Andrey Avinoff (14 February 1884 – 16 July 1949) was an internationally-known artist , lepidopterist , museum director , professor, bibliophile and iconographer , who served as the director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh from 1926 to 1945.
167-627: Throughout his life he engaged with prominent thinkers, explorers, authors, scientists, and educators throughout the world. Perhaps more than any other Russian émigré of his period, he epitomized the cultural sophistication of pre-revolutionary Russia . He has been firmly established by curatorial experts as one of the most important artists in America from the Russian Silver Age of Art, Mir iskusstva (World of Art). In an age of specialization, Avinoff brought an interdisciplinary approach to
334-407: A Russian girl and her mother were gassed and one Russian man was cut in two and preserved with formaldehyde. Some children grew up inside the walls of Unit 731, infected with syphilis. A Youth Corps member deployed to train at Unit 731 recalled viewing a batch of subjects that would undergo syphilis testing: "One was a White Russian woman with a daughter of four or five years of age, and
501-533: A broad range of fields, demonstrating the connections between culture, nature, spirituality, and art history. Avinoff amassed the largest collection of Asiatic butterflies in the world discovering several new species of butterflies in Central Asia , including one named after him, the Parnassius maharaja Avinoff. Avinoff was a generation older than the famed Russian-born novelist Vladimir Nabokov , himself
668-641: A captain of the Dutch Army , became the first independent and neutral delegates to work under the symbol of the Red Cross in an armed conflict. The Ottoman government ratified this treaty on 5 July 1865. The Turkish Red Crescent organization was founded in the Ottoman Empire in 1868, partly in response to the experience of the Crimean War (1853–1856), in which disease overshadowed battle as
835-524: A close friendship with the biologist and sex researcher Alfred Kinsey , based in part on their similar entomological interests; Kinsey's early scientific work was with gall wasps . Until Avinoff's death, the two collaborated on several projects, including an unpublished study on the sexuality of individuals in the arts. Andrey Avinoff was born in Tulchyn in what is now Ukraine , (then called Little Russia ), into an aristocratic Russian family going back to
1002-674: A degree in law (1905), Avinoff was appointed assistant secretary general of the Governing Senate , and in 1911 was named gentleman-in-waiting to the court of Tsar Nicholas II , serving in the Diplomatic Corps as director of ceremonies. In 1915, during World War I, Avinoff went to New York as an emissary of the Zemsky Union , an organization similar to the Red Cross , on a mission to purchase military supplies for
1169-574: A distinguished lepidopterist. In his novel Dar ("The Gift"), Nabokov based the character Konstantin Godunov-Cherdyntsev, his formidable Central Asian butterfly collector, partially on Avinoff. According to Kurt Johnson and Steve Coates's book Nabokov's Blues (1999), Avinoff was one of the first people Nabokov contacted when he came to the United States. Lecturing as an adjunct professor in the departments of fine arts and biology at
1336-529: A documentary entitled A Visitor from the Living . On 12 March 1945, ICRC president Jacob Burckhardt received a message from SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner allowing ICRC delegates to visit the concentration camps. This agreement was bound by the condition that these delegates would have to stay in the camps until the end of the war. Ten delegates, among them Louis Haefliger ( Mauthausen-Gusen ), Paul Dunant ( Theresienstadt ), and Victor Maurer ( Dachau ) accepted
1503-570: A draft proposal for an additional convention for the protection of the civil population in occupied territories during an armed conflict was adopted by the International Red Cross Conference. Unfortunately, most governments had little interest in implementing this convention, and it was thus prevented from entering into force before the beginning of World War II . The Red Cross' response to the Holocaust has been
1670-473: A fallen angel's passionate and doomed love of the beautiful Tamara. One of Avinoff's most famous series of illustrations, a was created ( c. 1935 –1938) for The Fall of Atlantis (1938), a long poem in Russian published in the United States by George V. Golokhvastoff. In 1944 Avinoff published these illustrations, originally rendered in charcoal, chalk, brush, pen, spattering, and scraping on paper, in
1837-494: A fashionable Catskills resort that attracted Thomas Edison , Harvey Firestone , Henry Ford , and John D. Rockefeller as well as famous writers, musicians and philosophers. Frank Seaman, the advertising mogul who established the Inn, helped launch Avinoff's career as a commercial artist. Avinoff rendered advertising illustrations for the products of many major companies of the day, including Colgate-Palmolive 's Cashmere Bouquet , and
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#17327806375902004-643: A field surgeon; Appia's friend and colleague Théodore Maunoir , from the Geneva Hygiene and Health Commission; and Guillaume-Henri Dufour , a Swiss army general of great renown. Eight days later, the five men decided to rename the committee to the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded". From 26 to 29 October 1863, the international conference organized by the committee was held in Geneva to develop possible measures to improve medical services on
2171-418: A folio of 120 orchid botanicals, and innumerable other paintings. In an age of specialization, Avinoff brought an interdisciplinary approach to a broad range of fields, demonstrating the connections between culture, nature, science and art. In every area of his expertise, Avinoff invoked an expansive and inspiring approach, which drew standing-room-only audiences to the talks that he gave in the lecture halls of
2338-442: A hermitage built near it together with transplanted fir trees and a Russian style farm to make it look like home. to build community consensus around the war memorials, the design of the memorials were deliberately kept simple with no sculpture which could be given a symbolic meaning, thereby ensuring that no particular interpretation of the war could be put forward other than grief over the war dead. The design of Orthodox churches at
2505-577: A limited folio edition of photogravures . Best known is the last, no. 17, The Death of the High Priest . Out of the catastrophic destruction of Atlantis , with the backdrop of fuming smoke and burning ziggurat , the withered hand of the high priest emerges from the swirling tidal waves. It is reaching upward, toward a constellation of stars forming an ankh , symbolic of rebirth out of the cataclysmic devastation of an arrogant culture. In unpublished portions of an essay about her great-uncle written for
2672-765: A mark in the history of the committee as its longest-serving president ever. In 1906, the 1864 Geneva Convention was revised for the first time. One year later, the Hague Convention X , adopted at the Second International Peace Conference in The Hague , extended the scope of the Geneva Convention to naval warfare. Shortly before the beginning of the First World War in 1914, 50 years after the foundation of
2839-665: A neutral, independent and exclusively humanitarian mandate during such escalations of violence in the Middle East and urged all parties to protect the lives of civilians, to reduce their suffering and protect their dignity. During the violent conflict, the ICRC and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) provided hospitals in the Gaza strip with support through large humanitarian convoys from Egypt , and
3006-812: A pidgin language combining aspects of Russian and Mandarin Chinese which developed in the 19th century when Chinese went to work in Siberia was considered essential by the Chinese merchants of Harbin. White émigrés fought with the Soviet Red Army during the Soviet invasion of Xinjiang and the Xinjiang War of 1937 . During World War II , many white émigrés took part in the Russian Liberation Movement . The main reason that pushed
3173-540: A position of being "unpredetermined" ("nepredreshentsi"), believing that Russia's political structure should be determined by popular plebiscite . Many white émigrés believed that their mission was to preserve the pre-revolutionary Russian culture and way of life while living abroad, in order to return this influence to Russian culture after the fall of the USSR . Many symbols of the White émigrés were reintroduced as symbols of
3340-512: A possible rivalry between the two organizations. The foundation of the League was seen as an attempt to undermine the leadership position of the ICRC within the movement and to gradually transfer most of its tasks and competencies to a multilateral institution. In addition to that, all founding members of the League were national societies from countries of the Entente or from associated partners of
3507-558: A shortage of foreign women, and Chinese men. A League of Nations survey in Shanghai in 1935 found that 22% of Russian women between 16 and 45 years of age were engaging in prostitution to some extent. The White Russian women mostly worked in the "Badlands" area adjoining the Beijing Legation Quarter on the east, centered on the alley of Chuanban Hutong. The American explorer Roy Chapman Andrews said he frequented
