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Introduction

Explain the differing reactions of the British people to the policy of evacuation in World War Two There were two main different groups who were evacuated; school age children, and teachers. They all had different experiences the majority positive, such as finding a new loving family and being safe. But some people suffered negative experiences, such as being treated as slaves and being beaten and bullies. However all the groups would learn at the end of their evacuation that they were grateful if not anything else then for being safe? Then there were the receiving groups; the receiving families and their children who would have resented the evacuees in some cases but in most cases grown to love them. And finally there were the parents who sent their children away from the cities. They would have had a lot of negative emotions but also felt the positivity of knowing their child/ren were safe. The first and main group of people to be evacuated were school children. Evacuated children would have had different experiences, so they therefore would have had different reactions to the policy of evacuation. Poor children who lived in slums would have probably been more excited about being evacuated, and they would have felt a sense of adventure, because they were going away, possibly for the first time ever. ...read more.

Middle

The country children would have had a negative experience because of this, and did not really have any positive experiences, except some of them would have made friends with the evacuees. The most affected group were Parents who had sent their children off to the country side; because they would have felt maybe like they had failed their children, because they had had to send them away and hadn't been able to protect them and instead had had to send them away. However parents would have felt a sense of relief, as they knew their child/ren were safe from the falling bombs. They would have probably felt as nervous as the children because they wouldn't have been away from their children very much. This would have turned it into a negative experience. However some parents would have been happy their children were away as it meant they could focus on the war effort without the children being in the way and risking getting injured. Poorer parents would have also been glad to get the older children away, because although they would miss their children, they would have fewer mouths to feed, and therefore be able to survive in that sense more easily. These are the parents that may have been happiest if their child (ren) wanted to stay in the country side. ...read more.

Conclusion

Most parents however would have felt very mixed emotions towards evacuation. The last main group of people who were evacuated were teachers. They would have been evacuated to help deal with the sudden rise in the amount of children and to help with the teaching load. Teachers who were travelling with the children would have had a mixed experience, because they would have to look after all the children in their class in the school day, so would be faced with a lot of responsibility. Teachers would have missed their families because they had had to move away from their home town and maybe their children had been evacuated, so they would have had the mixed feelings parents had. This would have turned it into a very negative experience because they would have felt like they ere getting nothing out of the evacuation. However some would have felt glad they were evacuated with the children because, they did not have to put their lives at risk with the war effort but they didn't have the guilt as they were looking after the children. In conclusion all of the different groups involved in evacuation felt very different emotions and had very different experiences, ranging from the very positive to the very negative. However whatever the experiences, the majority of people from any of the groups would realise the benefits and needs of evacuation after the war ended, or in the children's case when they were adults. ...read more.

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Britain 1905-1951 section.