Few populations suffered more during World War II than the children of the many war-torn nations. Tens of millions of children were displaced over the course of the war, and millions died from enemy attacks, incarceration, disease, starvation, accidents, and exposure.

When war with Germany appeared imminent, Great Britain started a massive effort to evacuate children from potential target areas such as London to rural areas, the United States, or Commonwealth nations such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa. The move no doubt saved thousands of young lives, though a great many British children still perished in German bomb attacks and many more were orphaned.

Figure 13-2 Children of an eastern suburb of London wait outside the wreckage of what was their home.

Photo courtesy of the National Archives (306-NT-3163V)

German children were well fed and cared for during the early months of the war, but the situation changed dramatically once the Allies began extensive bombing of Germany. There were a few brief evacuation efforts to remove children from target areas, but because Hitler felt the idea of fleeing civilians reflected poorly on the Third Reich, mass evacuations were never ordered. As a result, thousands of innocent German children were killed during Allied bombing raids and the devastation that followed.

Children in Japan suffered similarly as a result of the bombing of the Japanese mainland late in the war. Evacuation efforts started in 1944, but many children were still harmed. In one extensive U.S. raid on Tokyo, more than 30,000 children are known to have been killed.

The Holocaust also took a tremendous toll on the youth of Europe. Children of Jewish descent were routinely rounded up and sent to concentration camps or labor camps, where they died by the thousands. According to a 1947 report by the Child Study Association of America, only 10 percent of the Jews who survived the Holocaust were children. By 1946, the study added, “there were practically no children between the ages of six and twelve years among the displaced Jews of Germany.”

Children in the United States, while spared the horrors of combat in their own backyard, still suffered as a result of the war. Many, known as “door-key children,” were forced to raise themselves because both parents were involved in the war effort. (Typically, Dad was fighting overseas while Mom worked in war production.) The lack of parental supervision also resulted in a dramatic increase in juvenile delinquency.