Bargaining for humanitarian aid across the Iron Curtain: Western relief workers in Romania in the late 1970s

ABSTRACT

In the 1970s, two floods and an earthquake turned state socialist Romania into a recipient of significant international humanitarian aid. Western relief organisations came to Bucharest to negotiate the terms of their assistance. Drawing on material from German, Swiss and Romanian archives, this article argues that giving and receiving across the Iron Curtain were deeply embedded in the systemic competition of the Cold War. It shows that Western relief workers were able to convince Romanian authorities to make humanitarianism a valid form of East-West cooperation. However, such exchanges remained limited to a few flagship projects, separated from Romania’s own recovery measures.

KEYWORDS:

• East-West relations
• Romania
• West Germany
• Switzerland
• humanitarian aid

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Karin Steinbrueck, Cristian Capotescu and the two reviewers for their comments. I am also grateful to Rachel Trode and Karin Taylor for improving my English.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ ‘Relief’, in The Palgrave Dictionary of Transnational History: From the Mid-19th Century to the Present Day, ed. Akira Iriye and Pierre-Yves Saunier (Palgrave Macmillan: Houndmills, 2009), 887; and Johannes Paulmann, ‘Conjunctures in the History of International Humanitarian Aid during the Twentieth Century’, Humanity 4, no. 2 (2013): 215–16.

² Kevin O’Sullivan, Matthew Hilton and Juliano Fiori, ‘Humanitarianisms in Context’, European Review of History: Revue européenne d’histoire 23, no. 1–2 (2016): 1–15 ; and Cristian Capotescu, ‘Continuing Politics by Other Means: Giving in Cold War Europe’, International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity 6, no. 10 (2018): 107.

³ On the overlap between private and official aid agencies, see: Michael Barnett and Thomas G. Weiss, ‘Humanitarianism: A Brief History of the Present’, in Humanitarianism in Question: Politics, Power, Ethics, ed. Michael Barnett and Thomas G. Weiss (Ithaca: Cornell University Press), 5.

⁴ Kathy Burrell and Kathrin Hörschelmann, eds., Mobilities in Socialist and Post-socialist States: Societies on the Move (Palgrave Macmillan: Houndmills, 2014); Simo Mikkonen and Pia Koivunen, eds., Beyond the Divide: Entangled Histories of Cold War Europe (New York: Berghahn, 2015); and Valentina Fava and Luminita Gatejel, ‘East-West Cooperation in the Automotive Industry: Enterprises, Mobility, Production’, Journal of Transport History, 38, no. 1 (2017): 11–19.

⁵ For an overview, see: Michael Barnett, Empire of Humanity: A History of Humanitarianism (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011), 107–31.

⁶ Cristian Capotescu, ‘Migrants into Humanitarians: Ethnic Solidarity and Private Aid-Giving during Romania’s Historic Flood of 1970ʹ, East European Politics and Societies and Cultures. https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325420923005.

⁷ Michael David-Fox, ‘The Iron Curtain as Semi-Permeable Membrane: The Origins and Demise of the Stalinist Superiority Complex’, in Cold War Crossings: International Travel and Exchange Across the Soviet Bloc, 1940s–1960s, ed. Patryk Babiracki and Kenyon Zimmer (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2014), 14–39.

⁸ Koivunen and Mikkonen, Beyond the Divide, 3.

⁹ Jussi M. Hanhimäki, ‘Détente in Europe, 1962–1975ʹ, in The Cambridge History of the Cold War; ed. Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), vol. 2, 212–13.

¹⁰ The principle of ‘non-intervention in internal affairs’ was among those listed in the Helsinki document. Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe. Final Act, Helsinki 1975, Preamble, https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/5/c/39501.pdf accessed 20 October 2020.

¹¹ Paschalis Pechlivanis, America and Romania in the Cold War: A Differentiated Détente, 1969–80 (Routledge: London, 2019), 5–8; Eliza Gheorghe, ‘Atomic Maverick: Romania’s Negotiations for Nuclear Technology, 1964–1970ʹ, Cold War History 13, no. 3 (2013): 373–92; and Elena Dragomir, ‘The Perceived Threat of Hegemonism in Romania during the Second Détente’, Cold War History 12, no. 1 (2012): 111–34.

¹² Sabina Widmer, ‘Neutrality Challenged in a Cold War Conflict: Switzerland, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Angolan War’, Cold War History 18, no. 2 (2018): 204.