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#17327806375903674-722: A speech opening it: "The Russians bore great sacrifices on our account wishing to defend Serbs at a time when powerful enemies attacked tiny Serbia from all sides. And the great Slavic soul of the Russians did not allow it to be looked upon with indifference that a fraternal Slavic people should perish". Karel Kramář , a wealthy conservative Czechoslovak politician and a Russophile worked together with Russian émigrés to build an Orthodox church in Prague which Kramář called in his opening speech "a monument of Slavic connection" and to "remind Russians not only of their former sufferings but also about
3841-759: A swathe of clouds, separating the seen and the unseen worlds." Avinoff's work was exhibited in the 1940s and 1950s, notably in Flower Paintings by A. Avinoff , a 1947 exhibition at the Knoedler Gallery in New York City, and An Exhibition of Andrey Avinoff: The Man of Science, Religion, Mysticism, Nature, Society and Fantasy , a 1953 retrospective at the Carnegie Institute. After he retired in 1945, he entered his most prolific period of painting, producing work for five one-man shows,
4008-425: A time. Some died during the experimentation. When survivors were determined to no longer be useful for experimentation and were complaining of illness, staff told them they would receive a shot of medicine, but instead executed them with potassium cyanide injections. Executions were also carried out by gunshots. Approximately 150,000 White Russians, including princes, princesses, generals and senior officers, fled to
4175-752: Is also applied to the descendants of those who left and who still retain a Russian Orthodox Christian identity while living abroad. The term " émigré " is most commonly used in France, the United States, and the United Kingdom. A term preferred by the émigrés themselves was first-wave émigré ( эмигрантъ первой волны , Russian : эмигрант первой волны , emigrant pervoy volny ), "Russian émigrés" ( русская эмиграція , русская эмиграция , russkaya emigratsiya ) or "Russian military émigrés" ( русская военная эмиграція , русская военная эмиграция , russkaya voyennaya emigratsiya ) if they participated in
4342-683: Is available for serious researchers and authors. In 1964 the university recognized Avinoff's enduring scientific contributions with the establishment of the Andrey Avinoff Professorship of Biology (the Avinoff Chair). White %C3%A9migr%C3%A9 White Russian émigrés were Russians who emigrated from the territory of the former Russian Empire in the wake of the Russian Revolution (1917) and Russian Civil War (1917–1923), and who were in opposition to
4509-483: Is not part of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 16 million volunteers , members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering . Until
4676-716: Is now housed at the Hillwood Museum in Washington, DC. The collection was purchased in the 1930s from the New York book dealers Simeon Bolan and Israel Perlstein . It provided the basis for The Icon and the Axe (1966), a comprehensive study of Russian culture by James H. Billington, then Librarian of Congress. Avinoff was profiled by Geoffrey T. Hellman in The New Yorker in 1948, and he had been photographed for
4843-532: Is the best atmosphere to unite France forever with a Russia national and worthy". The fact that the crosses of the Russians buried in France were painted white-the color of the French war dead and allies-while the crosses of the German war dead were painted black was widely noticed within the Russian community in France as a sign that the French regarded them as allies. In Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, war memorials to
5010-455: The 2023 Israel–Hamas war Israeli authorities required Palestinian ambulances to undergo thorough searches when passing through checkpoints, saying the policy was driven by Palestinian organizations using ambulances to transport terrorists and armaments. The Israeli Ministry of Health said that: "The Red Crescent closely cooperated with the MDA ( Magen David Adom ) until April 2002. At that time,
5177-490: The American Red Cross was founded through the efforts of Clara Barton . More and more countries signed the Geneva Convention and began to respect it in practice during armed conflicts. In a rather short period of time, the Red Cross gained huge momentum as an internationally respected movement, and the national societies became increasingly popular as a venue for volunteer work. When the first Nobel Peace Prize
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5344-581: The Geneva Conventions of the 1907 revision and forwarded complaints about violations to the respective country. When chemical weapons were used in this war for the first time in history, the ICRC mounted a vigorous protest against their use. Even without having a mandate from the Geneva Conventions, the ICRC tried to ameliorate the suffering of civil populations. In territories that were officially designated as "occupied territories",
5511-635: The Imperial Army during World War I. He was back in New York on a second mission, representing the Provisional Government , when the October Revolution of 1917 broke out. Avinoff telegraphed his family to leave Russia immediately. Except for his older brother, Nicholas, and Nicholas' wife Marie Avinov, the entire family, including governesses, took the last Trans-Siberian Railway train eastward across Russia and crossed
5678-763: The Inner Line ). Tens of White Army veterans (numbers vary from 72 to 180) served as volunteers supporting Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War . Some white émigrés, labeled "Soviet patriots," adopted pro-Soviet sympathies. These people formed organizations such as the Mladorossi , the Evraziitsi , and the Smenovekhovtsy . After 1933, there were attempts to copy the NSDAP and cozy up to
5845-510: The International Committee of the Red Cross adopted a change in its policy regarding the selection of new members. Until then, only citizens from the city of Geneva could serve in the committee. This limitation was expanded to include all Swiss citizens. As a direct consequence of World War I, a treaty was adopted in 1925 which outlawed the use of suffocating or poisonous gases and biological agents as weapons. Four years later,
6012-614: The Kinsey Institute at the Indiana University in Bloomington , placed Avinoff as an important émigré painter in relation to other Russian artists, some also homosexual. He has continued to receive growing recognition as a homosexual artist and advocate, "an aspect of his life that he never publicized" during his lifetime. Andrey Avinoff: In Pursuit of Beauty, a 2011 retrospective exhibition of Avinoff's work at
6179-624: The Mellon family offered to retrieve the collection but were refused by the Soviet government. In America, by financing of butterfly expeditions, Avinoff managed to build up a near-duplicate collection of Asiatic butterflies which he donated to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Between 1926 and 1940, he made six collecting trips to Jamaica , which he described as a "dream land of tropical splendor." Accompanying him on five of those trips
6346-689: The Oriental Republic of Uruguay , the United States of Venezuela ), Asia (the Republic of China , the Empire of Japan and the Kingdom of Siam ), and Africa ( Union of South Africa ). With the outbreak of World War I , the ICRC found itself confronted with enormous challenges that it could handle only by working closely with the national Red Cross societies. Red Cross nurses from around
6513-697: The Ottoman Empire in the wake of the Revolution. Istanbul , which had a population of around 900,000 at that time, opened its doors to approximately 150 thousand White Russians. The parties to the war migration in 1917 were neither Crimean Turks nor Caucasian Muslims. This time, those who took refuge in Istanbul were the 'nobles' and soldiers of Tsarist Russia, who had fought the Ottomans for centuries. The immigration, which started with small groups at
6680-770: The Pamir , in 1912 through India and Kashmir over the Karakoram Pass to Ladakh and " Chinese Turkestan " (the Tarim Basin ), before these regions were open to explorers. Prior to the political upheavals of 1917, he was awarded the Imperial Russian Geographical Society 's prestigious gold medal. When he left Russia for the last time in September 1917, Avinoff had to abandon his voluminous personal collection of over 80,000 specimens,
6847-890: The Philippines under President Elpidio Quirino admitted 6,000 White Russians fleeing from China after the communist People's Republic of China was proclaimed in the region. They settled in Tubabao island in Guiuan , Samar . Political and religious figures Military figures Historians and philosophers The arts Scientists and inventors Other figures Orthodox Church jurisdictions: Military and paramilitary organizations: Political organizations: Youth organizations: Charitable organizations: International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement Green: The Red Crescent Blue: The Red Star of David (The Red Crystal outside of Israel) Maroon: Red Cross Society that
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7014-417: The Red Army across Siberia and the Russian Far East moved together with their families to Harbin (see Harbin Russians ), to Shanghai (see Shanghai Russians ) and to other cities of China, Central Asia, and Western China. After the withdrawal of American and Japanese troops from Siberia , some émigrés traveled to Japan. During and after World War II , many Russian émigrés moved to the United Kingdom,
