Humanitarians at War: The Red Cross in the Shadow of the Holocaust by Gerald Steinacher (review)

Scholarship on the history of the insular, yet global International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has exploded in recent decades, spurred by the forced opening of its archives in the 1980s. Public scrutiny of this supposedly impartial, apolitical humanitarian organization had reached a fever-pitch in the wake of a wave of revelations regarding its indifference and inaction during the most notorious twentieth-century human tragedy. Under public pressure, the ICRC opened its archives fully for the first time, and in so doing presented the possibility of a new era of transparency in regards to the deeds of humanitarian actors.

The opening of the archives allowed Jean-Claude Favez to question the ICRC's reputation, in Une Mission Impossible? (1988), which revealed the choices in 1942 by which the ICRC's leadership buried its knowledge of the Holocaust in order to avoid angering either the Swiss Federal Council or Adolf Hitler's government—on both of which the ICRC depended if it was to carry out its broader humanitarian mission on behalf of POWs and certain classes of civilian war victims.¹ Like others who have sought to add to this history, Gerald Steinacher takes Favez as his starting point and—at various points—labors under his shadow. Steinacher does not, however, allow Favez's work to eclipse his own contribution. Rather, he successfully positions Humanitarians at War within the existing literature, both teaching us something new and adding a much-needed fresh coat of paint to the edifice Favez built. This he does in two ways.

First, his subject matter goes beyond a simple retelling of the story, emphasizing instead the fallout, in particular its impact on the institution's engagement in humanitarian issues after the war. The author focuses on the decisive years from 1942 through the crucial revision of the Geneva Conventions in 1949, when the past was buried, the future was envisioned, and grim present realities hung like a millstone around the organization's neck. Steinacher correctly notes that this period remains understudied in the wider literature on the Red Cross (pp. 4–5).

The second innovation in Humanitarians at War is that it takes the notorious meeting of October 15, 1942—at which the ICRC's leadership effectively decided not to act on what it knew about the ongoing murder of Europe's Jews—beyond Favez's assessment, linking it convincingly to a wider discourse on how humanitarians balance conscience and pragmatism. This positioning of a 1940s narrative within this wider discussion over the legitimacy of neutral, impartial humanitarianism is what elevates Steinacher's work. The result is a book that, in many respects, reads like a sequel to Favez, improving on the original and adding a broader perspective.

The often overlooked rivalry between Switzerland and Sweden for the crown of "humanitarian king" during the Second World War adds complexity to Steinacher's story, and highlights the extent to which (then as now) humanitarianism remains a political game. The linking of national conceptions of humanitarianism to the international Red Cross project is well-handled in this respect. Steinacher elucidates the influence of the ICRC's cunning, politically astute, and distinctly non-neutral wartime vice-president, Carl J. Burckhardt, whose impact on both the Swiss-Swedish dynamic, the Committee's decision not to publicly appeal on behalf of the European Jews, and the postwar activities of the ICRC has been touched upon in other works but not explored in-depth beyond Paul Stuffer's 1991 German-language biography. Incorporating Burckhardt's story will provide a more accessible reference point for Anglophone researchers.²

Underpinning the interesting stories lies excellent research; Steinacher draws on a wide range of archival materials from both the United States and Europe. The resultant insights, though not superseding Favez, allow Humanitarians at War to flesh out the ICRC's wartime story. If there is a negative to this academically rigorous book...