Eight decades of rescue

At the end of World War II, the IRC initiated emergency relief programs, like this food distribution center in Berlin, and began refugee resettlement in Europe. Photo: IRC

In 1956, the IRC began relief and resettlement efforts for thousands of Hungarian refugees who were uprooted when a revolt against Soviet rule was crushed by the Red Army. Photo: IRC

In the 1960s, the IRC’s first resettlement office outside of New York opened in Miami, to assist Cuban refugees fleeing the Castro dictatorship. Photo: IRC

When 200,000 Angolans escaped their country’s colonial government during the war of independence in 1962, the IRC launched its first programs in Africa. Photo: Nick Erjavec/IRC

From 1954 to 1975, the IRC worked aiding Vietnamese refugees displaced by conflict. Following the Vietnam War, the IRC took a lead role in the largest refugee resettlement program in American history. Photo: IRC

Within weeks of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the IRC rushed to aid Afghan refugees who poured into Pakistan. More than three decades later, we continue to provide to a country still riddled by conflict. Photo: IRC

The IRC began work in the former Yugoslavia in 1992 following the ethnic cleansing carried out by the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since 1993, we’ve resettled over 20,000 refugees from the Balkans in the U.S. Photo: Elizabeth Rappaport/IRC

In 1994, as a result of the Rwandan genocide and civil war, the IRC established emergency programs to aid Rwandan refugees. In the years following, the IRC helped to reunite families separated in the chaos. Photo: IRC

After a tsunami hit Indonesia on December 26, 2004, our mobile relief teams arrived to provide emergency aid to those affected--including providing child friendly spaces for children displaced by the disaster. Photo: Peter Biro/IRC

As the conflict in Darfur displaced thousands, the IRC was one of the only organizations assisting refugees pouring into Chad at the beginning of the conflict. More than a decade years later, millions remain displaced. Photo: Peter Biro/IRC

Since the outbreak began in 2014, IRC has been on the forefront of the fight to stem the spread of the Ebola in Sierra Leone and Liberia. We’re working closely with local partners to help communities rebuild and recover. Photo: Peter Biro/IRC

IRC deployed an emergency team to the Greek island of Lesbos in July 2015 to aid thousands of refugees arriving to Europe from Turkey. We continue to work in Europe and in the Syrian region to assist Syrian refugees fleeing their country’s brutal civil war. Photo: Tyler Jump/IRC