Editing Fridtjof Nansen (section)

==== Russian famine ====
[[File:Fridtjof Nansen, Les deux étapes de la faim (1922) (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Nansen's photos on postcards were meant to raise awareness about the famine]]
Even before this work was complete, Nansen was involved in a further humanitarian effort. On 1 September 1921, prompted by the British delegate [[Philip Noel-Baker]], he accepted the post of the League's High Commissioner for Refugees.<ref>Huntford, pp. 599–603.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1017/S1560775500119285 |url=https://www.icrc.org/ara/assets/files/other/727_738_jaeger.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011130607/https://www.icrc.org/ara/assets/files/other/727_738_jaeger.pdf |archive-date=11 October 2017 |url-status=live |first1=Gilbert |last1=Jaeger |year=2001 |title=On the history of the international protection of refugees |journal=Revue Internationale de la Croix-Rouge |volume=83 |issue=843 |pages=727–738|s2cid=145129127 }}</ref> His main brief was the resettlement of around two million Russian refugees displaced by the upheavals of the [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution]].

At the same time he tried to tackle the urgent problem of [[Russian famine of 1921|famine in Russia]]; following a widespread failure of crops around 30&nbsp;million people were threatened with starvation and death. Despite Nansen's pleas on behalf of the starving, Russia's revolutionary government was feared and distrusted internationally, and the League was reluctant to come to its peoples' aid.<ref>Reynolds, pp. 224–229.</ref> Nansen had to rely largely on fundraising from private organisations, and his efforts met with limited success.<ref name="Ryne" /> Later he was to express himself bitterly on the matter:

{{blockquote|"There was in various transatlantic countries such an abundance of maize, that the farmers had to burn it as fuel in their railway engines. At the same time, the ships in Europe were idle, for there were no cargoes. Simultaneously there were thousands, nay millions of unemployed. All this, while thirty million people in the Volga region—not far away and easily reached by our ships—were allowed to starve and die. The politicians of the world at large, except in the United States, were trying to find an excuse for doing nothing on the pretext that it was the Russians' own fault – a result of the Bolshevik system."<ref>Reynolds, p. 230.</ref>}}

[[File:Nansenpass.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|left|The Nansen passport allowed stateless persons to legally cross borders]]
A major problem impeding Nansen's work on behalf of refugees was that most of them lacked documentary proof of identity or nationality. Without legal status in their country of refuge, their lack of papers meant they were unable to go anywhere else. To overcome this, Nansen devised a document that became known as the "[[Nansen passport]]", a form of identity for [[Statelessness|stateless persons]] that was in time recognised by more than 50&nbsp;governments, and which allowed refugees to cross borders legally. Although the passport was created initially for refugees from Russia, it was extended to cover other groups.<ref name="GibneyHarrison2005">Gibney & Harrison, pp. [https://archive.org/details/immigrationasylu00matt/page/441 441]–[https://archive.org/details/immigrationasylu00matt/page/442 442].</ref>

While attending the [[Lausanne Conference of 1922–23|Conference of Lausanne]] in November 1922, Nansen learned that he had been awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] for 1922. The citation referred to "his work for the repatriation of the prisoners of war, his work for the Russian refugees, his work to bring succour to the millions of Russians afflicted by famine, and finally his present work for the refugees in Asia Minor and Thrace".<ref>Huntford, pp. 649–650.</ref><ref>[https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1922/summary/ The Nobel Peace Prize 1922]".</ref> Nansen donated the prize money to international relief efforts.<ref name="Ryne" />