7181-414: The Russian Civil War and the withdrawal of the Entente and Japanese armies from Siberia . Having lost their livelihoods, and with most of them widowed, Doihara forced the women into prostitution, using them to create a network of brothels throughout China where they worked under inhuman conditions. The use of heroin and opium was promoted to them as a way to tolerate their miserable fate. Once addicted,
7348-411: The Russian Red Cross Society and later the society of the Soviet Union , constantly emphasizing the ICRC's neutrality. In 1928, the "International Council" was founded to coordinate cooperation between the ICRC and the League, a task which was later taken over by the "Standing Commission". In the same year, a common statute for the movement was adopted for the first time, defining the respective roles of
7515-470: The Soviet Union and its legacy to be representative of Russia but rather of an occupying force. They consider the period of 1917 to 1991 to have been a period of anti-Christian occupation by the Soviet regime. They used the pre-revolutionary tricolor (white-blue-red) as their flag, for example, and some organizations used the ensign of the Imperial Russian Navy . A significant percentage of white émigrés may be described as monarchists, although many adopted
7682-412: The UN General Assembly granted the ICRC observer status for its assembly sessions and sub-committee meetings, the first observer status given to a private organization. The resolution was jointly proposed by 138 member states and introduced by the Italian ambassador, in memory of the organization's origins in the Battle of Solferino. An agreement with the Swiss government signed on 19 March 1993 affirmed
7849-446: The United States , the Empire of Brazil and the Mexican Empire to attend an official diplomatic conference. Sixteen countries sent a total of 26 delegates to Geneva. On 22 August 1864, the conference adopted the first Geneva Convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field". Representatives of 12 states and kingdoms signed the convention: The convention contained ten articles, establishing for
8016-479: The University of Pittsburgh , Avinoff was renowned as an expert on decorative arts, Persian art , nature motifs, and Russian iconography . His book collection, the largest compendium of Russian decorative arts volumes outside of Russia, is now housed at the Hillwood Museum in Washington, D.C. It provided the basis for 'The Icon and the Axe' (1966), a comprehensive study of Russian culture by James H. Billington , then Librarian of Congress . Avinoff became known as
8183-415: The University of Pittsburgh . He was a sought-after speaker, and his talks were broadcast over the radio in Pittsburgh. Lecturing as an adjunct professor in the departments of fine arts and biology, Avinoff was renowned as an expert on decorative arts, Persian art, plant and animal motifs, and Russian iconography. His book collection, the largest compendium of Russian decorative arts volumes outside of Russia,
8350-570: The boyars of Novgorod . He was the grandson of Admiral Alexander Avinoff, who fought at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), and a great-grandson of Vladimir Panaieff (Panayev), minister of the Imperial Court during the reign (1825–1855) of Tsar Nicholas I , under whom Panaeff acquired art for the Hermitage Museum and what became the New Hermitage Museum collection in 1852. Andrey, his sister Elizabeth , and brother Nicholas Avinov were taught perfect English, French, and German by governesses and tutors. After graduating from Moscow State University with
8517-404: The "Winged S," the first logo for Sikorsky Aircraft , and other early promotional artwork for the then-fledgling company. His reputation as a lepidopterist had drawn the attention of the zoologist Dr. William J. Holland , who headed up both the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh . In 1923 Holland offered Avinoff a curatorial position in the entomology department of
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#17327806375908684-408: The "cafes of somewhat dubious reputation" with the explorer Sven Hedin and scientist Davidson Black to "have scrambled eggs and dance with the Russian girls." Some did find professional work, teaching music or French. Other women took work as dressmakers, shop assistants and hairdressers. Many men became career soldiers of the Shanghai Russian Regiment, the only professional/standing unit within
8851-1015: The 1920s and 1930s, or were expelled by the Soviet government (such as, for example, Pitirim Sorokin and Ivan Ilyin ). They spanned all classes and included military soldiers and officers, Cossacks , intellectuals of various professions, dispossessed businessmen and landowners, as well as officials of the Russian Imperial government and of various anti-Bolshevik governments of the Russian Civil War period. Not all of them were ethnic Russians; other ethnic groups were included. Most émigrés initially fled from Southern Russia and Ukraine to Turkey and then moved to other Slavic countries in Europe (the Kingdom of Yugoslavia , Bulgaria , Czechoslovakia , and Poland ). A large number also fled to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Iran, Germany and France . Some émigrés also fled to Portugal , Spain , Romania , Belgium , Sweden , Switzerland , and Italy . Berlin and Paris developed thriving émigré communities. Many military and civil officers living, stationed, or fighting
9018-421: The 1923 earthquake in Japan which killed about 200,000 people and left countless more wounded and without shelter. Due to the League's coordination, the Red Cross society of Japan received goods from its sister societies reaching a total worth of about $ 100 million. Another important new field initiated by the League was the creation of youth Red Cross organizations within the national societies. A joint mission of
9185-440: The Agency accumulated about 7 million records from 1914 to 1923. The card index led to the identification of about 2 million POWs and the ability to contact their families. The complete index is on loan today from the ICRC to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva. The right to access the index is still strictly restricted to the ICRC. During the entire war, the ICRC monitored warring parties' compliance with
9352-430: The Carnegie Institute's Museum of Natural History. He did not accept at first but occasionally worked for the department while continuing his successful career as a commercial artist. Within two years, however, in 1926, Avinoff became the director of the museum where he remained until his retirement in 1945. His accomplishments included acquisitions, such as the museum's Tyrannosaurus rex , and significant contributions in
9519-401: The Carnegie Institute's retrospective of Avinoff's work mounted in 1953, "For him art was a reflection of nature." Hovey also noted, "The genius of Dr. Avinoff [reflects] the whole range of man's experience. ... Like the masters of the Renaissance, he was skilled in many ways, a distinguished scientist, artist, museum specialist , mystic , and popular friend of many." Avinoff's artistic output
9686-455: The Carnegie Museum of Art, garnered international attention for his work. Curator Louise Lippincott summarized Avinoff's legacy as part of the Mir Iskusstva (Russian Silver Age of Art) in the exhibition catalog: "Avinoff should rightfully be considered one of the most important survivors of the Russian Silver Age of Art to reach the United States... Not only did he embody Silver Age ideals and practices [in] his life and work, he instilled them in
9853-548: The Czechoslovak Legions was a way of asserting that the Russians had helped to make Czechoslovakia possible. In Germany, right-wing émigrés found much to their own frustration that right-wing German veterans shunned their offers to participate in Totensonntag ("Day of the Dead") as German conservatives did not wish to honor the sacrifices of those who had fought against Germany, and it was left-wing German veterans, usually associated with Social Democratic Party, who welcomed having Russians participate in Totensonntag to illustrate
10020-454: The Entente. The original statutes of the League from May 1919 contained further regulations which gave the five founding societies a privileged status and, due to the efforts of Henry Davison, the right to permanently exclude the national Red Cross societies from the countries of the Central Powers , namely Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, and in addition to that the national Red Cross society of Russia. These rules were contrary to
10187-416: The French and British representations, commissions, or alongside them in civil service, translator, or even military or security units in Istanbul. The Philippines welcomed 800 Russians fleeing the dangers of the Socialist Revolution of 1917. Many later migrated elsewhere, while some settled in Manila or other areas in the country, with 250 went to Mindanao to work in abaca plantations. From 1949 to 1951,
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#173278063759010354-419: The German National Socialists, thus the short-lived parties such as the ROND (Russian Popular Liberation Movement) came into existence in Germany. One of the most notable forms of activities by Russian émigrés was building monuments to Russian war dead of World War I , which stood in marked contrast to the Soviet Union, which did not build any monuments to the 2 million Russians killed between 1914 and 1917, as