¹³ Ibid., 205; Thomas Fischer and Daniel Möckli, ‘The Limits of Compensation: Swiss Neutrality Policy in the Cold War’, Journal of Cold War Studies 18, no. 4 (2016): 12.

¹⁴ Mihail M. Ionescu, ‘Romania, Ostpolitik and the CSCE, 1967–1975ʹ, Helsinki 1975 and the Transformation of Europe, ed. Oliver Bange and Gottfried Neidhardt (New York: Berghahn Books, 2008), 129–43.

¹⁵ Aristide Buhoiu, 4 martie 1977: Secunde tragice, zile eroice: din cronica unui cutremur (Iaşi: Junimea, 1977), 7–9.

¹⁶ Comunicatul şedinţei Comitetului Politic Executiv din 6 martie 1977, in fond C. C. als PCR, Secţia Cancelarie, dosar 21/1977, Arhivele Naţionale Istorice Centrale (ANIC), Bucharest.

¹⁷ Christian Pfister, ‘Learning from Nature-Induced Disasters: Theoretical Considerations and Case Studies from Western Europe’, in Natural Disasters, Cultural Responses: Case Studies Toward a Global Environmental History, ed. Christof Mauch and Christian Pfister (Lanham: Lexington Book, 2009), 21.

¹⁸ Christof Mauch, ‘Introduction’, in Natural Disasters, Cultural Responses: Case Studies Toward a Global Environmental History, ed. Christof Mauch and Christian Pfister (Lanham: Lexington Book, 2009), 4–9.

¹⁹ Fond C. C. als PCR, Secţia Cancelarie, dosar 20/1977, 15, ANIC.

²⁰ ‘Conferinţa de presă a tovarăşului Nicolae Ceauaşescu, secretar general al P.C.R., preşedintele Republicii Socialiste România, ţinută cu ziariştii străini şi români’, Scânteia, 11 March 1977, 2.

²¹ Fond C. C. als PCR, Secţia Cancelarie, dosar 20/1977, 15, ANIC.

²² Fond C. C. als PCR, Secţia Cancelarie, dosar 21/1977, 17–18, ANIC.

²³ 300-60-4:9/3, 6 March 1977, Open Society Archives at Central European University, Budapest, Hungary (hereafter HU OSA).

²⁴ Report in the Financial Times by Leslie Colitt, 9 March 1977, 300-60-4:9/3, HU OSA.

²⁵ Balken, Hilfeersuchen der rumänischen Regierung, 6 March 1977, Botschaft der Bundesrepublik Deutschland Bukarest, 13370 Politisches Archiv (PA), Auswärtiges Amt (AA), Berlin.

²⁶ Balken, Erdbebenkatastrophe in Rumänien, deutsches Hilfeangebot, 8 March 1977, Botschaft der BRD Bukarest, 13370, PA AA.

²⁷ Paul Hoffmann, ‘Romania Seeks Equipment’, 12 March 1977, 300-60-4:9/3, HU OSA.

²⁸ As a result, just to cite two examples, West German firms Grünzweig & Hartmann and Glasfaser AG donated machinery and spare parts worth 160,000 Deutsche Mark to the Romanian enterprise Intreprinderea de Material Izolator Berceni-Ploieşti, 1 June 1978, Botschaft der BRD Bukarest, 13371, PA AA.

²⁹ Unterrichtung durch Vizeaußenhandelsminister Stanciu über weitere Hilfemöglichkeiten, 11 March 1977.

³⁰ Balken, Erdbebenkatastrophe in Rumänien, rumänische Position zur ausländischen Hilfe.

³¹ Aufzeichnungen über das Gespräch zwischen D2 und dem rumänischen Vizeausßenminister Gliga, 30. März 1877, 304–9, Humanitäre Hilfe Rumänien, 1977, 103685, PA AA.

³² ‘Reunification of Family’, Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe: Final Act, Helsinki 1975, 39–40, https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/5/c/39501.pdf accessed 20 October 2020.

³³ Deutsch-rumänische Beziehungen, 30 March 1977, 304–9, Humanitäre Hilfe Rumänien, 1977, 103685, PA AA.

³⁴ Ibid.

³⁵ The Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs to Arthur Bill, 1 April 1977, E5650B#2009/84#5*, Swiss Federal Archives (SFA), Bern.

³⁶ BUKA, Bericht über die Dienstreise nach Bukarest, 17 March 1977, PA AA.

