When war came, the authorities in London and Berlin operated evacuation
schemes that sent children into billets and camps in rural reception areas. The
children's exodus either happened orderly and followed years of planning and
discussion amongst policy makers (London), or haphazardly following the
sudden realization that the war would not be fought exclusively elsewhere
(Berlin). As policies, the government evacuation schemes were bold,
controversial and - considering their distinct political contexts - surprisingly
similar; as were some of their consequences: the recipients did not accept
them uncritically, the municipalities failed to evacuate the majority of children
from the cities under attack, and private provision catered for a lot more
children than the official schemes.
This study of the British evacuation and Third Reich Kinderlandverschickung is an original and important
contribution to the existing scholarship in two ways. First, it stays in the cities (rather than leaving with the
evacuees towards the already well-researched evacuation experience) in order to show the scheme' geneses, but
also to appreciate issues related to their operational conduct in the face of stray children, closed schools and
rebellious parents in town. Second, the study explores the evacuation schemes in the two warring capitals in
comparative perspective, thus critically analyzing how policy was developed and executed in the face of shifting
and differing political contexts and acute sociological challenges. This study traces local developments through
sources, from the earliest plans contemplated in London during the 1930s to the collapse of the Third Reich and
delayed return of Berlin children in 1946. It covers operational aspects and
explores themes of agency, citizenship, childhood, schooling and the
relationship between state and individual.
The robust historical research, combined with a strong central narrative,
should appeal not only to historians of education or military historians, but
also to policy makers, educators, former evacuees and all readers with a
private or professional interest in wartime childhoods and evacuations.
