American Relief Administration (ARA)

The article examines the activities of the American Relief Administration (ARA), a US charitable organization in Russia, during the mass famine of 1921–1923, and shows its specific role in eliminating hunger in the Saratov Volga region. 300 employees who came from America and about 10,000 Soviet citizens were involved in providing assistance. The humanitarian mission helped starving children and the sick with food, clothing, and meditsines, primarily in the most famine-stricken provinces of the Volga region.

The article deals with the history of the Mennonite village life in the Volga Region at the beginning of the XX century, as seen through the prism of the first years of the Soviet power and the Volga region famine of 1921. This article is based on archival documents and historical sources of personal origin – diaries, letters, memoirs, etc.