Bargaining for humanitarian aid across the Iron Curtain: Western relief workers in Romania in the late 1970s

Gatejel, Luminita (2022) Bargaining for humanitarian aid across the Iron Curtain: Western relief workers in Romania in the late 1970s. COLD WAR HISTORY, 22 (1). pp. 41-57. ISSN 1468-2745, 1743-7962

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Abstract

In the 1970s, two floods and an earthquake turned state socialist Romania into a recipient of significant international humanitarian aid. Western relief organisations came to Bucharest to negotiate the terms of their assistance. Drawing on material from German, Swiss and Romanian archives, this article argues that giving and receiving across the Iron Curtain were deeply embedded in the systemic competition of the Cold War. It shows that Western relief workers were able to convince Romanian authorities to make humanitarianism a valid form of East-West cooperation. However, such exchanges remained limited to a few flagship projects, separated from Romania's own recovery measures.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: COLD-WAR; RECONSTRUCTION; SKOPJE; East-West relations; Romania; West Germany; Switzerland; humanitarian aid
Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 320 Political science
900 History & geography > 900 Geography & history
Divisions: Philosophy, Art History, History, and Humanities > Institut für Geschichte > Geschichte Ost- und Südosteuropas - Prof. Dr. Ulf Brunnbauer
Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IESES)
Depositing User: Dr. Gernot Deinzer
Date Deposited: 18 Aug 2022 04:36
Last Modified: 18 Aug 2022 04:36
URI: https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/46666

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