"What the Authorities of the Land Wish Done"
"What the Authorities of the Land Wish Done"

Relief and Rescue by the American Committee for Service in Czechoslovakia, 1938–1939

Summary/Abstract: Humanitarian efforts during the Second World War have traditionally been divided into two categories: relief and rescue. Rather than discussing relief and rescue separately, this article examines the relationship between these two activities and shows that in practice they were inextricably linked. To reveal the complex balancing act that humanitarians faced between relief and rescue operations, the author focuses on the American Unitarian Association’s (AUA) early efforts at humanitarian relief in Prague. In February 1939, the AUA sent Waitstill and Martha Sharp to Prague as the representatives of the American Committee for Service in Czechoslovakia. Their records reveal that, once on the ground, the Sharps found that relief and rescue activities supported each other in surprising and complicated ways, especially after the Nazi occupation of Bohemia and Moravia. Relief assistance provided especially to Jews and endangered members of the democratically minded intelligentsia endeared voluntary workers to local Czech authorities, granting them greater opportunity to conduct humanitarian efforts, a strategy that the Sharps later used in their work in France in 1940. Humanitarian workers constantly grappled with which activity to prioritize. Although relief frequently greased the wheels of rescue, humanitarians struggled with when and how to offer relief. By focusing on the relationship between relief and rescue, the author sheds light on one of humanitarianism’ senduring challenges: how to navigate internal conflicts about the distribution of aid, while still helping on the ground.

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