Nationalizing international relief: Romanian responses to American aid for children in the Great War era

ABSTRACT

This article examines the interactions between American humanitarian agendas and initiatives and domestic efforts for child relief in Romania in the aftermath of the Great War. While focusing on the presence of the European Children’s Fund (ECF) in post-war Romania, the article traces the domestic organization of relief, the Romanian elites’ turn to American humanitarian assistance, and their active responses to this external aid on behalf of war-suffering children. The article argues that Romanian leadership of child welfare initiatives nationalized American humanitarian aid by integrating ECF’s institutional efforts into domestically established philanthropic associations. This nationalization was sustained in three key ways: (1) American humanitarians’ own engagement of local channels in aid diffusion; (2) the growing network of national associations of child welfare in post-war Romania; (3) the competing political agendas of both donors and recipients. The case of Romanian responses to American aid for children, and its eventual domestic institutionalization, challenges the seemingly unequal relationship between Western donors and East-Central European recipients during a period of post-war reconstruction and sociopolitical transformation. It sheds light on the transnational dimension of the humanitarian process, driven by the dual agency of foreign humanitarians and domestic interlocutors in the country of aid reception.

KEYWORDS:

• Great War
• humanitarianism
• children
• American Relief Administration
• European Children’s Fund
• Romania
• East-Central Europe
• aftermath

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the two peer reviewers for the deeply valuable feedback on the initial manuscript of this article. I further thank Davide Rodogno, Lukas Schemper, Sielke Kelner, Vsevolod Kritskiy, John Paul Newman and Alyson Price for advice on the various drafts of this piece.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 “Queen Marie’s Appeal,” RG 200, Box 893, Records of the American Red Cross, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD, USA (hereafter NARA).

2 Bianu,Însemnări din Răsboiul României Mari, vol. 1 (Cluj: Institutul de Arte Grafice “Ardealul,” 1926), 223–4.

3 To my knowledge, there is no in-depth study discussing facets of Romanian philanthropy in the era of the Great War. However, some Romanian studies highlight the role of women or Jewish philanthropy during this period. See Ciupală, Bătălia Lor; Iancu, Emanciparea evreilor din România (1913–1919); Rotman,Școala israelito-română.

4 The 1848 ideological origins of the making of Greater Romania are mapped in Hitchins, The Romanians 1774–1866, 198–230.

5 On Romania’s minority policies in particular, and how they informed nationalism, the rise of right-wing factions, and the increased politicization of antisemitism see Livezeanu, Cultural Politics in Greater Romania; Clark, Holy Legionary Youth; on citizenship see Iordachi, Liberalism, Constitutional Nationalism, and Minorities; on experts and policy-making on behalf of nation-building (e.g. biopolitics, social engineering, rural modernization) see Bucur, Eugenics and Modernization in Interwar Romania; Turda, “To End the Degeneration of a Nation,” 77–104; Turda,“Conservative Palingenesis and Cultural Modernism in Early Twentieth Century Romania,” 437–53; Muşat, “To Cure, Uplift, and Ennoble the Village,” 353–75.

6 This is discussed in particular with regard to educational and cultural policies in Livezeanu, Cultural Politics in Greater Romania.

7 Irwin, “Sauvons les Bébés,” 37–65.

8 Zahra, The Lost Children, 39.

9 For example Rodogno, “Beyond Relief: A Sketch of the Near East Relief,” 45–64; Rodogno, “American Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Humanitarian Politics and Policies in Asia Minor and Greece,” 83–99; Granick, “Waging Relief,” 55–68; Little, “An Explosion of New Endeavors,” 1–16; Little, “Humanitarian Relief in Europe and the Analogue of War, 1914–1918,” 139–58; Irwin, Making the World Safe.

10 See Piller, “German Child Distress, US Humanitarian Aid and Revisionist Politics, 1918–24,” 453–86; Kind-Kovacs, “The Great War, the Child’s Body and the American Red Cross,” 33–62; McGuire, “‘A Highly Successful Experiment in International Partnership?’,” 101–15.

