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Dunant; The Story of the Red Cross

1938 · 628 — New York: Oxford University Press 1938. Presumed First Edition First printing. Hardcover. Good. vi 323 3 pages. Frontis illustration. Dunant's Principal Works. Works Consulted. No DJ present. Boards discolored and scuffed discoloration inside boards and stamp inside front board. Martin Gumpert 13 November 1897 - 18 April 1955 was a German-born physician dermatologist historian and author. Born in Berlin Gumpert specialized in dermatology and medical history. His early life included service as a medical orderly during WI and academic pursuits in Berlin and Heidelberg culminating in a dissertation on syphilis in 1923. Gumpert also engaged in expressionist poetry and literature. He went on to write texts on pediatrics and developmental deformity. In 1933 Gumpert was forced out of his medical position by the Nazi rise to power. Over the next few years he wrote several texts of literature and the history of science and medicine. He was further excluded from the association of German writers the Reichsverband deutscher Schriftsteller as a Jew in 1935 and emigrated to the United States in 1936. Gumpert opened a dermatology practice in New York in 1936 and became a US citizen in 1942. During these years Gumpert became a friend of the siblings Erika and Klaus Mann and in 1949 visited their father Thomas Mann in Germany. Thomas Mann used Gumpert's medical knowledge on the course of syphilis in writing his novel Doktor Faustus. From 1952 Gumpert edited the gerontology journal Lifetime Living and worked as a geriatrician at the Jewish Memorial Hospital New York. Gumpert continued to write about the exile experience in poems and literary publications. Henry Dunant born Jean-Henri Dunant; 8 May 1828 - 30 October 1910 also known as Henri Dunant was a Swiss humanitarian businessman social activist and the co-founder of Red Cross movement. His humanitarian efforts won him the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.<br /> Dunant was born in Geneva to a devout Calvinist family and had business interests in French Algeria and Tunisia. In 1859 while on his way to petition Napoleon III he witnessed the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino in northern Italy. Horrified by the suffering of the wounded and the lack of care they received Dunant took the initiative to organize the local population in providing aid for the soldiers. After returning to Geneva he recorded his experiences in the book A Memory of Solferino in which he advocated the formation of an organization that would provide relief for the wounded without discrimination in times of war. In February 1863 Dunant was a member of a five-person committee that sought to put his plan into action which in effect founded the organization that would become the International Committee of the Red Cross. A year later he took part in a diplomatic conference organized by the Swiss government that led to the signing of the First Geneva Convention. . In 1895 Dunant was rediscovered by a journalist which brought him renewed attention and support and in 1901 he was awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize alongside French pacifist Frédéric Passy. The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 16 million volunteers members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health to ensure respect for all human beings and to prevent and alleviate human suffering. Within it there are three distinct organizations that are legally independent from each other but are united within the movement through common basic principles objectives symbols statutes and governing organizations. In 1863 Gustave Moynier a Geneva lawyer and president of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare received a copy of Dunant's book and introduced it for discussion at a meeting of that society. As a result of this initial discussion the society established an investigatory commission to examine the feasibility of Dunant's suggestions and eventually to organize an international conference about their possible implementation. The members of this committee which has subsequently been referred to as the "Committee of the Five" aside from Dunant and Moynier were physician Louis Appia who had significant experience working as a field surgeon; Appia's friend and colleague Théodore Maunoir from the Geneva Hygiene and Health Commission; and Guillaume-Henri Dufour a Swiss army general of great renown. Eight days later the five men decided to rename the committee to the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded". The Swiss government invited the governments of all European countries as well as the United States the Empire of Brazil and the Mexican Empire to attend an official diplomatic conference. Sixteen countries sent a total of 26 delegates to Geneva. On 22 August 1864 the conference adopted the first Geneva Convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field". Representatives of 12 states and kingdoms signed the convention. Oxford University Press hardcover