📃 Want to know more about the adoption and the evolution of our Fundamental Principles? Read our research guide :

In this first episode, the true story behind The Great Escape🎬 : Roger Bushell (born #OnThisDay in 1910) never gives up on his travel plans, chairs and💡 go missing, and Harry is ten meters too short. Plus, what #IHL says about retaliation against POWs after escape attempts.

We’re kicking off a new series on the ICRC Library & Archives blog: stories of WWII Prisoners-of-War escapes told through our unique sources.
🪁 blogs.icrc.org/cross-files/...

Did you know the @icrc.org's first president was a General? Swiss General Dufour died exactly 150 years ago. The ICRC’s humanitarian mission was grounded in battlefield experience from the start.
🔗Today’s military perspectives in the Intl Review of the Red Cross: library.icrc.org/library/sear...

It was only in 1996 that ICRC archives opened its reading rooms to external researchers. What research tools were put at their disposal back then? How have these tools evolved throughout history?
#ArchivesAreAccessible
blogs.icrc.org/cross-files/... [fr]
blogs.icrc.org/cross-files/... [en]

Since February 2025 the ICRC Public Archives have launched their new online catalogue, enabling researchers to browse inventories covering more than a hundred years of humanitarian history! #ArchivesAreAccessible #IAW2025
Explore the Archives online catalogue: archives.icrc.org/search/simple

It’s #InternationalArchivesWeek and this year’s theme is #ArchivesAreAccessible.
Perfect time to learn about the rules of access to the ICRC Archives, a balance between transparency and protection that reflects multiple stakes and challenges.
library.icrc.org/library/sear...
#IAW2025

Newly digitized from the ICRC Archives 👇
Contribute to making them searchable—for research and remembrance.

To mark the 80th anniversary of the end of Nazi rule, @arolsenarchives.bsky.social will publish file cards from Drancy camp that are part of ICRC Archives on platform #everynamecounts.
Help build the world's largest digital memorial to the victims of Nazism: everynamecounts.arolsen-archives.org/en

Since 1863, our library collections tell the history of the #RedCross #RedCrescent Movement.
On World #RedCrossDay and #RedCrescentDay, explore our collections of publications from National Societies around the 🌎 : blogs.icrc.org/cross-files/...

¡Hoy es el Día del Idioma Español!
Para celebrarlo, lanzamos la versión en español de nuestro blog.
Explora nuestros artículos traducidos: blogs.icrc.org/cross-files/...

UNESCO’s initiative safeguards our shared history from destruction, decay, and amnesia. Recognized across borders, cultures, and time, #IHL treaties are part of humanity's collective heritage – as historical artefacts and, above all, as living instruments to protect people in armed conflict.

📜The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols are entering the @unesco.org #MemoryOfTheWorld International Register. Thank you to the Swiss Federal Archives for preserving the original signed treaties.
All must preserve – and uphold – their spirit.

We mark today the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
An @icrc.org nurse, Anny Pfirter, cared for the survivors.
Read about the return of hope, after dehumanization and atrocities, in her own words : library.icrc.org/library/sear...

🔎 We’ve made it easier to do a full-text search across all ICRC activity reports, from 1863 to present day.
From our library catalogue’s extended search menu (library.icrc.org/library/sear...), follow the example in the screenshot below 👇
Happy searching!
Write [email protected] for support

Our latest research guide 'ICRC History : A Primer' offers both an overview of key moments in @icrc.org history and tons of links to related public sources & resources to support your own research 🔍
Find it on our blog Cross-files at blogs.icrc.org/cross-files/... (also available in French)

Part of our library’s mission is to gather all translations of @icrc.org publications. Today’s newbies: Introduction to International Humanitarian Law in Armenian & the ICRC’s 2024 IHL Challenges Report in French.
Find all 📚 at library.icrc.org/library/sear... and library.icrc.org/library/sear...

✈️ Fuel for take-off:
- Find our webpage at www.icrc.org/en/library
- Find our library catalogue at library.icrc.org/library/
- Find our research guides at blogs.icrc.org/cross-files/...
- Find our #IHL bibliography at www.icrc.org/en/document/...

We’re packing the books and flying to new skies 🦋
Follow us for useful resources to support your research in humanitarian law, action and history – many available online (for the rest, write [email protected])
Plus ‘behind the scenes’, treasure finds, and snapshots of @icrc.org history.