Explain the differing reactions of British people to the policy of evacuation during the Second World War.
Explain the differing reactions of British people to the policy of evacuation during the Second World War.
In 1939 war broke out in Europe, this was one of the first “Total Wars”. This meant almost the whole population had to get involved in the war effort to help Britain stride on throughout these dark years. No one was safe with constant threat of enemy bombing of Britain’s major towns and cities. Even the countries children were unsafe. This is why in late August 1939, just before war broke out, evacuation was introduced throughout Britain for infants and teachers coming from major towns and cities to safe places in the countryside, far from the threat of enemy bombers. This was a massive change to how Britain functioned in the war, and it affected a lot of different people in different ways, The main five groups that were affected by evacuation were obviously the evacuees, the parents of the evacuees, the foster parents who looked after the evacuees, the teachers who were evacuated with the evacuees and the government. Lets take a look at some of the opinions that were involved in the evacuation program.
The most obvious group to be involved in the evacuation program would obviously be the evacuees. They were the ones sent away from home not knowing how long for or when they would see their parents again. Some children were too young to even know what was going on in the first place. As you can imagine the children probably did not want to be taken away from their homes and live with strangers in a strange place for an unknown time but the children had to get used to it. Many children were very home sick during the evacuation period because many had never parted from their parents previously. This was because there was no need for evacuation in previous wars but with this advanced technology war, no one was safe. Some of the children were very young so it was very difficult for them to adapt to this new way of life. In some cases, this was shown in their behaviour. Some of the children were from poorer areas of the cities and naturally they acted this way in their foster homes. They found it difficult to adjust to the strict, wealthy countryside lifestyle and it took them a while to settle in. Other children were already from richer families so the rich countryside lifestyle was not so much of a problem for them and they settled in well. Children got the chance to make new friends and learn new things and for many, the evacuation period was a positive mind-broadening experience leaving them with memories to remember for the rest of their lives. For other evacuees, life was not as sweet, stories of children such as John Abbot who was evacuated from Bristol. He had his rations stolen by his family and was only fed mashed potatoes and was horsewhipped for speaking out loud. Or Terri McNeil who was kept in a birdcage and was left with just bread and water. Although these stories seem horrific, it was only the minority who were mistreated. As you can imagine, throughout the war children became less homesick and more a custom to their new surroundings. This is evident from a photograph released by the government in the war to increase morale showing evacuees enjoying themselves and looking very relaxed at bath time. On the whole there is a great range of opinions from former evacuees about their lives in the evacuation period. It depended on the nature of the child and the family they were staying with.
