Figure 1.--This is ascene from the doritory walkway overlooking Lake Geneva at the American Red Cross Childrens Hospital at Evian. These refugee children were anaemic and sickly, from causes directly due to the war. They have from Paris to for a short outing and recuperation. /i>

Évian-les-Bains is a beautiful holiday resort and spa town located in the French side of Lake Geneva, frquented by the rich and famous. It would become notorious for a shameful failure of the international community to come to the aid save European refugee Jews from the NAZIs (July 1938). The Children's Bureau of the American Red Cross (ARC) opened La Chaux, a convalescent home with a capacity for 200 refugee children. They would have been mostly French children. They were not permasnent residents, but children would come here for vacation-like visits. Children with special needs might be kept for longer periods and received indivuualized care. Few refugee children ever received such personalized care. . The were anemic and sickly, from causes directly due to the war and have been brought from Paris to Evian for a weeks' outing and recuperation. The children came from Lyon and Paris. They were not really ill as a result of a disease, but were under-nourished and delicate as a result of having had to leave their homes and flee from the Germans. Many spent long period on the road without proper housing and food. The children needed a little good food and comfortable surroundings under medical supervision to enable them to thrive. It was like a short stay at a sanotorium. A group of American women doctors and nurses came to France ass part of the ARC effort. The women doctors were an indicator of how America led the world in women's rights, something rarely mentioned in modern American university women's studies programs. Women dioctors were more of rarity in Europe. The doctors worked at Evian since the ARC opened the hospital there.

Created: 12:07 AM 11/9/2022
Last updated: 12:07 AM 11/9/2022