Middle East Relief and Refugee Administration

The Middle East Relief and Refugee Administration (MERRA) was a British military administration headquartered in Cairo that operated refugee camps across the Middle East and North Africa during World War II.

MERRA was formed in response to the large-scale displacement of civilians from Greece, Yugoslavia, Poland and other parts of occupied Europe. Following the Axis occupation of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, tens of thousands of refugees made their way across the Mediterranean toward the Middle East.^[1] MERRA was a fusion of the Repatriation Office with the Relief Section of the Minister of State Office, both British institutions, created because the scale of the refugee movement necessitated a single organisation to move refugees and administer camps.^[2]

The official date of MERRA's founding is given as 1 June 1942, though the exact date is uncertain as fire destroyed many of the organisation's original records.^[2] Other sources note that MERRA began its existence under Allied military command in 1941 and that activities preceded the official date of formal organisation.^[3]

MERRA placed around 40,000 European refugees in camps set up in Syria, Egypt and Palestine.^[1] The refugees came predominantly from Greece, Yugoslavia and Poland, though the camps also held people from Bulgaria, Croatia, Albania and other parts of occupied Europe.^[4] Many of those arriving via Turkey had fled the brutal German occupation and famine conditions on islands such as Chios. The Turkish government, concerned about the large number of unregulated arrivals, threatened to repatriate them, which prompted closer coordination with the British refugee administration.^[5]

Refugees arriving via Turkey were first sent by train to a transit camp in the hills near Aleppo, in French mandate Syria.^[5] MERRA also operated a camp at Moses Wells near Suez, a former quarantine station for pilgrims returning from Mecca, which could accommodate up to 5,000 refugees and hosted primarily Greek refugees from July 1942 onwards.^[5][6] The camp at El Shatt, in the Suez Canal Zone, was established in January 1944, converted from a military transit camp. It grew to hold over 20,000 predominantly Yugoslav refugees at its peak.^[7] The camp at Nuseirat in the Gaza area had previously served as a base for Australian and later Polish troops; it housed Greek refugees and was among several MERRA camps in Palestine.^[6]

During the Alamein crisis of June 1942, as Axis forces advanced toward Alexandria, British administrators hastily evacuated some 3,000 Greek refugees further south to British colonies in East Africa.^[5]

MERRA was part of a broader network of refugee camps operated in collaboration with national governments, military officials, and humanitarian organisations. Social welfare groups including the International Migration Service, the Red Cross, the Near East Foundation and the Save the Children Fund all contributed to the running of the camps.^[4]

Upon arrival, refugees had to register with camp officials and receive identification cards that they were required to carry at all times; these recorded their name, camp number, educational background and any special skills.^[4] Refugees in MERRA camps typically received half a portion of army rations each day, supplemented where possible with foods reflecting their national customs.^[4]

Work arrangements varied between camps. At Moses Wells, all able-bodied refugees were required to work as shopkeepers, cleaners, seamstresses, masons, carpenters or plumbers, while at Nuseirat labour was not mandatory, though officials tried to create work opportunities for refugees to use their skills and earn a small income.^[4] Some camps, including El Shatt and Moses Wells, offered nursing training programmes for both refugees and locals.^[4]

Education was considered a central part of camp routine. MERRA officials believed children benefited from regular structured activity, though classrooms in many camps suffered from overcrowding, too few teachers and insufficient supplies.^[4]

MERRA was active for approximately three years. In May 1944, it was absorbed by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), a broader Allied civilian organisation, at which point MERRA became the UNRRA Balkan Mission.^[2] UNRRA took over the supervision of the camps formerly under MERRA's direction, including six large refugee camps in Egypt, Palestine and Syria.^[3] The Nuseirat camp in Gaza, which had housed Greek refugees during the war, later became a Palestinian refugee camp administered by UNRWA after 1948.^[8]

• El Shatt refugee camp
• United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
• World War II evacuation and expulsion

• 1944: European refugees in Egypt - Alex Q. Arbuckle, Mashable
• During WWII, European refugees fled to Syria. Here's what the camps were like. - The World from PRX