10521-433: The German retreat as an opportunity to either flee from the Soviet Union, or were in Germany and Austria as POWs and forced labor , and preferred to stay in the West, often referred to as the second wave of émigrés (often also called DPs – displaced persons, see Displaced persons camp ). This smaller second wave fairly quickly began to assimilate into the white émigré community. After the war, active anti-Soviet combat
10688-449: The ICRC achieved permission to send parcels to concentration camp detainees with known names and locations. Because the notices of receipt for these parcels were often signed by other inmates, the ICRC managed to register the identities of about 105,000 detainees in the concentration camps and delivered about 1.1 million parcels, primarily to the concentration camps Dachau , Buchenwald , Ravensbrück , and Sachsenhausen . Maurice Rossel
10855-430: The ICRC and the League in the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1922 marked the first time the movement was involved in an internal conflict, although still without an explicit mandate from the Geneva Conventions. The League, with support from more than 25 national societies, organized assistance missions and the distribution of food and other aid goods for civil populations affected by hunger and disease. The ICRC worked with
11022-430: The ICRC and the League within the movement. During the Abyssinian war between Ethiopia and Italy from 1935 to 1936, the League contributed aid supplies worth about 1.7 million Swiss francs. Because the Italian fascist regime under Benito Mussolini refused any cooperation with the Red Cross, these goods were delivered solely to Ethiopia. During the war, an estimated 29 people died while being under explicit protection of
11189-408: The ICRC and the adoption of the first Geneva Convention, there were already 45 national relief societies throughout the world. The movement had extended itself beyond Europe and North America to Central and South America ( Argentine Republic , the United States of Brazil , the Republic of Chile , the Republic of Cuba , the United Mexican States , the Republic of Peru , the Republic of El Salvador ,
11356-420: The ICRC could assist the civilian population on the basis of the Hague Convention 's "Laws and Customs of War on Land" of 1907. This convention was also the legal basis for the ICRC's work for prisoners of war. In addition to the work of the International Prisoner-of-War Agency as described above, this included inspection visits to POW camps. A total of 524 camps throughout Europe were visited by 41 delegates from
11523-435: The ICRC decided to remain in the country to continue its mission to assist and protect victims of conflict. Since June 2021, ICRC-supported facilities have treated more than 40,000 people wounded during armed confrontations there. Among the ten largest ICRC deployments worldwide has been the mission in Ukraine , where the organization has been active since 2014, working closely with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society . At first,
11690-418: The ICRC through the end of the war. Between 1916 and 1918, the ICRC published a number of postcards with scenes from the POW camps. The pictures showed the prisoners in day-to-day activities such as the distribution of letters from home. The intention of the ICRC was to provide the families of the prisoners with some hope and solace and to alleviate their uncertainties about the fate of their loved ones. After
11857-471: The ICRC was active primarily in the disputed regions of Donbas and Donetsk , assisting persons injured by armed confrontations there. When Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022 , the fighting moved to more populated areas in East, North, and South Ukraine. The head of the ICRC delegation in Kyiv warned on 26 February 2022 that neighborhoods of major cities were becoming the frontline with significant consequences for their populations, including children,
12024-506: The IDF claimed that Red Crescent ambulances were being used to carry terrorists. The Red Crescent personnel involved in this violation were interrogated." In October 2023, the ICRC responded to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians. The ICRC has called the violence "abhorrent" and implored both sides to reduce the suffering of civilians. The ICRC, working closely with their Red Crescent partners, has
12191-491: The International Committee. The controversy surrounding Dunant's business dealings and the resulting negative public opinion, combined with an ongoing conflict with Gustave Moynier, led to Dunant's expulsion from his position as a member and secretary. He was charged with fraudulent bankruptcy and a warrant for his arrest was issued. Thus, he was forced to leave Geneva and never returned to his home city. In
12358-540: The League of Nations "High Commissioner for Refugees". Nansen, who invented the Nansen passport for stateless refugees and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922, appointed two delegates from the ICRC as his deputies. A year before the end of the war, the ICRC received the 1917 Nobel Peace Prize for its outstanding wartime work. It was the only Nobel Peace Prize awarded in the period from 1914 to 1918. In 1923,
12525-515: The Netherlands , Kingdom of Prussia , Russian Empire , Kingdom of Saxony , Kingdom of Spain , United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway , and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . Among the proposals written in the final resolutions of the conference, adopted on 29 October 1863, were: Only a year later, the Swiss government invited the governments of all European countries, as well as
12692-682: The Pacific by steamer to embark upon a new life in the United States. Nicholas Avinoff was then serving as the Assistant Minister of Interior Affairs in the Kerensky Provisional Government. He was subsequently imprisoned a number of times and finally executed by the secret police during the Yezhov Purge of 1937. He is described in R. H. Bruce Lockhart 's Memoirs of a British Agent (1932). Marie Avinov
12859-531: The Pamir Range. He collaborated with his colleague Walter Sweadner, a curator of entomology at the museum, on The Karanasa Butterflies, A Study in Evolution . This influential monograph was completed by Sweadner and published in 1951, after both Avinoff's and Sweadner's deaths. Avinoff applied equal versatility to his work as an artist, bringing his expertise as a polymath in both art and zoology to bear on
13026-489: The Red Cross principles of universality and equality among all national societies, a situation which furthered the concerns of the ICRC. The first relief assistance mission organized by the League was an aid mission for the victims of a famine and subsequent typhus epidemic in Poland. Only five years after its foundation, the League had already issued 47 donation appeals for missions in 34 countries, an impressive indication of
13193-657: The Russian war dead were presented in Pan-Slavic terms, as a symbol of how Russians had fought together with the Czechs and Serbs in the war. Serbian King Alexander of Yugoslavia was a Russophile who welcomed Russian émigrés to his kingdom, and after France, Yugoslavia had the largest Russian émigré community, leading to Yugoslavia to have almost as many war memorials to the Russian war dead as France. War memorials in Yugoslavia usually also honored both Serbian war dead and
13360-516: The Russians in Harbin often surprised foreign visitors who assumed that they should be poor, leading one visitor in 1923 to comment that Russian "ladies as well gowned as at the Paris races [who] strolled with men faultlessly garbed by European standards", leading him to wonder how they achieved this "deceptive appearance". The extent of Russian economic dominance of Harbin could be seen that "Moya-tvoya",
13527-675: The SPD did not sit well with right-wing Russian émigrés found themselves rather out of place at these ceremonies. The city of Harbin in China was founded by the Russians in 1896, becoming known the "Moscow of the Orient" due to its Russian appearance, and after the Revolution its Russian population was further reinforced by émigrés, through the majority of the Russians living in Harbin were people who had come before World War I. About 127,000 people living in Harbin in 1920 came from Russia, making it one of
13694-515: The Shanghai Volunteer Corps. By slow degrees, and despite the many difficulties, the community not only retained a good deal of cohesion but did begin to flourish, both economically and culturally. By the mid-1930s there were two Russian schools, as well as a variety of cultural and sporting clubs. There were Russian-language newspapers and a radio station. An important part was also played by the local Russian Orthodox Church under
13861-527: The United States, Canada, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, South Africa, Taiwan and Australia – where many of their communities still exist in the 21st century. Many, estimated as being between the hundred thousands and a million, also served Germany in the Wehrmacht or in the Waffen-SS , often as interpreters. White émigrés were, generally speaking, anti-communist and did not consider
