International Committee of the Red Cross (1939 -- 1945) | Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland and a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. The establishment of this Committee was induced by the lack of humanitarian assistance and relief in the Battle of Solferino (Italy) on June 24, 1859.

Jean-Henri Dunant, Swiss businessman and political activist, observed the site of the battle after it was over. He was greatly moved by what he saw. Horrified by the suffering of wounded soldiers left on the battlefield, Dunant set a process that culminated with the Geneva Conventions and the establishment of the International Red Cross in 1863.

The legal basis of the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross during the Second World War were the Geneva Conventions in their 1929 revision. The activities of the Committee include visiting and monitoring POW camps, organizing relief assistance for civilian populations, and administering the exchange of messages regarding prisoners and missing persons