When the Children Came Home
When the Children Came Home

Author: Julie Summers

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2011-03-03

Total Pages: 405

ISBN-13: 1847377343

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A moving and revealing insight into the real experiences of children evacuated during WWII and the families they left behind On 1 September 1939 Operation Pied Piper began to place the children of Britain's industrial cities beyond the reach of the Luftwaffe. 1.5 million children, pregnant women and schoolteachers were evacuated in 3 days. A further 2 million children were evacuated privately; the largest mass evacuation of children in British history. Some children went abroad, others were sent to institutions, but the majority were billeted with foster families. Some were away for weeks or months, others for years. Homecoming was not always easy and a few described it as more difficult than going away in the first place. In When the Children Came Home Julie Summers tells us what happened when these children returned to their families. She looks at the different waves of British evacuation during WWII and explores how they coped both in the immediate aftermath of the war, and in later life. For some it was a wonderful experience that enriched their whole lives, for others it cast a long shadow, for a few it changed things for ever. Using interviews, written accounts and memoirs, When the Children Came Home weaves together a collection of personal stories to create a warm and compelling portrait of wartime Britain from the children's perspective.

I'm Not Going Back
I'm Not Going Back

Author: Kitty Wintrob

Publisher: Now and Then Books

Published: 2009-06

Total Pages: 173

ISBN-13: 9780978443511

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At the start of World War Two, thousands of school-children are evacuated from London to the British countryside before German bombs begin to fall. Kitty Simmonds, a spirited 10-year-old girl from the city's East End, isn't pleased to be leaving her Mum and jolly Uncle Yudi behind. Once in the countryside, she's stunned at the hardships she has to endure from her "foster parents" as she struggles to maintain her Jewish identity in an alien world. She's determined to escape back to her Mum and the relative comfort of their home, even as the sirens blare and the "Blitz" begins. A warm and gripping tale, marked by authenticity and adventure, and suitable for young readers as well as adults.

Churchill's Children
Churchill's Children

Author: John Welshman

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2010-03-25

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 0199574413

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Based on the stories of thirteen children and adults, Churchill's Children tells the often moving story of the evacuation of schoolchildren in Britain during the Second World War, from the perspective of the children themselves as well as the many adults who were caught up in this massive wartime enterprise.

See You After the Duration
See You After the Duration

Author: Michael Henderson

Publisher: America Star Books

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781413738681

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Why would British parents risk sending their children to safety over submarine-infested waters? How would American and Canadian families and public respond to them? What adventures would the children experience and what would be the long-term effect on their lives and on attitudes on both sides of the Atlantic? This book sheds light on an aspect of World War II that is little known on either side of the Atlantic. It is a tale that is at times moving, often humorous, evoking an authentic picture of life and attitudes sixty years ago. It is a saga of separation, a story of unashamed patriotism, and an important and very readable contribution to the literature of World War II.

A Schoolboy's Wartime Letters
A Schoolboy's Wartime Letters

Author: Geoffrey Iley

Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

Published: 2014-09-26

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1782795030

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This funny, fascinating journal follows the development of a boy and his changing attitudes during WW II from its outbreak in September 1939 to victory in the summer of 1945. It is a memoir based on the original letters — around a hundred and ninety in total — written by the author to his parents and carefully preserved over the years. There are also several contemporary photographs. He was an only child and full of his own selfish needs, vanity, hypochondria, prejudices and unquestioning patriotism. The letters carry strong echoes of ‘Just William’ and ‘Adrian Mole’ — 'Health and Safety' was nowhere in sight! There is also a wealth of information about childhood games, hobbies, mock battles, sport, school life and wartime concerns.

Operation Pied Piper
Operation Pied Piper

Author: Niko Gärtner

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2012-11-01

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 1617359033

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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.

When the Wind was a River
When the Wind was a River

Author: Dean Kohlhoff

Publisher:

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 9780295974033

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World War II came to the North Pacific in June 1942. Alaska's Native people living on the Aleutian and Pribilof islands, the Aleuts, felt its impact as did no other American citizens in that region. Forty-two residents of Attu Island were captured and imprisoned in Japan and, in response to Japanese bombings of Dutch Harbor and invasions of Kiska Island, the American military evacuated the remaining 881 Aleuts from the islands to camps in southeastern Alaska. The story of the removal of the Aleuts is little known outside Alaska. Dean Kohlhoff delved extensively into civilian and government archives, as well as videotapes of Aleuts chronicling their wartime experiences, to compile this engrossing account of the evacuation. Personal accounts tell of life in the temporary camps, in which the makeshift accommodations arranged by the Department of the Interior failed to reflect the good intentions of some Interior officials. One visitor to the Funter Bay camp wrote, "I have no language at my command which can adequately describe what I saw....I have seen some tough places in my days in Alaska, but nothing to equal the situation in Funter". Upon their eventual return, the Aleuts found that their homes had been devastated by weather, fire, and both Japanese and American military operations, and they began the fight for reparation for loss of property and income that would affect them long after the war. Finally the Civil Rights Act of 1988, which awarded damage claims to Japanese Americans relocated during the war, led to restitution for the Aleuts, who Congress and the president agreed had been mistreated.

Don't Forget to Write
Don't Forget to Write

Author: Pam Hobbs

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2009-10-06

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 1407029762

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'Dad walked determinedly down the path, joined by two neighbours with five children between them. As we reached the corner of Kent Avenue, I looked back for one last wave. But Mum had buried her head in her pinny and it was a year before I saw her again.' In June 1940, 10-year-old Pam Hobbs and her sister Iris took the long journey from their council home in Leigh-on-Sea to faraway rural Derbyshire. Living away from Mum and Dad for two long years, Pam was moved between four foster homes. In some she and Iris found a second family, with babies to look after, car rides and picnics, and even a pet pig. But other billets took a more sinister turn, as the adults found it easy to exploit the children in their care. Returning to Essex, things would never be the same again, and the war was far from over. Making do with rations, dodging bombs and helping with the war effort, Pam and her family struggled to get by. In Don't Forget to Write, with warmth and vivid detail, Pam describes a time that was full of overwhelming hardship and devastation; yet also of kindness and humour, resilience and courage.

I'm Not Going Back
I'm Not Going Back

Author: Kitty Wintrob

Publisher:

Published: 2014-07

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 9780991900930

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This forthright memoir is based on the author's experiences as a child evacuee from the East End of London during World War Two. Kitty is not a child from the Kindertransport, but a Jewish Londoner who is evacuated along with the rest of London's children to the safety of the British countryside. But after lodging in a series of foster homes, she decides that not even the imminent threat of Nazi bombs can keep her away from her Mum and Uncle Yudi in London. A new epilogue brings the story up to war's end and the historic victory celebration outside Buckingham Palace. Praise for I'm Not Going Back "Kitty recounts life in a country village under the thumb of a dour and cold taskmaster. She is a spirited, determined youngster whose mind is set upon returning to London . . . . She is a very strong and engaging character, even at her young age." - Jewish Book World "The details are absorbing . . . Kitty gets completely inside her young personality" - London Jewish Chronicle "Like a friend telling you about her experiences over coffee." - Marcia Weiss Posner, Association of Jewish Libraries "At each stage in [her] full life, Ms Wintrob has displayed the same spunk and spirit she did as a 10-year-old girl forced to leave her Jewish working-class home with no indication where she was going or when she would be back." - National Post (Toronto)