14028-873: The Upper Ohio Basin , published in two volumes by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 1953. Most of Avinoff's illustrations for this monumental work were created between 1941 and 1943. His other works from nature range from arrangements of tulips and roses to bouquets in the Dutch manner. His orchid paintings from live specimens at Planting Fields in Long Island, New York , became a folio. Avinoff sold his Dutch Manner paintings to prominent families to raise funds to re-collect his Asiatic butterfly collection. Of these paintings he said, "I have turned my flowers into butterflies!" His expertise on Persian decorative art
14195-846: The White Russian movement. In the Soviet Union , white émigré ( бѣлоэмигрантъ , белоэмигрант , byeloemigrant ) generally had negative connotations. Since the end of the 1980s, the term "first-wave émigré" has become more common in Russia. In East Asia , White Russian ( Chinese : 白俄 , bái'è ; Japanese : 白系ロシア人 , Hakkeiroshiajin or 白系露人 , Hakkeirojin ) is the term most commonly used for such Russian émigrés, although some have been of Ukrainian and other ethnicities, and were not culturally Russians. Most white émigrés left Russia from 1917 to 1920 (estimates vary between 900,000 and 2 million). Some managed to leave during
14362-488: The Whites to support the German power with action was the concept of a "spring offensive", an armed intervention against the USSR that must be exploited in order to continue the civil war. The latter was perceived by many Russian officers as an ongoing case that was never finished since the day of their exile. During the war, the white émigrés came into contact with former Soviet citizens from German-occupied territories who used
14529-494: The additional protocols of 8 June 1977 were intended to make the conventions apply to internal conflicts such as civil wars. Today, the four conventions and their added protocols contain more than 600 articles, while there were only 10 articles in the first 1864 convention. In celebration of its centennial in 1963, the ICRC, together with the League of Red Cross Societies , received its third Nobel Peace Prize. On 16 October 1990,
14696-505: The already long-standing policy of full independence of the committee from any interference by Switzerland. The agreement protects the full sanctity of all ICRC property in Switzerland including its headquarters and archive, grants members and staff legal immunity, exempts the ICRC from all taxes and fees, guarantees the protected and duty-free transfer of goods, services, and money, provides the ICRC with secure communication privileges at
14863-656: The armed opposition. They regularly visit detainees under the custody of the Afghan government and the international armed forces, but have also occasionally had access since 2009 to people detained by the Taliban . They have provided basic first aid training and aid kits to both the Afghan security forces and Taliban members because, according to an ICRC spokesperson, "ICRC's constitution stipulates that all parties harmed by warfare will be treated as fairly as possible". In August 2021, when NATO -led forces retreated from Afghanistan,
15030-522: The assignment and visited the camps. Louis Haefliger prevented the forceful eviction or blasting of Mauthausen-Gusen by alerting American troops. Friedrich Born (1903–1963), an ICRC delegate in Budapest who saved the lives of about 11,000 to 15,000 Jewish people in Hungary . Marcel Junod (1904–1961), a physician from Geneva was one of the first foreigners to visit Hiroshima after the atomic bomb
15197-488: The battlefield of Solferino. He called for the development of an international treaty to guarantee the protection of medics and field hospitals for soldiers wounded on the battlefield. In 1863, Gustave Moynier , a Geneva lawyer and president of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, received a copy of Dunant's book and introduced it for discussion at a meeting of that society. As a result of this initial discussion,
15364-484: The battlefield. The conference was attended by 36 individuals: eighteen official delegates from national governments, six delegates from non-governmental organizations, seven non-official foreign delegates, and the five members of the International Committee. The states and kingdoms represented by official delegates were: Austrian Empire , Grand Duchy of Baden , Kingdom of Bavaria , French Empire , Kingdom of Hanover , Grand Duchy of Hesse , Kingdom of Italy , Kingdom of
15531-480: The book to leading political and military figures throughout Europe, and people he thought could help him make a change. His book included vivid descriptions of his experiences in Solferino in 1859, and he explicitly advocated the formation of national voluntary relief organizations to help nurse wounded soldiers in the case of war, inspired by Christian teaching regarding social responsibility and his experience after
15698-491: The center of Jerusalem outside a shoe store on the busy main shopping street Jaffa Road . The explosion she caused killed her and Pinhas Tokatli (81), and injured more than 100 others. In the 2000s, the ICRC has been active in the Afghanistan conflict areas and has set up six physical rehabilitation centers to help land mine victims. Their support extends to the national and international armed forces, civilians and
15865-458: The conventions. During the war, the ICRC was unable to obtain an agreement with Nazi Germany about the treatment of detainees in concentration camps , and the ICRC eventually abandoned applying pressure, saying later it did so in order to avoid disrupting its work with POWs. The ICRC was also unable to obtain a response to reliable information about the extermination camps and the mass killing of European Jews, Roma , et al. After November 1943,
16032-460: The cover story of a Life magazine issue slated to appear in fall 1949 when he died in July of that year. Igor Sikorsky delivered his eulogy. Since Avinoff's death, his art has been rediscovered, and his status as one of the most important émigré Russian artists of the 20th century has been firmly established. The exhibition Out of Russia: The Art of Chagall , Tchelitchew , and Avinoff (2005), at
16199-437: The dead: memory. We in a foreign land do not have a tomb of an 'unknown soldier', but we do have thousands of suffering people. They are our honor and our justification ( opravdanie ) before the world. Their wounds and suffering are for Russia. They remain true to honor and obligation. That is our Russian passport". This was especially the case in France, the home of the largest overseas Russian community, where services honoring
16366-449: The dedication of a memorial to the REF in 1930: "We lost everything - family, economic situation, personal happiness, the homeland...Are our sufferings good to anyone? In truth-we have nothing, we have lost everything. Weep, weep". Such monuments were also a way of commanding respect from the host communities with an émigré newspaper saying in 1930: "Peoples honor heroes. To the living: care, to
16533-691: The early 1920s. Most of the Russians went to Manchuria (especially in Harbin , which at the time had the largest population of Russians of any city outside Russia ) and treaty ports such as Shanghai, but a few ended up in Beijing. In 1924, the Chinese government recognized the government of the Soviet Union and the majority of White Russians in China who refused to become Soviet citizens were rendered stateless, thus subject to Chinese law unlike other Europeans, Americans, and Japanese living in China who enjoyed
16700-577: The end of 1917, grew with the loss of Crimea to the Bolsheviks in 1920. Tens of thousands of people who left their titles, money and palaces in Russia and came to Istanbul tried to hold on to life by dispersing all over the city. Some sold books, some handcrafted souvenirs and some flowers. The place, formerly known as Hristaki Passage, became known as Çiçek Pasajı after the Russian flower girls took up residence. Those who arrived in 1919 were better off economically. The first arrivals found some jobs in
16867-600: The end of the war, between 1920 and 1922, the ICRC organized the return of about 500,000 prisoners to their home countries. In 1920, the task of repatriation was handed over to the newly founded League of Nations , which appointed the Norwegian diplomat and scientist Fridtjof Nansen as its "High Commissioner for Repatriation of the War Prisoners". His legal mandate was later extended to support and care for war refugees and displaced persons when his office became that of
17034-465: The end of the war, the Agency had transferred about 20 million letters and messages, 1.9 million parcels, and about 18 million Swiss francs in monetary donations to POWs of all affected countries. Furthermore, due to the intervention of the Agency, about 200,000 prisoners were exchanged between the warring parties, released from captivity and returned to their home country. The organizational card index of
17201-597: The establishment of a united friendly family of those who did not let down their hands in the fight for her liberation The émigrés formed various organizations for the purpose of combating the Soviet regime such as the Russian All-Military Union , the Brotherhood of Russian Truth , and the NTS . This made the white émigrés a target for infiltration by the Soviet secret police (e.g. operation TREST and
17368-544: The events of World War I were a major part of French life after 1918, and where by honoring the Russian war dead allowed the Russian émigrés in France to take part in the ceremonials, letting the émigrés feel like a part of the wider French community. In 1927, the Orthodox Metropolitan Evlogii spoke at the war monument in Valenciennes: "Blood spilled on the soil of beautiful and glorious France
