This article analyzes the position taken bythe International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) against the Nazi crimes that it witnessed between 1933 to 1945 and more specifically its «politics of silence» -based on the humanitarian principle of neutrality -in the Regarding the Holocaust. The humanitarian action of the ICRC was not easy, not only because it lacked many essential resources to act efficiently at the field level in a conflict that exceeded any forecast of horrors, but also because the mere presence of this organization was considered by some belligerents (Germany Nazi, but also the USSR and the Japanese Empire) as an «interference» in their way of handling the war. The second part of this article reviews the activity of the Red Cross during the years of the Nazi terror: the main ethical and legal framework of the ICRC before the Second World War (Geneva Conventions and humanitarian principles), the evolution of Nazi crimes and the ICRC’s main activities and what they really knew about theHolocaust. Finally, we will explain the ICRC’sreasons for its silence policy and the impact that such a policy has had on the evolution of the Red Cross.Keywords| (Thesaurus): Red Cross
