APRIL 1962 INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF THE RED CROSS anna caritas PROPERTY OF u.s. ARMY THE JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL'S SCHOOl I..I8RARY INTERNATIONAL COM MITTEE OF THE RED CROSS GENEVA INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS LEOPOLDBOISSIER, Doctor of Laws, Honorary Professor at the University ofGeneva, for­ mer Secretary-General to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, President (member since 1946) JACQUES CHENEVIERE, Hon. Doctor of Literature, Honorary Vice-President (1919) CARL J. BURCKHARDT, Doctor of Philosophy, former Swiss Minister to France (1933) MARTIN BODMER, Hon. Doctor of Philosophy (1940) ERNEST GLOOR, Doctor, Vice-President (1945) PAUL RUEGGER, former Swiss Minister to Italy and the United Kingdom, Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (1948), on leave RODOLFO OLGIATI, Hon. Doctor of Medicine, former Director of the Don Suisse (1949) MARGUERITE VAN BERCHEM, former Head of Section, Central Prisoners of War Agency (1951) FREDERIC SIORDET, Lawyer, Counsellor of the International Committee of the Red Cross from 1943 to 1951, Vice-Presitknt (1951) GUILLAUME BORDIER, Certmcated Engineer E.P.F., M.B.A. Harvard, Banker (1955) ADOLPHE FRANCESCHETTI. Doctor of Medicine, Professor of clinical ophthalmology at Geneva University (1958) HANS BACHMANN, Doctor of Laws, Assistant Secretary-General to the International Committee of the Red Cross from 1944 to 1946 (1958) JACQUES FREYMOND, Doctor of Literature, Director of the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Professor at the University of Geneva (1959) DIETRICH SCHINDLER, Doctor of Laws (1961) SAMUEL GONARD, former Colonel Co=anding an Army Corps, former Professor at the Federal Polytechnical School (1961) HANS MEULI, Doctor of Medicine, Brigade Colonel, former Director of the Swiss Army Medical Service (1961) MARJORIE DUVILLARD, Director of .. Le Bon Secours .. Nursing School (1961) MAX PETITPIERRE, Doctor of Laws, former President of the Swiss Confederation (1961) Honorary members: Miss LUCIE ODIER, Honorary Vice-President; Messrs. FREDERIC BARBEY and Paul CARRY, Miss SUZANNE FERRIERE, Mrs. R. M. FRICK-CRAMER, Messrs. EDOUARD de HALLER, PAUL LOGOZ, ALFREDO VANNOTTI, ADOLF VISCHER. Direction: ROGER GALLOPIN, Doctor of Laws, Executive Director JEAN S. PICTET, Doctor of Laws, Director for General Affairs EDOUARD DE BONDELI, Financial and Administrative Director CLAUDE PILLOUD, Deputy-Director for General Affairs INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF THE RED CROSS SECOND YEAR - No. f 'J APRIL 1962 * CONTENTS Page J.-G. Lossier: Castiglione and the International Museum of the Red Cross visited . " 183 INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS News Items '" . 194 Geneva Conventions . 203 Visit to Rome by the President of the International Committee 204 Are the Archives of the First World War still useful? . 206 The new African States and the Geneva Conventions . 207 Empress ShOken Fund (Forty-first distribution of income) . 209 NEWS OF NATIONAL SOCIETIES Spain 212 United States . 214 MISCELLANEOUS Rehabilitation in Leprosy 219 The changing scene in nursing 221 BOOKS FRENCH EDITION OF THE REVIEW The French edition of this Review is issued every month under the title of Revue internationale de la Croix-Rouge. It is, in principle, identical with the English edition and may be obtained under the same conditions. * SUPPLEMENTS TO THE REVIEW * SPANISH ].-G. Lossier: Una visita a Castiglione ya su Museo internacional de la Cruz Raja. - Visita a Roma del Presidente del Comite Internacional -I. Estan siempre los archivos de la Primera Guerra Mundial utiles ? - Los nuevos Estados africanos y los Convenios de Ginebra. GERMAN ].-G. Lossier: Besuch in Castiglione und seinem Internationalen Rot­ kreuzmuseum. - Rombesuch des Prasidenten des Internationalen Komittees. - Sind die Archive des Ersten Weltkrieges immer noch vom Nutzen? - Die neuen Afrikanischen Staaten und die Genfer Abkommen. THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF THE RED CROSS is published each month by the International Committee 01 the Red Cross 7, Avenue de la Paix, Geneva, Switzerland Postal Cheque No.1. 1767 Annual subscription: Sw. fro 20.- Single copies Sw. fro 2.­ Editor: JEAN-G. LOSSIER Castiglione and the International Museum 'of the Red Cross visited In his book A Memory 0/ Sol/erino, Henry Dunant vividly com­ municates his emotion to the reader when he describes the relentless development of the battle between the French and Sardinian annies and the Austrian forces. But he shows in the second part of the book the wide-spread feeling, in the face of so much misery~.which stirred the people from Mantua to Milan and Turin during those June and July days of 1859. In vivid and fluent style he describes the charitable impulse which moved the inhabitants of Bergamo. Cremona, Lonato, Desen­ zano, Pozzolengo, Cavriana and many other places. He writes that "the population of Brescia, which is a town of 40,000 inhabitants, was all at