17535-415: The exchange of messages regarding prisoners and missing persons. By the end of the war, 179 delegates had conducted 12,750 visits to POW camps in 41 countries. The Central Information Agency on Prisoners-of-War ( Agence centrale des prisonniers de guerre ) had a staff of 3,000, the card index tracking prisoners contained 45 million cards, and 120 million messages were exchanged by the Agency. One major obstacle
17702-450: The exhibition catalog Andrey Avinoff: In Pursuit of Beauty (2011), Antonia Shoumatoff remarks that Avinoff "intuited that the symbolism of Atlantis and the apocalypse were metaphorically relevant to modern civilization as symbolic of destruction and rebirth. ... [He] chooses to illustrate the themes of birth and death with vivid images of angels, demons and ghosts trying to pierce through the veils of life and death, often actually including
17869-475: The exhibits, publications, and drawings at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History during his tenure there. After hours, he painted, often through the night. The artist in Avinoff seemed to flow from the scientist, as he believed that art and science are inextricably intertwined. Dr. Walter Read Hovey, head of the University of Pittsburgh's Fine Arts Department, wrote in the introduction to the exhibition catalog for
18036-582: The existing two Geneva Conventions were adopted. An additional convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea", now called the second Geneva Convention, was brought under the Geneva Convention umbrella as a successor to the 1907 Hague Convention X . The 1929 Geneva convention "relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" may have been
18203-902: The fields of botany , entomology , and biology. He guided the museum through the Great Depression and World War II while helping to develop museology as a field. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1927. Avinoff's research associates at the Carnegie Institute Museum of Natural History included Childs Frick and the lepidopterist Cyril F. dos Passos, and Vladimir Nabokov , whose father he had known in Russia. Avinoff became an American citizen in 1928. In Russia, Avinoff sponsored more than 40 butterfly collecting expeditions in Central Asia. He personally traveled on arduous expeditions in 1908 to Russian Turkestan and
18370-585: The first modern typewriter for the Underwood Typewriter Company . Seaman also helped inaugurate the portrait-painting career of Avinoff's sister, Elizabeth Shoumatoff , by arranging for her to paint many of his wealthy clients. The family sold the farm in 1920 but remained in the vicinity, living in a colonial mansion in Napanoch until 1926, when they moved to Merrick, Long Island . Avinoff's sister, Elizabeth Shoumatoff , would become
18537-484: The first time legally binding rules guaranteeing neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers, field medical personnel, and specific humanitarian institutions in an armed conflict. Directly following the establishment of the Geneva Convention, the first national societies were founded in Belgium, Denmark, France, Oldenburg , Italy, Prussia, Spain, and Württemberg. Also in 1864, Louis Appia and Charles van de Velde ,
18704-494: The following years, national societies were founded in nearly every country in Europe. The project resonated well with patriotic sentiments that were on the rise in the late-nineteenth-century, and national societies were often encouraged as signifiers of national moral superiority. In 1876, the committee adopted the name "International Committee of the Red Cross" (ICRC), which is still its official designation today. Five years later,
18871-524: The guidance of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco. Japanese general Kenji Doihara forced White Russian women into prostitution and drug addiction to spy and spread drugs to their male Chinese clients. He initially gave food and shelter to tens of thousands Russian White émigré women who had taken refuge in the Far East after the defeat of the White Russian anti-Bolshevik movement during
19038-488: The largest Russian-speaking cites in East Asia . Many of the Russians in Harbin were wealthy, and the city was a center of Russian culture as the Russian community in Harbin made it their mission to preserve the pre-war Russian culture in a city on the plains of Manchuria with for instance Harbin having two opera companies and numerous theaters performing the traditional classics of the Russian stage. The economic success of
19205-731: The largest collection of Asiatic butterflies in the world, including his discovery of a new species, the Parnassius maharaja Avinoff. The Avinoff butterfly collection was nationalized by the Bolsheviks and is now housed in the Zoological Science Museum in St. Petersburg., which became government property. In the 1930s Soviet authorities allowed him to catalog the collection; specimens were shipped to him in Pittsburgh in groups and then returned by him. Following World War II,
19372-463: The last was a White Russian woman with a boy of about six or seven." The children of these women were tested in ways similar to their parents, with specific emphasis on determining how longer infection periods affected the effectiveness of treatments. Senior Sgt. Kazuo Mitomo described some of Unit 100's human experiments: On some of the prisoners I experimented 5–6 times, testing the action of Korean bindweed , bactal and castor oil seeds. One of
19539-734: The leading botanical painter of the day. He illustrated numerous books and folios and was called "one of the greatest American flower painters of the 20th century" by John Walker , then director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Walker acquired two of Avinoff's watercolor paintings for the National Gallery collection, Emergence ( c. 1948 , watercolor, ink, and pencil on paperboard) and Tulips (Disintegration) ( c. 1949 , watercolor and pencil on paperboard). From 1947 on Avinoff maintained
19706-648: The light of Orthodoxy, so that other peoples, seeing their good deeds, might glorify our Father Who is in Heaven, and thus obtain salvation for themselves. Many white émigrés also believed it was their duty to remain active in combat against the Soviet Union, with the hopes of liberating Russia. This ideology was largely inspired by General Pyotr Wrangel , who said upon the White army's defeat "The battle for Russia has not ceased, it has merely taken on new forms". White army veteran Captain Vasili Orekhov, publisher of
19873-475: The magazine Sentry ( Chasovoy ), encapsulated this idea of responsibility with the following words: There will be an hour – believe it – there will be, when the liberated Russia will ask each of us: "What have you done to accelerate my rebirth." Let us earn the right not to blush, but be proud of our existence abroad. As being temporarily deprived of our Motherland let us save in our ranks not only faith in her, but an unbending desire towards feats, sacrifice, and
20040-726: The main cause of death and suffering among Turkish soldiers. It was the first Red Crescent society of its kind and one of the most important charity organizations in the Muslim world. In 1867, the first International Conference of National Aid Societies for the Nursing of the War Wounded was convened. Also in 1867, Jean-Henri Dunant was forced to declare bankruptcy due to business failures in Algeria , partly because he had neglected his business interests during his tireless activities for
20207-619: The members of the Czechoslovak Legions who died in the war, giving them a decidedly pan-Slavic feel. A planned Orthodox church to honor the Russian prisoners who died in an Austrian POW camp outside Osijek would have featured busts of the Emperor Nicholas II, King Peter I and King Alexander to emphasis how the Houses of Romanov and Karađorđević had been allied in the war, linking the Russian and Serbian experiences of
20374-513: The middle of the nineteenth century, there were no organized or well-established army nursing systems for casualties, nor safe or protected institutions, to accommodate and treat those who were wounded on the battlefield. A devout Calvinist , the Swiss businessman Jean-Henri Dunant traveled to Italy to meet then-French emperor Napoleon III in June 1859 with the intention of discussing difficulties in conducting business in Algeria , which at that time
20541-507: The need for this type of Red Cross work. The total sum raised by these appeals reached 685 million Swiss francs, which were used to bring emergency supplies to the victims of famines in Russia, Germany, and Albania; earthquakes in Chile, Persia , Japan, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Turkey; and refugee flows in Greece and Turkey. The first large-scale disaster mission of the League came after
20708-530: The next generation of New York-based artists and intellectuals who would turn that city into the next great center of international modernist culture." In April–May 1982 Avinoff and his family were profiled in The New Yorker magazine in a two-part series written by his grandnephew Alex Shoumatoff (excerpted from his 1982 book Russian Blood). Avinoff's archive is housed at the University of Pittsburgh's Hillman Library's Archives & Special Collections and
