Sobre las "tareas de guerra" y el "trabajo de paz". La Cruz Roja de las Indias Orientales Holandesas entre las guerras coloniales y la Segunda Guerra Mundial

• Autores: Leo van Bergen
• Localización: Asclepio: Revista de historia de la medicina y de la ciencia, ISSN 0210-4466, Vol. 66, Fasc. 1, 2014 (Ejemplar dedicado a: War, empire, science, progress, humanitarianism. Debate and practice within the international Red Cross movement from 1863 to the interwar period)
• Idioma: español
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• Resumen

  • After the wars against Atjeh (1873-1907) finished, Dutch rule over the Dutch East India was total. The Dutch East Indies Red Cross (DEIRC) awaited a new task, preparing to give aid in the case of a foreign invasion. The problem was that the end of the wars against the autochthonous �rebellions� also meant the end of Red Cross visibility and in the minds of many, the end to Red Cross urgency. Aid in wars against a real opponent is from a point of public relations much more important than the preparation of aid against an unknown opponent. �Work in times of peace� had to be the answer to this problem, but this work was only in name, and not de facto different from preparation of aid in times of war. Through �peace work� the DEIRC prepared itself for the war-task. To be able to fulfil the war-task the Red Cross had to have enough doctors, nurses, and stretcher-bearers. Visible peace-work had to provide for that. It enlarged the Red Cross� popularity and trained its volunteers. However, at the beginning of 1942, when the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies, it turned out to be too little, too late.