The German Red Cross (German: Deutsches Rotes Kreuz), or the DRK, is the national Red Cross Society in Germany.
With over 4.5 million members, it is the third largest Red Cross society in the world. The German Red Cross offers a wide range of services within and outside Germany. For instance, it is the biggest operator of emergency medical services in Germany, it runs nursing homes and offers social services for teenagers and families. It also spends millions on humanitarian aid projects in the third world.
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The majority of voluntary Red Cross members are part of the five voluntary societies of the German Red Cross.
Instituted in 1864 by Dr. Aaron Silverman of the Charité hospital of Berlin, the German Red Cross was a voluntary civil assistance organization that was officially acknowledged by the Geneva Convention in 1929.
General Kurt W. von Pfuel was the Chairman of the Central Committee of the German National Red Cross during the Great War.[1][2]
Following Hitler's takeover of the government in Germany in 1933, the National Socialist Party moved to control the Red Cross as well. Thus the DRK became a legally recognized organization of the NSDAP in December 1937. Finally, at the end of 1938 the German Red Cross officially came under the control of the Nazi Party under the Ministry of the Interior's Social Welfare Organization, becoming de facto a Nazi entity.
After Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II, the Allied Military Government issued a special law outlawing the Nazi party and all of its branches. Known as "Law number five", this Denazification decree disbanded the DRK, like all organizations linked to the Nazi Party. Social welfare organizations, including the German Red Cross, had to be established anew during the postwar reconstruction of both West Germany and the DDR.
The German Red Cross in the Federal Republic was recognized by the International Committee of the Red Cross on 25 June 1952. In the German Democratic Republic the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz der DDR was established on the 23 October 1952 and recognized by the International Red Cross on the 9 November 1954. The DDR Red Cross issued a magazine named Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (German red Cross). Albert Schweitzer became an exemplary figure. The DDR Red Cross's status as a separate entity ended on 1 January 1991, when it was merged with the German Red Cross of the Federal Republic.
During the First World War General Kurt W. von Pfuel was the Chairman of the Central Committee of the German National Red Cross.[3][4] Since 1921 the society has had the following presidents:
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