20875-400: The only international rallying point that still remained. Isolated, like stormy petrels , came the first inquiries for missing relatives; then these inquiries themselves became a storm. The letters arrived in sackfuls. Nothing had been prepared for dealing with such an inundation of misery. The Red Cross had no space, no organization, no system, and above all no helpers. However, by the end of
21042-494: The original Convention was revised and the second Geneva Convention "relative to the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea" was established. The events of World War I and the respective activities of the ICRC significantly increased the reputation and authority of the Committee among the international community and led to an extension of its competencies. As early as in 1934,
21209-465: The original intent of his trip and for several days he devoted himself to helping with the treatment and care of the wounded. He took part in organizing an overwhelming level of relief assistance with the local villagers to aid without discrimination. Back at his home in Geneva , he decided to write a book entitled A Memory of Solferino , which he published using his own money in 1862. He sent copies of
21376-593: The post-Soviet Russia, such as the Byzantine eagle and the Russian tricolor . A religious mission to the outside world was another concept promoted by people such as Bishop John of Shanghai and San Francisco (canonized as a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad ) who said at the 1938 All-Diaspora Council: To the Russians abroad it has been granted to shine in the whole world with
21543-524: The principles of extraterritoriality . Nor were White Russians born in China eligible to be Chinese citizens. Although some of the White Russians arrived with their fortunes intact, most were penniless and due to ethnic prejudices and their inability to speak Chinese, were unable to find jobs. To support themselves and their families, some of the younger women became prostitutes or taxi dancers . They were popular with both foreign men, there being
21710-417: The prisoners of Russian nationality became so exhausted from the experiments that no more could be performed on him, and Matsui ordered me to kill that Russian by giving him an injection of potassium cyanide . After the injection, the man died at once. Bodies were buried in the unit's cattle cemetery. Unit 100 staff poisoned and drugged Russians with heroin, castor oil, tobacco and other substances for weeks at
21877-513: The recognition on the side of the Slavs". A service at the Russian war memorial in Terezin in 1930 turned into "a Russian-Czech political demonstration in a manifestation of Slavic mutuality" with the theme that the Russians had died so that the Czechs might be free. Prague had a large community of Russian émigrés, and by constantly linking the Russian experience of World War I to the experiences of
22044-537: The remaining hostages. In 1919, representatives from the national Red Cross societies of Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the US came together in Paris to found the "League of Red Cross Societies" (IFRC). The original idea came from Henry Davison , who was then president of the American Red Cross . This move, led by the American Red Cross, expanded the international activities of the Red Cross movement beyond
22211-540: The renowned portrait painter of the Unfinished Portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt rendered at his death in 1945. She painted over 3,000 portraits of industrialists, international leaders and members of some of the most celebrated society families in the United States. Elizabeth's husband, Leo Shoumatoff, had become the business manager for Igor Sikorsky 's airplane company. Avinoff designed
22378-449: The revolutionary Bolshevik communist Russian political climate. Many White Russian émigrés participated in the White movement or supported it. The term is often broadly applied to anyone who may have left the country due to the change in regimes. Some Russian émigrés, like Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries , were opposed to the Bolsheviks but had not directly supported the White Russian movement; some were apolitical. The term
22545-427: The same level as foreign embassies, and simplifies Committee travel in and out of Switzerland. At the end of the Cold War , the ICRC's work became more dangerous. In the 1990s, more delegates died than at any point in its history, especially when working in local and internal armed conflicts. These incidents often demonstrated a lack of respect for the rules of the Geneva Conventions and their protection symbols. Among
22712-411: The second Geneva Convention from a historical point of view (because it was actually formulated in Geneva), but after 1949 it came to be called the third Convention because it came later chronologically than the Hague Convention. Reacting to the experience of World War II, the Fourth Geneva Convention , a new Convention "relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War", was established. Also,
22879-402: The sick, and elderly. The ICRC urgently called on all parties to the conflict not to forget their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of the civilian population and infrastructure, and respect the dignity of refugees and prisoners of war . In response to events in the conflict, the organisation issued rule of engagement for civilian hackers . Prior to
23046-418: The situation at the Geneva headquarters of the ICRC: Hardly had the first blows been struck when cries of anguish from all lands began to be heard in Switzerland. Thousands who were without news of fathers, husbands, and sons in the battlefields, stretched despairing arms into the void. By hundreds, by thousands, by tens of thousands, letters and telegrams poured into the little House of the Red Cross in Geneva,
23213-411: The slain delegates were: On 27 January 2002, Palestinian Red Crescent volunteer paramedic and suicide bomber Wafa Idris was transported to Jerusalem, Israel, by a Red Crescent ambulance, whose driver was part of the plot, and killed herself while committing the Jaffa Street bombing . Idris, wearing a Red Crescent uniform, detonated a 22-pound (10 kilogram) bomb made up of TNT packed into pipes, in
23380-399: The society established an investigatory commission to examine the feasibility of Dunant's suggestions and eventually to organize an international conference about their possible implementation. The members of this committee, which has subsequently been referred to as the "Committee of the Five", aside from Dunant and Moynier were physician Louis Appia , who had significant experience working as
23547-421: The spiritual and cultural center of the Russian Orthodox community abroad. On 17 May 2007, the Act of Canonical Communion with the Moscow Patriarchate reestablished canonical ties between the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Russian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate , after more than 80 years of separation. White émigrés, called "White Russians" in East Asia, flooded into China after World War I and into
23714-469: The strict mission of the ICRC to include relief assistance in response to emergency situations which were not caused by war (such as man-made or natural disasters). The ARC already had great disaster relief mission experience extending back to its foundation. The formation of the League, as an additional international Red Cross organization alongside the ICRC, was not without controversy for a number of reasons. The ICRC had, to some extent, valid concerns about
23881-426: The subject of significant controversy and criticism. As early as May 1944, the ICRC was criticized for its indifference to Jewish suffering and death—criticism that intensified after the end of the war, when the full extent of the Holocaust became undeniable. One defense to these allegations is that the Red Cross was trying to preserve its reputation as a neutral and impartial organization by not interfering with what
24048-468: The team of the ICRC started a multi-day operation to facilitate the release and transfer of hostages held in Gaza and of Palestinian prisoners to the West Bank. In early December, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that the Red Cross delegation must have access to the remaining hostages. The ICRC is not a negotiating power but the ICRC chief had direct talks with senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar in November, demanding direct access to
24215-416: The theme that all peoples in the nations involved in the First World war were victims. In Germany, November 11 was not a holiday as no one wanted to honor the day that the Reich lost the war, and Totensonntag played the same role in Germany that November 11 played in the Allied nations, as the time to honor the war dead. The anti-war and internationalist message at the Totensonntag ceremonies organized by
24382-429: The war dead reflected not only sadness over the war dead, but also a way to bring together the often badly divided émigré communities shattered across Europe, Asia and North America. Monuments for the war dead were often a way to symbolically recreate Russia abroad with example at the monument for those Russians killed while serving in the Russian Expeditionary Force (REF) in France at village of Mourmelon-le-Grand having
24549-483: The war had been condemned by Lenin as an "imperialist war". Besides for the war dead, other monuments were put up. In Brussels, Seattle, and Harbin, monuments were built to honor the executed Emperor Nicholas II while a monument was put up in Shanghai to honor Alexander Pushkin, Russia's national poet. In fact, a monument to Pushkin would have been built in Paris had not a dispute arisen with the Ministry of Fine Arts over its precise location. The popularity of monuments for
