ABSTRACT
With the end of World War II and the total destruction of the Axis powers, the International Rescue Committee lost its initial reason for existence, which was to aid antifascist militants in their escape from Nazi rule. Over the next years, the IRC faltered, unable to devise a viable strategy in the light of the radically altered power relations of the postwar period. The Committee had to develop a new orientation in its refugee relief work, or risk a downward spiral into insolvency. As the Cold War intensified, the careful management of political exiles from the Soviet bloc countries became a paramount concern for those defining the new global policy of containment. Under a new executive director, David Martin, the Committee initiated a flurry of new projects directed at experienced, politically sophisticated emigres from Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. These projects were tailored to gain public support, but they were also designed to provide the intelligence community with skilled personnel who could be used in the realization of the entire range of destabilization programs then being directed at the Soviet Union and its dependent allies.
