United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), organization founded (1943) during World War II to give aid to areas liberated from the Axis powers. There were finally 52 participating countries, each of which contributed funds amounting to 2% of its national income in 1943. A sum of nearly $4 billion was expended on various types of emergency aid, including distribution of food and medicine and restoration of public services and of agriculture and industry. China, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Italy, Poland, the Ukrainian SSR, and Yugoslavia were the chief beneficiaries. UNRRA returned some 7 million displaced persons to their countries of origin and provided camps for about 1 million refugees unwilling to be repatriated. More than half the funds were provided by the United States, and the three directors general—Herbert H. Lehman, Fiorello La Guardia, and Gen. Lowell Rooks—were American. UNRRA discontinued its operations in Europe on June 30, 1947. Its remaining work, chiefly in China, ended on Mar. 31, 1949. The functions of UNRRA were transferred to other UN agencies, chiefly the International Refugee Organization , the Food and Agriculture Organization , and the United Nations Children's Fund .

UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration), established in November 1943 by delegates from 44 countries meeting in Atlantic City in the USA. It was initially set up to provide help for the peoples of liberated countries and it first began its work in North Africa. In the immediate post-war period it looked after displaced persons (see refugees), and altogether it dispensed over $4 billion to 17 countries before it ceased operating in June 1947. See also consequences of the war.