No abstract

Laure Humbert explores how humanitarian aid in occupied Germany was influenced by French politics of national recovery and Cold War rivalries. She examines the everyday encounters between French officials, members of new international organizations, relief workers, defeated Germans and Displaced Persons, who remained in the territory of the French zone prior to their repatriation or emigration. By rendering relief workers and Displaced Persons visible, she sheds lights on their role in shaping relief practices and addresses the neglected issue of the gendering of rehabilitation. In doing so, Humbert highlights different cultures of rehabilitation, in part rooted in pre-war ideas about 'overcoming' poverty and war-induced injuries and, crucially, she unearths the active and bottom-up nature of the restoration of France's prestige. Not only were relief workers concerned about the image of France circulating in DP camps, but they also drew DP artists into the orbit of French cultural diplomacy in Germany.

Discovered on the occasion of work prior to the construction of the A77 motorway, the cremation cemetery of "Les Canas " was the subject of a pluridisci- plinary study undertaken directly in the field in good conditions. The general organization of the 13 burials forming it, in three distinct bands of the same length, orientation and spacing, creates an ordered and original entity, previously unknown (architecture in perishable materials ?). A certain homogeneity is however observed in the funerary practices in spite of characteristics proper to each group ; certain graves attain an exceptional depth which presumes the presence of a container made of perishable materials in the bottom of the burial pit. This cemetery, which presents a well-ordered layout, is dated by the lithic material (blades), in every respect comparable with the Seine-Oise-Marne civilization, and also by two C'4 samples. Cremation is not common in the Seine-Oise- Marne civilization, but it is not an isolated example in the Paris Basin; only the organization of these cemeteries and of the collective burials differs.

The studies presented in the special issue of the Journal of Contemporary History of July 2008 are certainly welcome. As recently as 2001, Gitta Sereny noted how little the work of UNRRA had been studied, despite the fact that it was the pioneer for many succeeding charitable organizations; Jessica Reinisch's collection of papers shows how this historical silence might be remedied. 1 The papers also demonstrate the many convincing reasons to study reconstruction work in postwar Europe: this was, arguably, the context in which the political enmities of the Cold War were forged, in which one internationally important nation -Germany -was rebuilt and in which a vital aspect of another nation -Israel -was formed. 2 As Reinisch notes, the episode also formed a 'testing ground' for the first postwar initiatives concerning international co-operation. 3 In addition, the eight papers show the multidimensional nature of a history of 'relief', requiring reference to the directives of great leaders, international relations, evolving social and economic policies, the dynamics of military strategy, the ideals of welfare and charity organizations and the social conditions of societies in extreme circumstances. In particular, Frank Snowden's study of Latina province could be cited as a miniature masterpiece, with its deft, keen sensitivity to the differences between German nazism and Italian fascism, its ecological and medical awareness and its contextualization within the greater narratives of Italian history. 4The authors would like to thank Fiona Reid and Patricia Clark for their useful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. 1

This article explores Free French responses to Allied planning for post-war international relief in Europe. A number of French experts in exile, often veterans of the League of Nations, advocated international co-operation with the nascent United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). For such figures, participating in the UNRRA could bring critical knowledge, political legitimacy, experience, and funds. They also hoped that this participation could bolster French prestige in the wake of the recent experience of defeat and foreign occupation. Their efforts had little impact on the early development of international relief, yet the contacts and exchanges between French and Allied planners resulted in a political imperative that gave a new impetus to the post-war restructuring of French relief abroad. Studying the complex inter-relationship between French foreign policy and humanitarian efforts during the Second World War can offer historians a framework through which to reconsider French attempts to reassert their power globally. Crucially, this article argues that the UNRRA was used by a number of French expert planners as a platform from which to pursue broader political aims, notably the reassertion of republican legitimacy and the re-establishment of national sovereignty.