11 Some perspectives on specific recipient nations are Little, “The Humanitarian Mobilization of American Cities for Belgian Relief, 1914–1918,” 121–38; Irwin, “Nation Building and Rebuilding,” 407–39; McGuire, “‘A Highly Successful Experiment in International Partnership?’”

12 See Niebrzydowski, “Reining in the Four Horsemen”; Kind-Kovacs, “The Great War, the Child’s Body and the American Red Cross;” Adlgasser, American Individualism Abroad.

13 Calculated including the annexed territories. Societatea pentru Orfani de Război, Pentru Neam și Țară (Oradea Mare: Tip. Adolf Sonnenfeld Societate Anonimă, 1924), 164.

14 Bacilieri, “La situation en Roumanie en 1917 et l’eouvre actuelle de secours aux enfants,” 1128–39.

15 Zahra, The Lost Children, 27.

16 See for example Luddy, “Women and Philanthropy in Nineteenth-Century Ireland,” 350–64; Cox, Hunger in War and Peace; Weindling, “Front Sentiment to Science,” 203–12.

17 Banu, “Asistenţa comunală a copiilor găsiţi, orfani şi săraci în Bucureşti,” 131–51.

18 Taken from Hariton, “Asumarea politicilor sociale de către stat în România,” 132.

19 Despite the emergence of private enterprises in the nineteenth century, this is noted in a 1936 census of state and private enterprises focused on “social assistance and protection”; Institutul Central de Statistică, Instituţiune de Asistenţă Socială şi de Ocrotire (Bucharest: Editura Institutului Central de Statistică Bucureşti, 1938).

20 Ciupală, Bătălia Lor, 160.

21 Ibid.

22 A few organizations mentioned in American sources were the Obol society under the presidency of the Queen, local orphanages such as Leagănul Sf. Ecaterina or Tibisoiu; Child Welfare Societies in Roumania, Inventory of the American National Red Cross records, Reel 34, Box 24, Folder 3, Hoover Institution Archives [Stanford, CA, USA].

23 Societatea Orfanilor de Război, Pentru Neam și Țară.

24 Bacilieri, “La situation en Roumanie.”

25 Societatea Orfanilor de Război, Pentru Neam și Țară.

26 “Orfanii din război,” Mişcarea, An IX, Nr. 192, 26 August 1916.

27 Unsigned Letter to President of the Council, Dosar 144/1918, Fond Comitetul de Asistenţă al Crucii Roşii din Paris, National Archives of Romania [Bucharest, Romania].

28 “Constructive and Relief Work of the American Red Cross in Roumania,” Commission of Romania Report 1917–1918, RG 200, Box 897, Records of the American Red Cross, NARA.

29 E.C. Olds, “The Necessity of Child Relief Work in Roumania,” Register of American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 446, Box 378, Folder 8, Hoover Institution Archives.

30 Princess Cantacuzene, Letter to the American Red Cross Bucharest, 4 August 1919, Inventory of the American Red Cross records, Reel 34, Box 24, Folder 9, Hoover Institution Archives.

31 Societatea Ocrotirea Orfanilor de Război, Comitetul Judeţean Ilfov to Major Whitlock, 4 September 1919, Inventory of the American Red Cross records, Box 24, Folder 9, Hoover Institution Archives; Societatea Ocrotirea Orfanilor de Război, Secţia Regională Bucureşti, 15 July 1919, Inventory of the American Red Cross records, Reel 34, Box 24, Folder 9, Hoover Institution Archives.

32 “The American Red Cross: Its Charity to the Needy Population of Roumania,” Translation of Article from the newspaper Epoca, 15 February 1920, Inventory of the American Red Cross records, Reel 34, Box 24, Folder 6, Hoover Institution Archives; Radu Rosetti, Remember, 1916–1919.

33 Ion Gheorghe Duca, Memoirs, 247, Collection I.G. Duca, Box 3, Hoover Institution Archives.

34 Bianu,Insemnări din Răsboiul României Mari, Vol. 1, 223–4; Alexandru Constantinescu, Aide-Mémoire for the American Red Cross, 6 September 1917, RG 200, Box 896, Records of the American Red Cross, NARA; “Constructive and Relief Work of the American Red Cross in Roumania,” RG 200, Box 897, Records of the American Red Cross, NARA; Lieut. Col. Henry W. Anderson, “Review of the Work of the Various Commissions,” RG 200, Box 893, NARA.

35 Fassin, Humanitarian Reason, 4.

36 Irwin, Making the World Safe, 141.

37 Robert E. Olds Letter to Herbert Hoover, 25 February 1919, Inventory of the American Red Cross records, Reel 10, Box 7, Folder 3, Hoover Institution Archives.

38 Herbert Hoover, “Child Life in Central Europe and the Need of Co-Operation in Relief,” Series 2, No. 2, American Relief Administration Bulletin (1 October 1920); taken from Collection Joseph Coy Green, Box 18, Hoover Institution Archives.

39 Robert Green, “With the ARA in Roumania,” Collection Joseph Coy Green, Box 1, Hoover Institution Archives.

40 Buzatu, A History of Romanian Oil, Vol. I, 220–3; Bonsal, Suitors and Suppliants, 202.

41 Unsigned Letter to Robert Taft, Bucharest, 6 May 1919, Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 443, Box 376, Folder 3, Hoover Institution Archives.

42 Alexandru Averescu Letter to Prefects in Transylvania, 22 March 1920, Dosar 91/1920, Fond Ministerul de Interne, National Archives of Romania; Vopicka, Secrets of the Balkans, 287–9; Bessarabia Reports, Dosar 29/1918, Fond Direcția Generală a Poliției, National Archives of Romania.

43 Joseph Green Letter to Herbert Hoover, 6 March 1919, Collection Joseph Coy Green, Box 2, Hoover Institution Archives.

William Haskell Letter to James Logan, Bucharest, 11 June 1919, Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 442, Box 375, Folder 1, Hoover Institution Archives.

44 Help for Needful Children, Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 446, Box 378, Folder 9, Hoover Institution Archives.

45 Hoover, “Child Life in Central Europe and the Need of Co-operation in Relief.”

46 Walch, Uncommon Americans, 71.

47 Herbert Hoover, “Children’s Relief and Democracy,” American Relief Administration Bulletin, Series 2, No. 15 (1 August 1921).

48 On Austria see Adlgasser, American Individualism Abroad; on Hungary see Kind-Kovacs, “Compassion for the Distant Other,” 129–62; on Poland see Rodogno, Piana, and Gauthier, “Shaping Poland,” 259–78; Adams, “Herbert Hoover and the Organization of the American Relief Effort in Poland (1919–1923),” 1–16; Lerski, Herbert Hoover and Poland.

49 Dr. Clemens von Pirquet, 3 November 1921, Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 744, Box 632, Folder 2, Hoover Institution Archives.

50 The total number of children in Romania in 1919 is difficult to determine because of the lack of proper statistical analyses. It was as late as 1930 when a postwar census was organized, while a previous demographic analysis had taken place in 1912. By comparison, the first large demographic analysis in Poland was organized as early as 1921. An indicative perspective on the ECF’s significant ambition is the number of orphans, which were counted to be over 360,000. See Societatea pentru Orfani de Război, Pentru Neam și Țară, 164.

51 Roumania’s Child Relief, Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 447, Box 379, Folder 1, Hoover Institution Archives.

52 Hoover, “Child Life in Central Europe and the Need of Co-Operation in Relief.”

53 Ibid.

54 Roumania’s Child Relief.

55 Adlgasser, American Individualism Abroad; Rodogno et al., “Shaping Poland.”

56 Highlight by the author of this article. Herbert Hoover Letter to Joseph C. Green, 18 March 1919, Dosar 41/1919, Fond Casa Regală, National Archives of Romania.

57 Taken from Rodogno et. al, “Shaping Poland,” 267.

58 Report No. IX, American Relief Administration- Mission to Roumania, 17 July 1919, Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 447, Box 378, Folder 11, Hoover Institution Archives.