24716-495: The war memorials was done in the style of medieval Orthodox churches in Novgorod and Pskov as this architectural style was seen as politically neutral and hence able to bring the communities together better. Both left-wing and right-wing émigrés who otherwise passionately disagreed came together to honor the war dead of World War I, which was virtually the only occasions when overseas Russian communities could all come together, explaining why such memorial services were so important to
24883-416: The war. Between 1934 and 1936, an ossuary containing the bones of Russian soldiers killed all over the world was built in the Novo Groblje cemetery in Belgrade, which used to illustrate the theme of Serbian-Russian friendship, and which King Alexander contributed 5,000 dinars to meet the construction costs. When the memorial was opened in 1936, the Patriarch Varnava of the Serbian Orthodox Church declared in
25050-415: The women were used to further spread the use of opium among the Chinese population by earning one free opium pipe for every six they were selling to Chinese customers. Japanese scientists conducted human experiments on White Russian men, women and children by gassing, injecting and vivisecting them in Unit 731 and Unit 100. There were multiple Russian victims of Unit 731 and testimonies and records show that
25217-420: The world, including the United States and Japan, came to support the medical services of the armed forces of the European countries involved in the war. On 15 August 1914, immediately after the start of the war, the ICRC set up its International Prisoners-of-War Agency (IPWA) to trace POWs and to re-establish communications with their respective families. The Austrian writer and pacifist Stefan Zweig described
25384-510: The year, the Agency already had some 1,200 volunteers who worked in the Musée Rath of Geneva, amongst them the French writer and pacifist Romain Rolland . When he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for 1915, he donated half of the prize money to the Agency. Most of the staff were women, some of whom – like Marguerite van Berchem , Marguerite Cramer and Suzanne Ferrière – served in high positions as pioneers of gender equality in an organisation dominated by men. By
25551-410: The émigré communities. The neo-classical style which typically adorned war memorials in Imperial Russia was consciously avoided as building a war memorial in that style was viewed as expressing support for restoring the monarchy. The sense of loss was not only for those the war monuments honored, but due to the sense of loss caused by defeat with a columnist in an émigré newspaper in Paris writing about
25718-414: Was a prominent member of the Entomological Society of America , of which he became a fellow in 1939. Avinoff's early research on the effects of geographical location on butterfly speciation was considered seminal in the field at the time. His groundbreaking work on the biogeography of speciation showed how members of the genus Karanasa evolved into new, separate species in isolated mountain valleys in
25885-455: Was almost exclusively continued by NTS: other organizations either dissolved, or began concentrating exclusively on self-preservation and/or educating the youth. Various youth organizations, such as the Scouts-in-Exile became functional in raising children with a background in pre-Soviet Russian culture and heritage. The white émigrés formed the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in 1924. The church continues its existence to this day, acting as both
26052-518: Was awarded in 1901, the Norwegian Nobel Committee opted to give it jointly to Jean-Henri Dunant and Frédéric Passy , a leading international pacifist . More significant than the honor of the prize itself, this prize marked the overdue rehabilitation of Jean-Henri Dunant and represented a tribute to his key role in the formation of the Red Cross. Dunant died nine years later in the small Swiss health resort of Heiden . Only two months earlier his long-standing adversary Gustave Moynier had also died, leaving
26219-534: Was dropped. In 1944, the ICRC received its second Nobel Peace Prize. As in World War I, it received the only Peace Prize awarded during the main period of war, 1939 to 1945. At the end of the war, the ICRC worked with national Red Cross societies to organize relief assistance to those countries most severely affected. In 1948, the Committee published a report reviewing its war-era activities from 1 September 1939 to 30 June 1947. The ICRC opened its archives from World War II in 1996. On 12 August 1949, further revisions to
26386-583: Was expressed in paintings reminiscent of Persian miniatures. And ever present, flitting through his paintings, were his butterflies, perhaps representing his own irrepressible spirit and fascination with both the beauty of nature and the ephemeral nature of human existence. Also known for his visual exploration of metaphysical realms, Avinoff created fantastical works with mystical qualities and symbolism . Angels, terrifying demons and ominous apocalyptic imagery were frequently depicted in his work. His series of illustrations for Lermontov's poem, "The Demon," tell of
26553-422: Was his nephew Nicholas Shoumatoff (the son of his sister, Elizabeth), for whom Avinoff served as a father figure after the death of Leo Shoumatoff in 1928. The two caught more than fourteen thousand "bots," as butterflies and moths are known in Jamaican patois, doubling the number of known species on the island to more than a thousand. Avinoff's collection may be seen at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Avinoff
26720-452: Was occupied by France . He arrived in the small town of Solferino on the evening of 24 June after the Battle of Solferino , an engagement in the Austro-Sardinian War . In a single day, about 40,000 soldiers on both sides died or were left wounded on the field. Dunant was shocked by the terrible aftermath of the battle, the suffering of the wounded soldiers, and the near-total lack of medical attendance and basic care. He completely abandoned
26887-439: Was one of the few Russian aristocrats to survive the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalin's Great Purge , and the German invasion during World War II; she recounted her ordeal in Marie Avinov: Pilgrimage through Hell (1968). Left only with what they had been able to carry with them, Avinoff's family initially purchased a farm in Pine Bush, New York . Avinoff's brief, none-too-successful farming career came to an end in late 1918 when he
27054-471: Was prodigious. Pastels, florals, landscapes, etchings , folios , scientific drawings, and illustrations all seemed to appear effortlessly. Although he worked in numerous media, he was a master of watercolor. His art works are remarkable for their precision, exquisite execution, and unparalleled elegance, qualities abundantly demonstrated in the 450 botanical illustrations he painted from live specimens for O. E. Jennings's Wild Flowers of Western Pennsylvania and
27221-595: Was sent to Berlin as a delegate of the International Red Cross; he visited Theresienstadt Ghetto in 1944. The choice of the inexperienced Rossel for this mission has been interpreted as indicative of his organization's indifference to the "Jewish problem", while his report has been described as "emblematic of the failure of the ICRC" to advocate for Jews during the Holocaust. Rossel's report was noted for its uncritical acceptance of Nazi propaganda . He erroneously stated that Jews were not deported from Theresienstadt. Claude Lanzmann recorded his experiences in 1979, producing
27388-420: Was seriously affected by numerous aerial attacks on medical facilities and ambulances. The ICRC said in November that civilians have "overwhelmingly borne the brunt" civilians the fighting in the Palestinian enclave and Israel so far. Israeli forces have killed over 25,000 people, including civilians, Israeli nationals, and Hamas members in a devastating bombing campaign and ground offensive. In late November,
27555-413: Was summoned by Prince Georgy Lvov to translate for him, first in Washington, DC, at Lvov's meeting with President Woodrow Wilson , and then at Versailles, where Avinoff helped negotiate the Treaty of Versailles for the Russian Provisional Government at the Paris Peace Conference . In February 1919, Avinoff returned to Pine Bush, where his family had become frequent visitors at nearby Yama Farms Inn,
27722-410: Was that the Nazi -controlled German Red Cross refused to cooperate with the Geneva statutes, including blatant violations such as the deportation of Jews from Germany, and the mass murders conducted in the Nazi concentration camps . Two other main parties to the conflict, the Soviet Union and Japan, were not party to the 1929 Geneva Conventions and were not legally required to follow the rules of
27889-467: Was viewed as a German internal matter. The Red Cross also considered its primary focus to be prisoners of war whose countries had signed the Geneva Convention . The Geneva Conventions in their 1929 revision formed the legal basis of the work of the ICRC during World War II. The activities of the committee were similar to those during World War I: visiting and monitoring POW camps , organizing relief assistance for civilian populations , and administering
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