American (Lutheran)aid
This page focuses on different American Lutheran organizations working to fund and aid refugee programs. It both discusses the work of American Lutheran national organizations (National Lutheran Council (NLC), Lutheran World Action (LWA), and Lutheran World Relief (LWR)) as well as the valuable work of local congregations (St. John’s Lutheran Council).
National Lutheran Council (NLC)
Seeing the need for a common agency to act in a combined effort, the Lutherans gathered together and formed the National Lutheran Council (initially named as “Lutheran Federal Council”) on Sept. 6, 1918. The NLC was created with the purpose of unifying the statistical information, publicity, coordination of agencies and activities, and the creation of new agencies to deal with problems aroused by war and other emergency situations in the Lutheran Church.1 Eventually the Department of Welfare of NLC was created as NLC gained reputation from its previous work and to take up the war-time responsibilities, such as funding aid or resettlement work.2
Lutheran World Action (LWA)
During WWII in 1939, the Lutheran World Convention (LWC) worked in fundraising to maintain the orphaned missions from the German and Finnish Lutherans, and in rehabilitating church properties. As the programs expanded, NLC took over the administrative costs.
Since the NLC’s usual fund was not enough for such an emergency, they started an appeal, called Lutheran World Action(LWA). The LWA funding allowed the LWC to “care for foreign missions and to maintain other emergency services such as the Lutheran Refugee Service, aid to war prisoners, and China Relief.”3 The LWA program fundraised through a variety of film/radio projects and church bulletins such as the one to the right.4
Lutheran World Relief (LWR)
Lutheran World Relief (LWR) was an important companion to Lutheran World Action (LWA). Beginning in 1945, LWR was first organized to reach Germany and Finland with emergency material relief, because these lands were excluded from UNRRA help. In the end, it made its way through 42 countries.5 Though LWR was the material aid for NLC, and its council staff have been the main administrators of its program of overseas physical relief (Ralph Long, Clarence Krumbholz and Bernard A. Confer), it was not part of the NLC and only incorporated with LWA separately. Reverend Franklin C. Fry was the president of LWR through its first two decades.6
Shipments valued $22,000,000 by 1952 and $172,000,000 by 1965 in the form of more than a billion pounds of relief goods were sent by LWR.
- Clothing were secured through annual collections in Lutheran congregations and shipped to LWR warehouses on the East and West coasts, where it was then processed and shipped
- Food in some years was gathered and purchased directly from farmers, but in later years, it mainly came from the U.S. government surplus. The government provided more than half of the commodities.
The LWR staff worked in distribution, but frequently, the works were done by the staff of other organizations (e.g. Lutheran World Federation and World Council of Churches).
LWR was a type of interchurch aid rather than simply material relief. Its help was given based on the need without regard to religious affiliation despite the fact that it distributed the goods through church organization channels.
Lutheran World Relief “joined Lutheran World Action in registering a remarkable achievement in cooperative action among American’s Lutherans.”7
For more information on the actual relief programs and arrangements, please visit the Refugee Services section.
Northfield, Minnesota Resettlement Aid
St. John’s Lutheran Church & Northfield Local Committee for Resettlement of Displaced Persons
In Jan. 1946, St. John’s congregation appointed a committee to work on the war relief in cooperation with the LWA and LWR.
This “Committee for the Resettlement of Displaced Persons” here consisted of: Dr. Frank Verbrugge , George Campbell, Mrs. C. B. Helgen, Mrs. Olaf Christiansen, Albert Quie, and Mrs. P. E. Fossum. At the same time, pastor Boral Biorn also contributed substantially to resettlement work in the local area.8
The Role of Local Congregations
The local congregations helped in two parts:
1. The provision of sponsorships to fulfill the assurance requirement for displaced persons. Local Lutheran congregations, such as St. John’s, called upon the local community and secured jobs with housings.
2. They also aided in the settling-in process, especially when it came to understanding language and culture.
The Minnesota Commission on Resettlement of Displaced Persons
The Midwest was very active in the resettlement of displaced persons, resulting in state governments establishing their own commissions regarding resettlement.
The Minnesota Commission was in contact with the higher government institutions, such as the Congress, to clarify the capacity of Minnesota in receiving DPs.9
These commissions had to go through thorough investigations with those providing assurances, concerning the housing conditions they were providing and the kind of jobs. Furthermore, the public institutions, such as schools, health service providers and various Minnesota agencies cooperated and played an active part in the immigrants’ resettlement.10
On the other hand, the MN state Commission, with people such as T.F. Gullixson, was also responsible for collecting public oppinions in “aiding to resettlement in America and in Minnesota some of those now in Displaced Persons Camps in Europe” by sending out questionnaires. The results of the questionnaires were being sent and reviewed by the State Governor who was Governor Youngdahl at the time around 1948.11
Endnotes
- Osborn Hauge, Lutherans Working Together: A History of the National Lutheran Council, 1918-1943 (New York: National Lutheran council, 1945), 34-35.
- Ibid, 72.
- Ibid, 80.
- Ibid, 80.
- Reuben C Baetz, Service to Refugees, 1947-1952 (Geneva: Lutheran World Federation, 1952).
- Kenneth Senft, “The Lutheran World Federation and the Displaced Person” (PhD diss., Lutheran Theological Seminary, 1952), found in Kierkegaard Library Rare Books Room
- Frederick K. Wentz, Lutherans in Concert: The Story of the National Lutheran Council, 1918-1966 (Minneapolis: Augsburg Pub. House, 1968), 131.
- Edna H. Hong, The Book of a Century: The Centennial History of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Northfield, Minnesota, Kierkegaard Library: Related Thinkers (Northfield, Minn: St. John’s Lutheran Church, 1969).
- Agenda, the Minnesota Commission on Resettlement of Displaced Persons, December 30, 1947, 2 PM, DP Commission – Minnesota, 1943 – 53, Box 5, Archives of the American Lutheran Church, Luther Theological Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota.
- A letter from T. F. Gullixson to Jarle Lairfallom on July 28, 1948, DP Commission – Minnesota, 1943 – 53, Box 5, Archives of the American Lutheran Church, Luther Theological Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota.
- A letter from T. F. Gullixson to Luther W. Youngdahl, the Governor of Minnesota, on Feb. 24th, 1948, DP Commission – Minnesota, 1943 – 53, Box 5, Archives of the American Lutheran Church, Luther Theological Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota.
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Photo Credits
From top to bottom, left to right:*
1. (Heading) LWA Bulletin in October, 1948, used with permission of the Lutheran World Federation Archive and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
2. The NLC letter head from NLC letters, used with permission of the Lutheran World Federation Geneva Archive and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
3. The sign of Lutheran World Action, screenshot from the LWA Bulletin, used with permission of the Lutheran World Federation Archive and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
4. “From a Resettlement Worker’s Diary,” found in Luther Seminary Library, used with permission of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Region 3 Archives Luther Seminary.
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