59 William Haskell Letter to James A. Logan Jr., 6 June 1919, Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 443, Box 375, Folder 1, Hoover Institution Archives.

60 Memorandum Children’s Relief, 9 May 1919, Register of the American Relief Administration operational records, Reel 447, Box 378, Folder 15, Hoover Institution Archives.

61 Marie Telegram to Hoover, Collection Joseph Coy Green, Box 17, Hoover Institution Archives.

62 Queen Marie Memorandum, May 1919, Dosar 31/1920, Fond Casa Regală, National Archives of Romania, Bucharest, Romania; “Regele Către Crucea Roşie Americană,” Românul, 18 July 1919; Duca, Memoirs, 247.

63 Bucur, “Between the Mother of the Wounded and the Virgin of Jiu,” 30–56.

64 Children’s Relief in Roumania – Roumanian Mission, 26 April 1919, Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 447, Box 379, Folder 2, Hoover Institution Archives.

65 The Roumanian Mission to April 30, Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 447, Box 379, Folder 2, Hoover Institution Archives.

66 William Haskell Letter to Herbert Hoover, Bucharest, 20 June 1919, Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 442, Box 375, Folder 1, Hoover Institution Archives.

67 J.P. Nourse, “Children’s Relief,” Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 447, Box 378, Folder 15, Hoover Institution Archives.

68 Statutul Societăţii, “Principele Mircea,” Monitorul Oficial, 16 July 1919.

69 “De Pe Meleagurile Modestiei,” Vestul României, 21 September 1923; “Societatea Principele Mircea,” Vestul României, 31 August 1923; “Adunarea generală a societăţii Liga Bunătătii,” Gazeta de Vest, 26 June 1931.

70 Kiriţescu, Istoria Războiului pentru Intregirea României, 1916–1919, 474.

71 Bessarabia Reports, Dosar 29/1918, Fond Direcția Generală a Poliției, National Archives of Romania.

72 Kiriţescu, Istoria Războiului pentru Intregirea României, 474.

73 Spector, Rumania at the Paris Peace Conference, 145; Jelavich and Jelavich, The Establishment of the Balkan National States, 1804–1920, 307.

74 Irwin, “Taming Total War,” 763–75; Rosenberg,Spreading the American Dream; Cullather, The Hungry World,21–3.

75 Little, “An Explosion of New Endeavours,” 1–16.

76 Clements, The Life of Herbert Hoover: Imperfect Visionary, 1918–1928, 151–2.

77 Ibid.

78 L.G. Ament Letter to Lieut. Fuller, 20 August 1919, Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 447, Box 378, Folder 15, Hoover Institution Archives.

79 L.G. Ament to London Office of ARA European Children’s Fund, 1 October 1919, Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 120, Box 78, Folder 4, Hoover Institution Archives.

80 Herbert Hoover letter to Queen Marie, Dosar no. II/74, Fond Casa Regala, National Archives of Romania.

81 L.G. Ament Letter to Herbert Hoover, 30 August 1919, Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 442, Box 375, Folder 1, Hoover Institution Archives.

82 L.G. Ament Letter to ARA European Children’s Fund London, 9 October 1919, Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records, Reel 120, Box 78, Folder 4, Hoover Institution Archives.

83 For an early investigation of politics in humanitarian aid see Curti, American Philanthropy Abroad: A History; for more recent work see for example Irwin, Making the World Safe; Cabanes, The Great War and the Origins of Humanitarianism, 1918–1924; Little, “Band of Crusaders”; for an investigation of politics of humanitarian operations beyond Europe see Rodogno, “Beyond Relief.”

Additional information

Funding

The research for this article was possible thanks to Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Doina Anca Cretu

Doina Anca Cretu is a 2019–2020 Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. She holds a Ph.D. in International History from the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. She was previously a Swiss National Science Foundation Doc. Mobility Fellow at University of Oxford, Junior Fellow at the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen in Vienna, and a Visiting Scholar at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her research focuses on twentieth-century Central and Eastern Europe, with a specific interest in the history of humanitarianism, the history of development, and the history of refugees in this region.