The Russian Red Cross

One of the remarkable things we learn about life in Old Russia was the fact that despite all the persecutions, there was still a sense of fair play and respect for human dignity. A case in point is the treatment of the refugees ("bezhentzes") fleeing the front. As caravans of homeless, most of the Jews, began to converge on the village of Rakov, the Russian Red Cross was there to make sure that they were provided with the necessities of life. Things didn’t always go smoothly, but here we see how the Christian Red Cross and the local Jewish commitee were able to amicably resolve the problem of providing kosher meat to the Jewish homeless. From Chapter Thirty-Seven: