This idea is coupled with Source A6, which identifies the unfamiliarity Bernard Kops felt when he experienced cleanliness and privileges like carpets and clean sheets when evacuated to Buckinghamshire from Stepney Green in London. Both sources are quite reliable, Source A2 was written by a group of history teachers, this meant they had the benefit of hindsight and so was able to see the long-term effect evacuation had on people’s lives. On the other hand, Source A6 was from an autobiography, which means the events were taken from memory; this might taint the reliability of the source as some memories are more likely to cement more than others, therefore his stay in Buckinghamshire might not be as foreign as noted in the source. Overall, both sources are clear in accentuating the bad conditions some children were in whilst in cities, and the long term changes it triggered after the war.
Although privileges were what some children were met with, some had a totally different experience; this was what happened to Mrs. Beryl Preedy in Source A4. She was seen as ‘help’ and remembers doing chores like cooking and cleaning, and also falling down the stairs because the staircase was dimly lit. This completely contrasts with Bernard Kops in source A6, who was met with benefits and adds to the idea that there was an assortment of changes people experienced. Source A4 was taken from Mrs. Beryl Preedy’s book (1992), which was based on the diary she kept during her life as a wartime evacuee. This makes the source quite reliable, as her diary is a personal item that most likely would not have been sensationalised, and as it was not written from memory, experiences were not blemished.
The evacuees were not the only people affected by evacuation, and not all of them were treated badly by host families like Mrs. Beryl Preedy in Source A4. Source A8 was taken from a BBC radio journalist in September 1939. It quotes the opinion of a young boy from a host family. He likes having evacuees, saying he ‘had a nice time’ showing them what his life is like. The picture accompanied with the source shows an evacuee riding on a donkey led by the young boy; this shows how well they got along. A radio show from the BBC would have been broadcasted nationwide, this is why questions need to be raised over the reliability of this source, this boy’s opinion might have been sensationalised so it can be used as a piece of propaganda to get more adults to evacuate their children.
Source A10 summarises my whole argument. Dr. Penny Starns, a historian and university lecturer, wrote a book called ‘The Evacuation of Children during World War 2’ in 2004. Source A10 is taken from this book, it outlines that evacuation was a ‘life-changing’ event and that there was no ‘typical evacuee experience’; some were ‘pleasant’ while some people ‘suffered’. It also recapitulates the ‘deep and long-lasting’ effects it had on education, health and welfare. As this source was written by a historian who had the benefit of hindsight, I believe it is quite reliable.
To terminate, I believe that these sources are useful and reliable in telling us how some people lives were changed by evacuation. The sources are clear in outlining the different conditions evacuees were in, and the changes in Britain this brought about, but are lacking diversity in the type of person affected. Most of the people in the sources are children, and come from the point of view of an evacuee or a host family, they fail to mention the other types of people evacuated or the families left behind in the main cities. Although there was a range of different experiences, all the sources are quite personal, which means we don’t get a sense of the bigger picture and how people on a whole were affected by Evacuation.
868 Words
