Humanitarian mobilization in Central and Eastern Europe

By focusing on aid in Central and Eastern Europe this volume adds to the existent scholarly explorations of modern humanitarianism its actors and practices. In the twentieth century aid workers assisted victims of war and earthquakes delivered food supported health care provided childcare or sheltered refugees. The contributors not only reconstruct these diverse histories and their protagonists but also bring international national and local actors together: from grassroots activists to private associations to state-driven socialist humanitarians to large Western aid organizations. In doing so they challenge the often unidirectional from West-to-East and asymmetrical perspective on donor-recipient relationships in humanitarian processes.