Humanitarian Aid of the Red Cross and Other Public Organizations of the Netherlands to Soviet Russia During the Famine of 1921–1923

Abstract

The historiography of the famine in Soviet Russia and Ukraine 1921–1923 includes a large number of academic papers covering foreign humanitarian aid to the starving population in the context of the work of such large organizations as the American Relief Administration, the Nansen Committee, etc. At the same time, there are practically no articles or theses that fully describe the assistance to the starving people in the Soviet Union from individual states and national aid committees. The purpose of this article is to highlight and summarize the main aspects of the activities of the Dutch charitable and public organizations on the territory of Soviet Russia and Ukraine during the famine of 1921–1923 on the basis of documents from the Russian central and regional archives, as well as the National Archives of Sweden, data from which we are introducing into scientific circulation for the first time. Despite the absence of diplomatic relations between Soviet Russia and the Netherlands, representatives of almost all sectors of Dutch society took part in these activities. The data we have collected allows us to identify four main channels through which humanitarian aid from the Netherlands was received in the areas affected by crop failure: 1) Pro-government and charitable public organizations (the Netherlands Red Cross, the Dutch branch of Save the Children International), which provided aid to the population in Volga Region, Crimea and in Ukraine. In addition to sending humanitarian supplies, the Netherlands Red Cross sent its own mission to Samara province; 2) Associations of trade unions of the Second International, which participated in the financing of an independent mission of the International Federation of Trade Unions to Chuvash Autonomous Oblast; 3) communist trade unions and associations of the Netherlands, acting through the Workers International Relief organization, which took part in the restoration of the Soviet national economy, and also maintained numerous orphanages in Soviet Russia; 4) Religious societies of Dutch Mennonite Protestants, which sent humanitarian aid to the places of settlement of people who shared their religious beliefs, where, at the insistence of the Soviet government, they provided aid to all those in need, regardless of religion. All the activities of various Dutch organizations and individual citizens in Soviet Russia and the Ukraine showed the readiness of the population and political forces of the Netherlands to maintain close contacts and interaction between the peoples of the two countries, regardless of the official relations of states and political differences.