Quaker feeding

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The humanitarian aid provided by the US and British Quakers in the period after the First and Second World Wars , especially in Germany, is called Quaker feeding . Officially, the term is "child feed", but in colloquial language Quaker feed has become established. This was probably due to the fact that the most visible organization for German aid recipients was the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).

history

founding

The initiator of the feeding was the future US President and Quaker Herbert Hoover , who also co-founded the AFSC. That is why the collection of money for feeding in America was called "Hoover Drive" .

First World War

Power supplies and support services were by the American Relief Administration , among others in Poland , France , Austria , Belgium and the Soviet Union , with those assistance at times of tension between the Allies in World War Nations ( Triple Entente ) in the period immediately after the ceasefire worried because some of them were initially interested in maintaining the food blockade (especially against the German Reich ).

In Germany, food distribution was organized from 1919 to 1926. Quakers were involved, but also members of other religious communities or people without religious affiliation .

Particularly children selected by school doctors were helped. In addition, people in particular need such as the unemployed, students and the elderly were helped. There is no reliable information about the number of meals served. The number of children who received food in Germany is estimated at up to five million, with the number of simultaneous recipients peaking at around one million children

In his memoirs Hubertus Prinz zu Löwenstein remembered the Quaker breakfasts , which saved his and many other lives in the post-war months, especially since he was sick with tuberculosis - as he said, "also caused by mental health" - and the Quaker help brought him not only better nutrition, but also "a ray of hope, a message of humanity". The Quaker feeding was a great success for the Quaker image. The establishment of the “ German Annual Meeting ” is an indirect consequence of this. In Germany, it has also led to the Quakers being often viewed as an aid organization, but not as a church.

Second World War

From 1946 onwards, the Quaker feed, which was mainly provided in western Germany, was directed mostly as an aid to children by the US AFSC of the British Quaker Peace and Social Witness (QPSW). A pot had to be brought to school for school meals . Then the pots of school children were in the break with a hot meal in the form of a soups stew , oatmeal or cream of wheat filled, plus output of a chocolate bar on special occasions. In the British Zone of Germany, Magda Kelber headed the AFSC and QPSW Quaker relief organization .

Nobel Peace Prize

The two aid organizations AFSC and QPSW were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 for their help .

literature

  • Gustav Tugendreich: Some teachings of the Quaker feeding . In: German Medical Weekly . 47, 1921, pp. 1587-1589.
  • Hertha Kraus : School meals . In: Social Practice and Archives for People's Welfare . 31, 35, 1922, pp. 942-945.
  • Hermann Stöhr : This is how America helped. United States' foreign aid . Szczecin 1936.
  • Willis H. Hall: Quaker international work in Europe since 1914 . Chambery 1938.
  • Lutz Caspers: Quaker feeding after the First World War. In: Society for the Promotion of Comparative State-Church Research e. V. (Ed.): Lectures, analyzes, discussions . Berlin 1996, pp. 78-82.
  • Claus Bernet : Gilbert MacMaster (1869-1967): The organizer of the Quaker feeding. In: Forum Pacifism. Journal of Theory and Practice of Nonviolence. 2, 2006, pp. 38-39.
  • Claus Bernet: Quaker feeding in Klotzsche . In: Klotzscher Heimatblatt . 64, 2013, p. 6.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Based on statistics from the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
  2. ↑ Hubertus Prince zu Löwenstein: Ambassador without an order. Life report , Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, p. 30
  3. ^ JM Ritchie : German speaking Exils in Great Britain . Rodopi. Amsterdam, 2001. Volume 3, p. 169. ISBN 978-90420-1537-1
  4. ↑ From the industrial revolution to the post-war period . Books on Demand, Norderstedt, 2012. pp. 208f. ISBN 978-38448-1685-3