once practically doubled by the arrival of over 30,000 sick and wounded, of which nearly 20,000 were men of the Franco­ Sardinian Army" and, at Milan, " the wounded arrived at the rate of one thousand every night for several nights running". He also says that" all the towns in Lombardy made it a point of honour to claim their share of wounded men" and he adds, " every church, convent, public square, court, street or pathway in these villages was turned into a temporary hospital." But it was the experience of Castiglione delle Stiviere which had a decisive effect on him. The overcrowding was indescribable. This town which at the time had five thousand three hundred inhabitants "was completely transformed ", writes Dunant, "into a vast improvised hospital for French and Austrians". He notes that, 183 CASTIGLIONE AND THE RED CROSS MUSEUM VISITED here as in Brescia, yesterday's enemies were now cared for in the same hospitals. They found themselves H stretched out on straw in the streets, courtyards and squares and, here and there wooden shelters had been thrown up or pieces of cloth stretched, so that the wounded pouring in from all directions might have a little shelter from the sun. Men of all nations lay side by side on the flagstone floors of the churches of Castiglione-Frenchmen and Arabs, German and Slavs" and it was this equality in suffering which most struck Dunant. Everybody was equal. ... Faced with so much grief, what could be produced to care for so many victims? Goodwill and still more goodwill! Men, women and children did everything possible but they were snowed under and, in their charity, went beyond their human strength. For, as Dunant says" the number of convoys of wounded increased to such proportions that the local authorities, the townspeople and the troops left in Castiglione were absolutely incapable of dealing with all the suffering". The voluntary helpers" withdrew one by one, for they could no longer bear to look upon suffering which they could do so little to relieve." Too many people, discouraged at not being able to do more, faced with so many victims, are inclined to say: "what is the use? ", turn away and leave, because they have not understood clearly enough the appeal which, from that time onwards, the Red Cross has proclaimed far and wide-that every being has his value and, even if one person only is saved, it is worth the trouble of devoting oneself entirely to one's task for days and nights without respite. But one must have doctors, nurses, medicines and lint at one's disposal.l Dunant noticed this when order was slowly restored in Castiglione. "... Services began to function regularly. The crowding was not to be imputed to bad organization or lack of foresight on 1 In this respect, mention should be made of one of the outstanding men of the Italian (( Risorgimento », Giuseppe Finzi who, in 1859, was special commissioner for the freed territories and who, in this capacity, devoted himself in the most energetic and effective manner to assisting the wounded of Solferino and to organizing the hospitals which were receiving them. See Giuseppe Finzi, Istituto per la Storia del Risorgimento Italiano, Mantova 1959. 184 CASTIGLIONE AND THE RED CROSS MUSEUM VISITED the part of the administrative service, but was the consequence of the unheard-of and unexpected number of the wounded and the relatively very small effectives of doctors, helpers and orderlies ". From this observation sprang his famous proposal which is the fountain spring of the Red Cross: "Would it not be possible to form relief societies for the purpose of having care given to the wounded in war time ? " This extraordinary intuition of his mani­ fested itself in Castiglione, for it was here that he saw the lack of organization and the misfortunes which resulted. But pointing out immediately the overwhelming impulse of charity which moved the inhabitants of this small city he thenceforward believed in the prodigious resources of the human heart thus evident, and proposed that the relief societies should be voluntary. Only when the spirit is deeply moved is it possible to overcome fatigue and disgust at purulent sores" in the midst of vile, nauseat­ ing odours". " For work of this kind ", Dunant adds" paid help is not what is wanted. Only too often hospital orderlies working for hire grow harsh or give up their work in disgust or become tired and lazy". Remembering the women of Castiglione, the innumerable acts of relief which he had witnessed in the towns and countryside of Lombardy and voicing the philanthropic feelings which were to inspire the societies whose foundation he foresaw, Dunant was able to conclude on a note of confidence: "Spontaneous devotion of this kind is more easily to be found than one is inclined to think ". * * * It is evident, from Dunant's descriptions, that the whole town of Castiglione awoke to action during those tragic days of 1859 and Tutti jratelli reverberated like a password of charity. The inhabi­ tants had transported the wounded as best they could to houses, churches and shops.