Bearing Gifts to Greeks
Subtitle: Humanitarian Aid to Greece in the 1940s (St. Antony's)
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: February 19, 2008
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 288
ISBN-13: 9780230500358
Subjects: Aid & relief programmes; European history: Second World War; Second World War, 1939-1945; c 1945 to c 1960; History; History - General History; History: World; Europe - Greece; Military - World War II; History / Greece; Civilian relief; Famines; Food relief; Greece; World War, 1939-1945
Description: "The occupation of Greece during the Second World War brought savage Axis reprisals, the destruction of Greek Jewry, astronomical inflation and famine. International efforts brought a partial lifting of the British blockade that had worsened the food supply problem. Bearing Gifts to Greeks throws new light on a hitherto neglected aspect of Greece's wartime experience. Topics covered include the nature of the famine; the complex diplomacy that led to a relaxation of the blockade; the role of the Greek-American community in mobilising pressure; the part played by Turkey, and later the Swedish Red Cross, in supplying food and medical aid; the Greek Red Cross's role in alerting international public opinion to the gravity of the situation; the role of Quakers in Greek relief; the initial steps of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency on liberation in 1944; Yugoslav humanitarian assistance to the Greek left; and the relief activities of the Greek resistance and of the Orthodox Church."--Jacket.