The Nansen Office was established as an autonomous institution, with humanitarian aims, under the League of Nations’ auspices. It was to offer the refugees all the material support that its funds would permit. On the other hand, according to the League of Nations Assembly’s decision, political and legal protection was to be vested in the League’s Secretariat. In actual fact, however, this function also passed to the Nansen Office, for the Secretariat did not possess the administrative machinery it would have needed in the various countries and localities to give the practical daily assistance in legal and political matters that have proved to be so essential. The League of Nations Secretariat has, of course, played a leading part in elaborating the different international agreements that have gradually been concluded for the assistance and protection of the refugees. Still, otherwise, it has found it expedient to leave the refugee work almost entirely to the Nansen Office. Nansen passport

The funds at the disposal of the Nansen Office at the time of its creation were insignificant. Still, they were substantially augmented, partly by a British government’s contribution and partly by a donation of 250.000 Norwegian kroner from Nansen’s estate. This amount no doubt represented the balance, with interest and compound interest, of the Peace Prize that Nansen himself had received and of the equivalent sum given to him by Christian Erichsen⁴. Nansen had used the remainder to set up a model farm in Russia after the famine.

However, the need was so great, and the demands for aid to the disabled, the old, the sick, and all those who had to be rehabilitated, so extensive, that the Nansen Office’s resources dwindled rapidly. The situation was helped by the intergovernmental agreement of 1926, which stipulated that the document commonly called the Nansen Passports – actually for most refugees the identity card required in many countries – be subject to a levy of five gold francs for each issue or renewal. One by one, many countries adopted this system, and the fee has now become the most important source of revenue for the Nansen Office, especially since its introduction in France, which harbors such a large number of Russian and Armenian refugees, along with most of those from the Saar. In other words, it is the refugees themselves who cover the greater part of the cost of the humanitarian work done by the Nansen Office. It is important to bear this in mind. Meanwhile, the sale of stamps issued by both the Norwegian and French governments in aid of the refugees has produced gratifying results. Norway’s response has been particularly substantial when measured in proportion to this country’s small population: the Nansen Office’s income from the Norwegian stamps has so far reached a good 150.000 Norwegian kroner. Voluntary gifts have also played their part. Nansen passport

This committee is entirely independent of the League of Nations. Still, it is intended to collaborate with the League’s High Commission in their common field of interest, namely, refugees’ movement to overseas countries. The first task of the Intergovernmental Committee should be to open negotiations with the German authorities to secure for German refugees the right to take with them a certain part of their assets, and in general to establish some cooperation in helping these unfortunate people to emigrate to other countries.

The idea underlying the formation of this committee was the conciliatory one – which will, I am convinced, one day prevail – that it ought to be possible to come to an arrangement that seems so eminently reasonable, and that will in any case clearly benefit a country wishing to be rid of so many of its subjects. In the long run, Germany can have no interest in obstructing the emigration it has itself planned or in imposing such great burdens on its neighbors.

And how heavy these burdens are! Dr. Goebbels said recently that about 180,000 Germans, mainly Jews, have left Germany during the last few years but that the new Germany, with its population of eighty million, still has about 700.000 Jews who must get out.

But this is not all. Animosity toward the Jews is spreading like a plague over many countries, especially in southern and Eastern Europe.

Such is Europe’s situation in the twentieth century, after the Peace of Versailles and after the Pact of Munich. And yet things can become even worse, for if there is no armistice in Spain or peace with amnesty for those who in one way or another are regarded as political criminals, the number of refugees who will once more flood Europe, and naturally France first, can reach one to two million.

Fridtjof Nansen saw his work as a real contribution to peace. So too did the League of Nations, and when Fridtjof Nansen was dead, the Assembly paid solemn tribute to his memory for his efforts “to unite the nations in work for the cause of peace.”

The Passport Nansen passport

a Bulgarian travel document which includes the wording PASSPORT NANSEN & IDENTITY CERTIFICATE. The document was issued on 18 October 1929 in Sofia to a 55 years old Russian man (Serge Vladomirowitch?) from Petrograd, including two family members, a woman and another man at the age of 49. The document includes three passport photos. But wait, the entry on page nine is stating another person in the name of Elisabeth Torimonoff (?). Elisabeth was added in November, the same year. I never saw a NANSEN document issued for more than one person, but this example includes FOUR people. This is outstanding!

Furthermore, the document has visas from France, issued in Sofia, a transit visa for Switzerland, issued in Sofia. An Austrian transit visa to France and a visa from Serbia & Slovenia. Page 14/15 some Serbia/Slovenia stamps. The passport has 24 pages and three Bulgarian revenue stamps. The condition is excellent.

To my best knowledge, only Bulgaria, Latvia, and Romania issued NANSEN BOOKLETS! But ONLY Bulgaria had the wording NANSEN PASSPORT!

A scarce issue is also this Danzig Nansen