| Administrative History | Allocations: 1919-1922, 1924-1941, 1945-1948, 1956-1973, 1980, 1992.
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia (officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 1918 to 1929) was founded in 1918 from Serbia and Montenegro, as well as parts of Austria-Hungary. In April 1941, the country was occupied and partitioned by the Axis powers, and the royal government went into exile. Resistance forces established the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia as a provisional government in 1943. In 1945 the exiled King Peter II was deposed and the country was renamed Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1963 the name Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was adopted. The Republic was dissolved in 1992 but Montenegro and Serbia remained part of a smaller Federal Republic of Yugoslavia until 2006.
In the first year of its existence, Serbia was one of the major recipients of aid from SCF. Between them, Serbia and Montenegro received over £50,000 by the end of 1920, making them the fifth biggest recipient of aid. This aid was given via organisations such as the Serbian Relief Fund, the SHS Child Welfare Association, the Montenegrin Relief Fund, the Hon Mrs Haverfield's Mission to Serbia and Dr Macphail's Hospital, Belgrade. Among the areas aided in this way were Skopje and Monastir (Bitola) in Macedonia and Nis in Serbia. By 1921 conditions in Serbia had improved sufficiently for the Serbian Relief Fund to return £10,000 of its allocation. SCF grants were given to orphanages at Zvornik and Koviljatcha Bania (both located in Bosnia), as well as to Russian refugees in the country. Some refugee children were the subject of adoptions. In 1929 a special appeal was launched for the Macphail children's hospital, but the response was disappointing. The hospital had to reduce its capacity due to lack of funds; it was sold to the Serbs in 1934. Later that year a children's sanatorium was opened at Kamenica, Serbia. This project was maintained until 1941, when Dr Macphail had to flee from advancing German forces.
In 1945 SCF sent two medical teams to Yugoslavia and the sanatorium at Kamenica was re-opened. A medical team was sent to Bosnia and work was done in the Institute of Child Health in Sarajevo. In 1947 the Kamenica sanatorium was taken over by the Yugoslav government, and Dr Macphail returned to the UK. Distribution of supplies continued, especially in Sarajevo. Following a survey made in 1954, the SCF administrator in Austria paid frequent visits to Yugoslavia to take supplies and equipment to the hospitals and to Mother and Child Centres in many parts of the country. This work ceased when SCF withdrew from Austria in 1960, but child sponsorships continued.
In the late 1960s SCF sent supplies to Yugoslavia. In 1969 SCF allocated funds to the Disasters Emergency Committee Yugoslavia earthquake appeal and reconstruction projects at Banja Luka. |