INTRODUCTION
BY
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD DICKINSON, K.B.E., p.c.
I ESTEEM it an honour to be invited to write an introduction to
this book. Before the Great War I did not kno\? Dr. Ewald
Ammende; but soon after its close we found ourselves working
together on behalf of the racial and religious minorities, and
I then learned to know and respect the singleness of purpose
and wide sympathy which have enabled him to become an
unknown friend of millions of people.
The war had claimed its dead and wounded; but that
was not all. It had left an aftermath of destitute folk deprived
of their homes, driven into foreign lands, or placed under
new rulers. And multitudes were actually starved to death in
the years that followed that terrific cataclysm,
Dr. Ammende, hailing from the Baltic Provinces of Russia
and knowing well the conditions in Eastern Europe, threw
himself into the task of rescuing these helpless people* With
great skill he brought representatives of the "Minorities" into
conferences whence it became possible to issue to the Govern-
ments and the League of Nations appeals for justice aad toler-
ance. He thus became an effective advocate of the cause of
minorities all over Europe.
Later on he extended his sympathy to the toiling masses of
Soviet Russia, where poor harvests and incompetent admini-
strators had brought famine into thousands of homes. Mainly
by his efforts funds were raised and relief was organized on
broad international lines. It is right that the Russian people
should learn to whom they are indebted
Dr. Ammende has died, a victim to his OWE unceasing
activity* He has lived and died for others, and the world is
the richer by the example of his life and of Sis death*