Quaker Service in Modern War: Spain and France, 1939-1940 (review)

Book Reviews117 Quaker Service in Modern War: Spain and France, 1939-1940. By Howard E. Kershner. New York: Prentice-Hall. 1950. xviii, 195 pages. $3.50. I HIS BOOK in a very readable fashion presents the general story of the international relief program, including some of its human as well as its organizational and governmental aspects, carried on by the International Commission for the Assistance of Child Refugees in France and Spain. Since the author in 1939 was appointed Executive Vice-President and Director of the International Commission with which the British Friends Service Council and the American Friends Service Committee were co-operating agencies, and continued to serve in that capacity as well as being Director of the American Friends Service Committee's efforts on behalf of Spanish child refugees during 1939 and 1940, the book constitutes an authoritative account of the manner in which this unique international effort was carried on. Although the short length of this book does not permit a treatment of any of the great variety of problems incident to executing the task of administering food and other relief in both the Nationalist and Republican territories during the Spanish Civil War and after the war's end among Spanish children in Spain and France, the general nature of the problems presented by the coincidence of modern war and a twentieth-century relief effort is well set forth. The volume, therefore, is of obvious interest to any student of relief efforts of the type and general purposes carried on by the American Friends Service Committee and other private religious and humanitarian organizations. The fact that the International Commission was supported by outright grants from more than twenty governments as well as by personal and private efforts does not change the picture. An example of the extremely difficult problem created by undertaking to administer relief on both sides in modern war is indicated by Howard Kershner's account of the negotiations which were necessary with Republican and, particularly, with Nationalist officials to provide for the care of relief personnel, supplies, and the continuance of relief operations as the tide of warfare caused the location of specific operations to shift from the control of one contending government to another. The story of the generous fashion in which France accepted half a million Spanish refugees who crossed the border to preserve their lives or liberty as the Nationalist forces of Spain conquered the entire country is noteworthy in these times when minority groups and their treatment receives considerable attention. The book, however, leaves the reader under no doubt about the miserable lot of the modern war or political refugee as it outlines from a half-dozen angles the position of the Republican Spaniards in France and North Africa, particularly after the expanding war engulfed France and much reduced the resources of that country available to assist uninvited refugee neighbors from the south. The story of the 118Bulletin of Friends Historical Association plans and efforts made to alleviate and solve permanently the difficulties of these uprooted people is a real testimonial to the great human values involved in such a private or semi-private relief program as Howard Kershner describes. PhiladelphiaJohn H. Wood, Jr. Pathways of Peace: A History of the Civilian Public Service Program Administered by the Brethren Service Committee. By Leslie Eisan. Elgin, Illinois: Brethren Publishing House. 480 pages. $2.50. Service for Peace: A History of Mennonite Civilian Public Service. By Melvin Gingerich. Akron, Pennsylvania: The Mennonite Central Committee, xvii, 508 pages. $3.00. The question of the responsibilities of the individual to the State is an old one which has received much attention in philosophical and political writings. But the question of the responsibility of the State in protecting the rights of individuals who hold minority opinions is one that has been somewhat slower in receiving the attention that it deserves. In recent years the importance of guaranteeing the right of conscientious objection to war has come increasingly to be appreciated. The treatment of CO's both in England and in the United States during the First and Second World Wars has been the subject of a number of studies which have dealt with the matter...