³⁷ Most exchanges across the Iron Curtain were marked by distrust and suspicion, thus Balken would have assumed that some such middlemen were untrustworthy without directly calling them spies. The Romanian Secret Service had a file on Spitra, identifying him as a West German spy. See: Liviu Ţăranu, ‘Afacerea Fokker’, Magazin Istoric 41, no. 10 (2007): 50.

³⁸ BUKA, Vermerk: Bericht von Herrn Witwer, Unsere Stellungnahme, 24 March 1977, PA AA.

³⁹ Mihai Burcă to Hans Haug, 31 May 1977, E5001G#1992/72#147*, SFA.

⁴⁰ https://crucearosie.ro/cine-suntem/istoria-crucii-rosii-romane/istoria-crucii-rosii-romane-1946-1989/ accessed 28 October 2019.

⁴¹ Hans Haug to Mihai Burcă, 18 April 1977, E5001G#1992/72#147*, SFA.

⁴² Rumänienmission vom 14.-17.11.77, 2 December 1977, E5001G#1992/72#147*, SFA.

⁴³ Rumänienmission vom 18.2. – 22.2.1980, 28 February 1980, E5001G#1992/72#147*, SFA.

⁴⁴ Bericht vom Herrn Prof. Haug, 18 September 1975, E5001G#1992/72#147*, SFA.

⁴⁵ Bericht über die Verhandlungen mit dem Präsidenten des RRK, 17 September 1975, E5001G#1992/72#147*, SFA.

⁴⁶ Ibid.

⁴⁷ Nikola Gelevski, ed., 50 godini od zemjotresot vo Skopje, 1963–2014 (Skopje: Templum, 2014), 120–2.

⁴⁸ Ines Tolic, ‘Ernest Weissmann’s “World City”: The Reconstruction of Skopje within the Cold War Context’, Southeastern Europe 41, no. 2 (2017): 171–199 ; and Igor Martek and Mirjana Lozanovska, ‘Consciousness and Amnesia: The Reconstruction of Skopje Considered through “Actor Network Theory”’, Journal of Planning History 17, no. 3 (2018): 163–83.

⁴⁹ Schindler to Kissling, 8 August 1975, E5001G#1992/72#147*, SFA.

⁵⁰ Bericht vom Herrn Prof. Haug, 18 September 1975, E5001G#1992/72#147*, SFA.

⁵¹ Bericht über die Rekognoszierung der Erbebenschäden in Bukarest vom 7. bis zum 12 März 1977, E5650B#2009/84#6*, SFA.

⁵² Protokoll, 11 March 1977, E5650B#2009/84#6*, SFA.

⁵³ The Swiss Embassy to the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 15 March 1977, E5650B#2009/84#5*, SFA.

⁵⁴ Die zweite Aufklärungsmission mit Baufachleuten des Katastrophenhilfekorps vom 3. bis zum 6. April 1977, E5650B#2009/84#5*, SFA.

⁵⁵ Schlussbericht über die 1977 im erdbebenzerstörten Zimnicea durch das Katastrophenhilfekorps geleistete Wideraufbauarbeit, Bern, Dezember 1978, 17–20, E5650B#2009/84#5*, SFA.

⁵⁶ Bericht über den Besuch von A. Bill in Rumänien zu Überprüfung des Realisierungsstandes des schweizerischen Wiederaufbauprojektes im Zimnicea, 19 September 1977, E5650B#2009/84#6*, SFA.

⁵⁷ Schlussbericht über die 1977 im erdbebenzerstörten Zimnicea durch das Katastrophenhilfekorps geleistete Wideraufbauarbeit, Dezember 1978, E5650B#2009/84#7*, SFA.

⁵⁸ In such turnkey projects, a foreign contractor usually supplied the design, technology, technical assistance and workers to a new location. See: Fava and Gatejel, ‘East-West Cooperation in the Automotive Industry’, 15; and Valentina Fava, ‘Between Business Interests and Ideological Marketing: The USSR and the Cold War in Fiat Corporate Strategy, 1957–1972’, Journal of Cold War Studies 20, no. 4 (2018): 32.

⁵⁹ B45, 103685, Balken, Erdbebenkatastrophe in Rumänien, Analyse unserer Katastrophenhilfe, 1 June 1977, PA, AA.

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Luminita Gatejel

Luminita Gatejel is a researcher at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies in Regensburg, Germany. Her research interests focus on the history of state socialism and on the technological and environmental history of the Danube.