176 ft.

MSS 15

The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies

18 South 7^th Street

Philadelphia, PA  19106

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) was founded in 1917 and was a presence in Europe well before the demands made upon it by World War Two.  AFSC workers began helping individuals to leave Germany through AFSC Centers already in existence in Germany as early as 1931.  AFSC headquarters staff began to help coordinate aid for refugees from Nazism during the mid 1930s, and a Refugee Service Committee was formed in 1938.  In 1939 this was combined with the Committee on Spain, which with the cessation of the Spanish Civil War had shifted its focus from distributing to both sides of the conflict to primarily aiding the Loyalist refugees.

In addition to working closely with groups in France, Germany, and England to coordinate rescue efforts and reunite family members, AFSC staff worked to influence legislation in the United States which would affect immigrants and potential immigrants.  Much of this effort was concentrated on liberalizing immigration quotas.

AFSCsponsored services for immigrants upon their arrival in the United States included a variety of camps and workshops aimed at promoting cultural adjustment through vocational training and courses in English, American civics, and social customs.  The AFSC developed a placement service to help the new immigrants find jobs.

AFSC's most strenuous efforts involved helping to locate lost relatives and friends through the Central Location Index, which was established in 1944 in cooperation with six other refugee agencies.  The Index operated until 1949 and had a success rate of 54 percent.

After the Second World War the AFSC participated in efforts to relocate many European refugees who had been displaced in the war wished to return to their own countries rather than emigrate to the United States.

Much of this work took place in France, which had served as a country of asylum for people from throughout central Europe.  These efforts continued into the mid and late1950s, and were balanced by resettlement projects in Germany and Austria.

Since World War Two, AFSC efforts on behalf of refugees worldwide have intensified.  The AFSC has worked with refugees during and after the Hungarian revolution in 1956, Arab refugees from the partition of Palestine between 1948-1950, North Korean refugees in South Korea, and Cubans fleeing the Cuban revolution.  In 1959 AFSC staff began a program for Algerian refugees in Tunisia and Morocco, and one for Chinese refugees in Hong Kong.  AFSC workers went into Vietnam during the war.

AFSC services for refugees since World War Two have not had to concentrate intensively on reuniting relatives and friends.  When not involved in facilitating the emigration process, AFSC programs have concentrated on setting up cooperative administrative structures such as schools, day care centers, and medical facilities which, once established and working smoothly, are turned over to local authorities for maintenance.  Areas of particular concern have been medical and preventive health care and housing.  AFSC efforts have been carefully apolitical and nonsectarian, with the primary goal of relieving suffering and helping individuals and communities to achieve better living conditions and selfsufficiency rather than dependence on either foreign protection or foreign aid.

A brief history of the refugee services of the AFSC to 1967 is available in the library of the Balch Institute.

RESTRICTION

Because of the potentially sensitive nature of this material, access the collection must be approved in writing by the AFSC archivist.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

The files are arranged numerically by case file number.  A card file index by surname is available; however, not all names in the index are in the files, as the index file includes names of those who applied to but were not helped by AFSC.