Named in memory of the uncommon Swede Elsa Brändström (1888–1948). Born in St. Petersburg, she was a daughter of the diplomat general Edvard Brändström. During World War I, she stood up beyond all measure for indigent German prisoners in Russia. Under the sign of the Red Cross, she organized numerous relief missions to Siberian camps; from 1914 to 1920, about 700 000 prisoners benefited of her help, which gave her the honorary title “Angle of Siberia”. After 1918, she founded several homes for war orphans and repatriates of war in Germany. After the fascists’ seizure of power, she left Berlin together with her husband and emigrated in the U.S. There she stood up anew for needy refugees from Europe, persecuted for racial or political motives. (M 32792) _ _.