between 1916 and 1918, the icrc published a number of postcards with scenes from the pow camps. the pictures showed the prisoners in day-to-day activities such as the distribution of letters from home. the intention of the icrc was to provide the families of the prisoners with some hope and solace and to alleviate their uncertainties about the fate of their loved ones. after the end of the war, the icrc organized the return of about 420,000 prisoners to their home countries. in 1920, the task of repatriation was handed over to the newly founded league of nations, which appointed the norwegian diplomat and scientist fridtjof nansen as its "high commissioner for repatriation of the war prisoners". his legal mandate was later extended to support and care for war refugees and displaced persons when his office became that of the league of nations "high commissioner for refugees". nansen, who invented the "nansen passport" for stateless refugees and was awarded the nobel peace prize in 1922, appointed two delegates from the icrc as his deputies.