Liechtenstein Red Cross

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The Liechtenstein Red Cross (Liechtensteinsches Rotes Kreuz, LRK) is Liechtenstein’s national Red Cross society. It provides humanitarian aid and works with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The LRK was founded on 30 April 1945, after World War II, to help war refugees. It was recognised as a Red Cross society on 22 June 1945. Its leaders have been Princess Gina (until 1985), Princess Marie (until 2015), and since 2015 Sophie, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein.

Initially, the LRK cared for about 7,000 war refugees who entered Liechtenstein near the war’s end. It ran soup kitchens and provided bathing services near Schaanwald and asked the people of Liechtenstein to donate. The LRK also helped soldiers of the pro-Axis First Russian National Army who sought refuge there, and later extended help to Austria and to people at home.

Domestically, the organization opened a Mother’s Advice Centre in 1946. In 1948 it expanded to family welfare (developing this work until 1996). A children’s home opened in Triesen in 1956 and moved to Schaan in 1965.

LRK started offering blood donations in 1953 and has run rescue services since 1972. It also supports actions to combat climate change.

In terms of foreign aid, LRK assisted during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the Vietnam War. After the Revolutions of 1989, it used private contacts to help Eastern European countries. It has helped refugees from the Yugoslav Wars and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and provided support to people affected by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.