As I mentioned previously, much propaganda was around; it was being directed from the Government to parents. They couldn’t force parents to evacuate their children, and so they used biased messages showing the dangers of leaving their children in the cities, and showing pictures of the bombings and films of the homeless and ruined lives. Showing the negatives of cities and the pluses of the countryside was meant to persuade parents to send their children to safety, and a lot of the time it did. However, some parents didn’t want to send their children away, despite how safe it might be away from the bombings. What if their children didn’t want to come back? What if they thought life in the countryside was better? What if their foster families were better to them? What if whilst they were away, something happened? What if their home was bombed when they were there? What if they never got to see their children again? These were some thoughts that prevented some parents from evacuating their children, along with; I’m sure, many others.
The children who were reacted seemed happy enough in the films shown to the parents, but not forgetting here that these films were produced and censored by the Government; after all, how can you persuade parents to send their children away if you’ve got children, parents and families crying and refusing to separate? Of course some children would look forward to it; in a way it was a free holiday for them and a relief from the war life in the cities. Many children had never been to the countryside, or if they had, not recently due to the war, going away with other children you knew and getting to meet new friends was an exciting prospect. But on the other hand, this “free holiday” meant separating from you parents, your siblings, your families, and it wasn’t a guarantee that you would b placed in the same foster house, street or even town as your siblings or friends. Most foster parents were nice to their children, but not all foster parents wanted the evacuees; after all, they weren’t getting paid to have them, they had to pay for them themselves. This was a major expenditure for some, especially during the rationing. Some children would get it easy, they would be placed with a family who wanted to look after them, and treated them as one of their own, but some weren’t so lucky; some children who were placed with farmers or families of industrial trades were taken in as free labour. The reaction of the child depended mainly on the child, the age, the sex, the personality, the family they were placed with and their backgrounds. For instance, the religion issue; the Government didn’t match children with families, so a Jewish child could be placed with a Catholic family, and spend more time lying about his or her identity than being his or herself. This could place a lot of strain on the relationship between the child and their new family. This is also another reason that parents may not want the Government moving their children; they weren’t being matched with the right families.
As I said earlier, not all foster families wanted children living with them, after all, things were a lot different in the city than in the countryside. These were other people’s children living with you for free, and doing things there way. And it was also hard when parents moved out with their children, after all, two mothers who don’t know each other may not find it easy to get along in a house after being used to doing things their way. The host families had not experienced city life and the bombings and so felt sorry for the evacuees, as their homes, lives and families may have been destroyed in the bombing raids. Some host families were shocked to see the state of the children when they arrived they were hungry, thin, dirty, with scabies and sores, dressed in rags and sometimes ill. One quote from a middle-class woman who took on evacuees-
“Some children from poor areas have become almost unrecognisable within a few weeks. One small girl was so chubby that she needed a larger size gas mask.”
Obviously food wasn’t in such short supply in the countryside, and so the evacuees found it a shock that they were never told that they had to stop eating-
“…They never tell you you can’t have no more to eat.”
Posters and leaflets were issued around the countryside, trying to persuade people to foster children or families, with slogans such as –
“Thank you, Foster Parents…we want more like you!”
Some host families who had looked after children for a while, and who had seen the appalling state that they had arrived in, didn’t want to send them back to families who mistreated them, or let them become as they were before again, whereas some host families could not wait to get rid of them. Some families only got the children for a form of free labour, like farmers and people in local industry.
Families were told that they could pick out the child/ children that they wanted, which could’ve appealed to them, but not to the children, who would have to be almost auctioned off, and maybe left till last.
Although the reactions to evacuation was varied across the country, I think I can say that most people were excited about evacuation, parents who could be worry free, and freed up to work and fight freely, and the children who were happy to be away from the bombing whatever the host family was like, and having a free holiday in the countryside with a constant supply of food and new friends.
