Many migrants used the Australian Red Cross Tracing Service to find children displaced after the Greek Civil War. In a joint project between the Australian Red Cross, the University of New South Wales and the University of Western Sydney, an exhibition is being convened in 2015 to commemorate 100 years of the Australian Red Cross International Tracing Service.

As part of this project, Dr Ruth Balint (UNSW) and Dr Milissa Dietz (UWS) are interested in talking to family members about their personal experience of using the Australian Red Cross International Tracing Service, particularly around the story of the missing Greek children.

Ruth Balint is an historian at the University of NSW working as a project leader on the Red Cross tracing service centenary exhibition with the Australian Red Cross. Neos Kosmos contacted her to find out more about the survey and exhibition.

“In 1950, 190 such children were traced by the Red Cross tracing service in Yugoslavia and flown out to Australia,” Dr Ruth Balint tells Neos Kosmos.
“We are hoping to hear from families who might have experienced this history and used the tracing service to reunite with loved ones.”

One thing to be clear about is that this is not the same as the International Tracing Service in Germany which was also used by a number of people after WWII. This notice refers specifically to the Australian Red Cross tracing service.

One of the interesting examples of the history of the tracing service involved the episode of the kidnap of around 23,000 children during the Greek Civil War who were taken over the Greek border to Soviet satellite countries. Some of these children had fathers who had earlier migrated to Australia, and whose wives joined them. Subsequently, parents begged the Red Cross to reunite them with their lost children.

“We would like to obtain the temporary use of objects related to stories of Greek child migrants who were tracked using the ITS and talk to family members regarding any recollections or family stories they may have around the tracing service,” Dr Balint explains.

“The issue for us is that we need to decide on the stories to go into the exhibition by the end of January, so any assistance in getting the word out soon would be appreciated.”

Please contact Dr Jayne Persian at the University of New South Wales if you are interested in sharing your stories and/or objects j.persian@unsw.edu.au or call 0404 880 141