UNRRA list of concentration camp victims, 1947
Extent and Medium
1 microfilm reel, 35 mm
Creator(s)
- United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)
Biographical History
The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was an international relief agency representing 44 nations, but largely dominated by the United States. Founded in 1943, it became part of the United Nations (UN) in 1945, and it largely shut down operations in 1947. Its purpose was to "plan, co-ordinate, administer or arrange for the administration of measures for the relief of victims of war in any area under the control of any of the United Nations through the provision of food, fuel, clothing, shelter and other basic necessities, medical and other essential services." Its staff of civil servants included 12,000 people, with headquarters in New York. Funding came from many nations, and totaled $3.7 billion, of which the United States contributed $2.7 billion; Britain $625 million and Canada $139 million. The Administration of UNRRA at the peak of operations in mid-1946 included five types of offices and missions with a staff totaling nearly 25,000: The Headquarters Office in Washington, The European Regional Office (London), the 29 servicing offices and missions (2 area offices in Cairo and Sydney; 10 liaison offices and missions in Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Trieste; 12 procurement offices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and later Peru, Cuba, India, Mexico, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela; 6 offices for procurement of surplus military supplies in Caserta and later Rome, Honolulu, Manila, New Delhi, Paris, Shanghai), the sixteen missions to receiving countries (Albania, Austria, Byelorussia, China, Czechoslovakia, the Dodecanese Islands, Ethiopia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Korea, the Philippines, Poland, Ukraine, Yugoslavia), and the Displaced Persons Operations in Germany. UNRRA cooperated closely with dozens of volunteer charitable organizations, who sent hundreds of their own agencies to work alongside UNRRA. In operation only three years, the agency distributed about $4 billion worth of goods, food, medicine, tools, and farm implements at a time of severe global shortages and worldwide transportation difficulties. The recipient nations had been especially hard hit by starvation, dislocation, and political chaos. It played a major role in helping Displaced Persons return to their home countries in Europe in 1945-46. Its UN functions were transferred to several UN agencies, including the International Refugee Organization and the World Health Organization. As an American relief agency, it was largely replaced by the Marshall Plan, which began operations in 1948. [Source: UN Original finding aid of records of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)]
Archival History
Sydney Jewish Museum
Acquisition
The list was created by the UNRRA Tracing Bureau for Austria. Source of acquisition is the Jewish Museum in Sydney. The Sydney Jewish Museum purchased the book from the Broder Books, a dealer of rare books, in1998. Peter Lande, volunteer for the Registry of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, borrowed the book from the Sydney Jewish Museum in 1998 and brought it back to the United States for microfilming. The Registry gave the original camera master and a silver duplication copy to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives on February 23, 1999.
Scope and Content
Contains missing persons inquiries processed by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) Tracing Bureau for Austria up to March 31, 1947.
System of Arrangement
Arrangement of names is primarily alphabetical
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright Holder: Sydney Jewish Museum
Corporate Bodies
- United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
Subjects
- Deportation--Europe.
- World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Europe.
- Austrians--Registers.
- Jews--Registers.
Genre
- Document
- Registers (lists)
Copies
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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum holds copies of Holocaust-relevant archives from Sydney Jewish Museum