UNRRA selected records AG-018-005 : Bureau of Administration
Extent and Medium
128,644 digital images, JPEG
24 microfilm reels (digitized), 16 mm
Creator(s)
- United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)
Biographical History
The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was an international relief agency representing 44 nations, but largely dominated by the United States. Founded in 1943, it became part of the United Nations (UN) in 1945, and it largely shut down operations in 1947. Its purpose was to "plan, co-ordinate, administer or arrange for the administration of measures for the relief of victims of war in any area under the control of any of the United Nations through the provision of food, fuel, clothing, shelter and other basic necessities, medical and other essential services." Its staff of civil servants included 12,000 people, with headquarters in New York. Funding came from many nations, and totaled $3.7 billion, of which the United States contributed $2.7 billion; Britain $625 million and Canada $139 million. The Administration of UNRRA at the peak of operations in mid-1946 included five types of offices and missions with a staff totaling nearly 25,000: The Headquarters Office in Washington, The European Regional Office (London), the 29 servicing offices and missions (2 area offices in Cairo and Sydney; 10 liaison offices and missions in Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Trieste; 12 procurement offices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and later Peru, Cuba, India, Mexico, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela; 6 offices for procurement of surplus military supplies in Caserta and later Rome, Honolulu, Manila, New Delhi, Paris, Shanghai), the sixteen missions to receiving countries (Albania, Austria, Byelorussia, China, Czechoslovakia, the Dodecanese Islands, Ethiopia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Korea, the Philippines, Poland, Ukraine, Yugoslavia), and the Displaced Persons Operations in Germany. UNRRA cooperated closely with dozens of volunteer charitable organizations, who sent hundreds of their own agencies to work alongside UNRRA. In operation only three years, the agency distributed about $4 billion worth of goods, food, medicine, tools, and farm implements at a time of severe global shortages and worldwide transportation difficulties. The recipient nations had been especially hard hit by starvation, dislocation, and political chaos. It played a major role in helping Displaced Persons return to their home countries in Europe in 1945-46. Its UN functions were transferred to several UN agencies, including the International Refugee Organization and the World Health Organization. As an American relief agency, it was largely replaced by the Marshall Plan, which began operations in 1948. [Source: UN Original finding aid of records of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)]
Archival History
United Nations Archives and Records Management Section
Acquisition
Source of acquisition is the United Nations Archives and Records Management Section (UN-ARMS), UNRRA records AG-018-005. The collection was initially filmed onto microfilms and copied through a cooperative agreement between the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Mémorial de la Shoah, France and the UN-ARMS. The USHMM Archives received the filmed collection via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum International Archival Programs Division in 2015, and accretion of digital irecords in March 2017.
Scope and Content
Records on UNRRA's organizational and procedural history, the Headquarters central files (Registry files) dealing with every aspect of UNRRA's work.
System of Arrangement
Selected records arranged in four series [records on microfilms]: 1. Executive Office (S-0518 and S-1276), Reel 1-3 and continue on reel 4; 2. Personnel and Management Division (S-1277 and S-1278), Reel 4-16; 3. Personnel Division (S-1279 to S-1287), Reel 17-22 (Reel 21-22 are missing [Statistics Branch]); 4. Administrative Service Division (S-1288 to S-1305), Reel 22-26.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright Holder: United Nations Archives and Records Management Section
Corporate Bodies
- UNICEF
- International Monetary Fund
- International Refugee Organization
- United Nations
- Unesco
- World Health Organization
- United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
Subjects
- Ethiopia--History--World War, 1939-1945.
- Europe--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century.
- Luxembourg--History--20th century.
- Canada--History--20th century.
- Iraq--History--20th century.
- Austria--History--20th century.
- Bulgaria--History--20th century.
- New Zealand--History--20th century.
- Hungary--History--20th century.
- Humanitarian assistance--Statistics.
- Netherlands--History--20th century.
- Holocaust Jewish (1939-1945)--Europe.
- Mexico--History--20th century.
- Honduras--History--20th century.
- China--History--20th century.
- Belgium--History--20th century.
- Czech Republic--History--20th century.
- Iceland--History--20th century.
- India--History--20th century.
- Bolivia--History--20th century.
- Korea--History--20th century.
- Colombia--History--20th century.
- Cuba--History--20th century.
- Europe.
- World War, 1939-1945--Civilian relief.
- Hawaii--History--20th century.
- Denmark--Emigration and immigration.
- Italy--History--20th century.
- Egypt--History--20th century.
- Australia--History--20th century.
- Albania--History--20th century.
- Java--History--20th century.
- World War, 1939-1945--Refugees.
- France--History--20th century.
- Greece--History--20th century.
- Refugees--Legal status, laws, etc.
- Finland--History--20th century.
- El Salvador--History--20th century.
- Missions, Medical--Europe--History.
- Argentina--History--20th century.
- Ireland--History--20th century.
- Eritrea--History--20th century.
- World War, 1939-1945--Destruction and pillage.
- International relief.
- War relief--Europe--History--20th century.
- Brazil--History--20th century.
- War relief--United States--History--20th century.
- Germany--History--20th century.
- Chile--History--20th century.
- Newfoundland and Labrador--History--20th century.
- Reconstruction (1939-1951)--Europe.
Genre
- Correspondence.
- Manuals.
- Indexes.
- Bulletins.
- Minutes.
- Document
- Memorandums.
- Reports.
- Statistics.
- Charts.
Copies
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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum holds copies of Holocaust-relevant archives from United Nations Archives and Records Management Section