B) W o rk in g M e t h o d s ............................................................

39
39
42

2.

E n q u i r i e s .......................................................................................
(A) N a tu re an d G eneral P u r p o s e .....................................
(B) V arious C ategories of E n q u iry co rresp o n d in g
O rg a n iz atio n in S e c t i o n s ...............................................
(C) E n q u irie s
concern in g
D e a th s Services
for
D e a t h s ....................................................................................
(D) E n q u iries b y e v id e n c e , o r " R e g im e n ta l
E n q u iries ...........................................................................
(E) E n q u irie s co ncerning C i v i l i a n s .................................
1. P o litic al D e t a i n e e s ...................................................
2. E n e m y C ivilians n o t d ep riv e d of lib e rty an d
Civil P o p u la tio n s of b ellig eren t co u n tries . . .

44
44

and

IV . F o r w a r d in g o f M a il , M e s sa g e s , D o cum ents and

S u n d r y A r t i c l e s ...........................................................................

V.
V I.

48
49
52
52
54

56

1.

M ail (L e tte rs an d C a r d s ) ......................................................

56

2.

M e s s a g e s .......................................................................................
(A) T elegraphic M e s s a g e s ........................................................
(B) E x p re ss M e s s a g e s .............................................................
(C) C ivilian M essage Schem e for th e tran sm issio n of
M essages b etw een free C i v i l i a n s ............................
1 . T ra n sc rip tio n of l e t t e r s ............................................
2 . C ivilian M essages received from ab ro a d . . . .
3. C ivilian M essages b y t e l e g r a m .........................
S u m m a ry of th e d ev e lo p m e n t of th e C ivilian
M essage S e c t i o n ........................................................
N u m b er of C ivilian M essages fo rw ard ed . . .

59
61
62

3.

T ran sm issio n of Official or Legal D o cu m en ts

75

4.

T ransm ission

P h o t o g r a p h s .........................................

76

5.

T ransm ission of P erso n al E f f e c t s ....................................

76

T h e U se

of

68
72

82

G e n e r a l A u x il ia r y S e c t i o n s ...............................................
1 . T y p in g S e c t i o n .........................................................................
2. P re lim in a ry S o rtin g S ection a n d E v en in g S ection

86
86
87

of

A u x ilia ry

4. O utside

B ro a d c a stin g

. . .

63
66
66
67

C e n t r a l A g en cy

3.

318

47

by

the

S e c t i o n s ................................................................

89

W o r k ...........................................................................

92

V II.

Card- I n d e x e s

...................................................................................

94

1 . G eneral R e m a r k s ................................................................................

94

2. E q u i p m e n t .........................................................................................
(A) C a r d s ..............................................................................................
(B) A c c e s s o r ie s ................................................................................

95
95
98

3 . W o rk in g M e t h o d s ...........................................................................
(A) S t a f f .........................................................................................
(B) F ilin g a n d R e search W o r k ...............................................
(a) D istrib u tio n of W o r k ..............................................
(b) F ilin g R u l e s .................................................................
(c) R e search W o rk
.....................................................
V II I . T h e W atson S e c t io n . T h e U se of t h e H o l l e r it h
M a c h in e s by t h e C e n t r a l A g e n c y ...........................................
1. B asic

98
99
99
99
100
102
108

M e t h o d s ...............................................................................

109

2 . W o rk of th e W atso n S e c t i o n ..................................................
(A) F o r th e C e n tral A g e n c y ..................................................
(B) F o r th e R elief D iv is i o n .....................................................
(C) O rganization of th e W a tso n S e c t o n ..............................

no
no
112
113

Part I I
N A T IO N A L A N D S P E C IA L S E C T IO N S

N ational Sections :
P o lish S e c t i o n .........................................................................................
F re n ch S e c t i o n .........................................................................................
B ritish S e c t i o n ........................................................................................
G erm an S e c t i o n ........................................................................................
S p an ish S e c t i o n ........................................................................................
P o rtu g u e se S e c t i o n ...................................................................................
L a tin A m erican S e c t i o n ..........................................................................
S can d in av ia n S e c t i o n ...............................................................................
B elgian S e c t i o n .........................................................................................
L u x em b u rg S e c t i o n ...................................................................................
D u tc h S e c t i o n .........................................................................................
F re n ch C olonial S e c t i o n ......................................................................
I ta lia n S e c t i o n ........................................................................................
G reek S e c t i o n .................................................................................................
Y ugoslav S e c t i o n ........................................................................................
R u ssian S e c t i o n ................................................................................

116
124
144
157
191
193
193
195
197
201
203
208
222
244
248
253

319

Czechoslovak S e c t i o n ..........................................................................
A m erican S e c t i o n ....................................................................................
Ja p a n e se S e c t i o n ....................................................................................
H u n g a ria n S e c t i o n ....................................................................................
R u m a n ia n S e c t i o n ....................................................................................
B u lg arian S e c t i o n .................................................................
F in n ish S e c t i o n ........................................................................................
B a ltic S e c t i o n .............................................................................................
S u n d ry N a ti o n a li tie s ...............................................................................
A u stria n S e c t i o n ....................................................................................

258
260
267
270
274
277
279
281
283
285

Special Sections :
M edical P e r s o n n e l ....................................................................................
C ID (S u n d ry C ivilian I n t e r n e e s ) ...................................................
IM P A (Im m ig ra tio n to P alestin e)
..................................................
I n te rn m e n t in S w i t z e r l a n d .................................................................
D ispersed F a m i l i e s ...................................................................................

289
299
301
304
308

A F ew F i g u r e s ..................................

316

IM PR IM E R IE

32O

CICR

BIBLIOTHEQUE

DU

JO U R N A L D E

GENVE