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Red Cross parcel refers to packages containing mostly food, tobacco and personal hygiene items sent by the International Association of the Red Cross to prisoners of war (POWs) during the First and Second World Wars, [1] as well as at other times. It can also refer to medical parcels and so-called "release parcels" provided during the Second ...
The Danish government, Danish Red Cross, Danish king Christian X, and Danish clergy also pressured the DRK to allow a visit, because of the 450 Danish Jews who had been deported there in October 1943. The Danish Red Cross began to send food parcels, at a rate of 700 per month, to Danish prisoners even before they were given permission to do so.
However, they never tampered with Red Cross care packages for fear it would force the Germans to stop their delivery to all camps. The Germans became skilled at intercepting packages containing contraband material. The prisoners also used items from their Red Cross packages to bribe guards and local citizens.
The prisoners were given remaining Red Cross parcels and were allowed to carry as much as they could. The march from Gross Tychow lasted approximately 86 days. They were forced to march under guard about 15–20 miles (24–32 km) per day. There was much zigzagging, to escape the encroaching Soviet Red Army from the east.
The Stalag served as the base for distribution of International Red Cross packages and mail. A Lazarett (hospital) cared for prisoners that were sick or had been injured in industrial accidents or air-raids. A number of enlisted men and NCOs were housed in the adjacent Oflag to provide necessary services.
Rations were poor, and although eventually some Red Cross packages were sent over from Stalag IX-C, the prisoners lacked any means of cooking, and they had to improvise as well as they could. They burnt paper, cardboard, and wood chips in empty tin cans to boil water, but this practice was soon prohibited by the camp authorities.
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In the 1940s during World War II, the Red Cross enrolled 7.5 million volunteers along with 39,000 paid staff [81] and more than 104,000 nurses [82] for military service, prepared 27 million packages for prisoners of war, shipped more than 300,000 tons of supplies, and collected 13.3 million pints of blood plasma for the armed forces. [83]