Niko Gartner, MA Doctoral School Student, Institute of Education, University of London Operation Pied Piper The Wartime Evacuation of Schoolchildren from London and Berlin 1938-46 A Comparative Policy Study in History of Education A PhD Thesis submitted in August 2011 for Examination to: Dr Stuart Foster, Institute of Education, University of London Dr Kevin Myers, School of Education, University of Birmingham Thesis Supervisor: Prof Dr Jane Martin, Institute of Education, University of London 2 Abstract In the advent of air raids, the authorities in London and Berlin operated schemes for the evacuation of children into billets and camps in rural reception areas. The children's exodus either happened orderly and followed years of planning and discussion amongst policy makers (London), or haphazardly following the sudden realisation that the war would not be fought exclusively elsewhere (Berlin). As policies, the government evacuation schemes were bold, controversial and - considering their distinct political contexts - surprisingly similar; as were some of their consequences: the recipients did not accept them uncritically, the municipalities failed to evacuate the majority of children from the cities under attack, and private provision catered for a lot more children than the official schemes. Both, the British evacuation and Third Reich Kinderlandverschickung have since been the subject of major academic and popular interest, but this study introduces two original angles. One is that it stays in the cities (rather than leaving with the evacuees) in an attempt not only to show the geneses of the schemes, but also to appreciate changes made to them in the face of the stray children, closed schools and rebellious parents in town. The other claim to originality comes from the comparison. Despite their obvious similarities and intriguing differences, the events in the warring capitals have not yet been subject to systematic comparison. This policy study thus traces local developments, from the earliest plans contemplated in London during the 1930s to the collapse of the Third Reich and delayed return of Berlin children in 1946. It covers operational aspects and explores themes of agency, citizenship, childhood, schooling and the relationship between state and individual. This study's foundations are documents from the evacuations' executives and conclusions based on the comparative source analyses include a reassessment of the evacuations' levels of compulsion, explanations for the different and changing roles of teachers in the schemes, changes in the state-citizen relationship, and diverging concepts of childhood and expectations of children. The principal - if slightly predictable - conclusion has to be that the evacuation schemes had as much and as little in common as the states operating them. They reflected London and Berlin's unique and shared political and social realities. 3 THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN REDACTED DUE TO THIRD PARTY RIGHTS OR OTHER LEGAL ISSUES Exhausted and bewildered London evacuees arrive at Stevenage train station and are waiting to be assigned their billets on 1 September 1939. Imperial War Museum collection - IWM HU69028 4 Fur Walter Homo doctus in se semper divitias habet. (Phaedrus, Fabulae 4,21,1) I hereby declare that, except where explicit attribution is made, the work presented in this thesis is entirely my own. Word count (exclusive of appendices, list of reference and bibliography): 91,500 words. 5 Table of Contents REGISTER OF TABLES, PHOTOGRAPHS AND IMAGES 9 GLOSSARY OF THE MOST COMMON TERMS 10 INTRODUCTION 11 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 12 WRITING ABOUT WAR AND CHILDREN 14 LIMITS AND EXCLUSIONS 15 TECHNICALITIES I - TRANSLATIONS 18 TECHNICALITIES II - TERMINOLOGY 18 CHAPTER ONE - A REVIEW OF THE EVACUATIONS' HISTORIOGRAPHY 21 1.1. THE EVACUATIONS 21 1.1.1. England & Wales 21 1.1.2. Third Reich 24 1.1.3. Across Borders 29 1.2. THE CITIES 30 CHAPTER TWO - METHODS, CONCEPTS AND SOURCES 32 2.1. METHODS 32 2.1.1. The Suspicious Researcher 32 2.1.2. Notes on Documentary Research 35 2.1.3. Notes on Comparative Research 38 2.1.4. The Value of Triangulation 41 2.2. CENTRAL CONCEPTS 47 Social Class 47 Cities and Urban Population 48 State, Policy and Bureaucracy 49 Community, Family and Citizenship 51 2.3. SOURCES 53 2.3.1. Where are this Study's Primary Sources? 53 2.3.2. Using Contemporary Surveys 57 2.4. CHAPTER CONCLUSION 59 CHAPTER THREE - THE EVACUATIONS' ORIGINS AND ENVIRONMENT 60 3.1. THE STATE OF THE NATIONS 60 3.2. THE CITIES 65 3.2.1. London Before the War 65 3.2.2. Berlin Before the War 69 3.3. BEFORE THE EVACUATIONS 70 3.3.1. Origins of Evacuation in England and Wales 70 3.3.2. Schools under the Nazis 72 3.3.3. Origins of the Kinderlandverschickung - HI NSLB and NSV 73 Hitlerjugend and Bund deutscher Meidel 74 Nationalsozialistischer Lehrerbund 78 Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt and the Original Kinderlandverschickung 79 3.4. CHAPTER CONCLUSION 82 CHAPTER FOUR - PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 84 LONDON 85 4.1.1. A First Plan for London 85 4.1.2. A Conference with the Heads of London Schools 88 4.1.3. The Emergency Evacuation Memorandum 90 6 4.1.4. Accelerated Planning 93 4.1.5. The Chelsea Test Evacuation 97 BERLIN 101 4.2.1. Precipitate Planning in Berlin 101 4.2.2. The Education Ministry's Orders 107 4.2.3. The KLV Takes Shape 108 4.3. THE TRAIN COMPANIES 113 4.4. CHAPTER CONCLUSION 114 CHAPTER FIVE - OPERATION 117 LONDON 118 5.1.1. Plan II: The Biggest Exodus from London 118 5.1.2. Two LCC Bulletins 120 5.1.3. The Aftermath of Plan II 125 5.1.4. Reviews of the Evacuation in Contemporary Surveys 127 BERLIN 131 5.2.1. Kommt mit in die Kinderlandverschickung! 131 5.2.2. The NSV's KLV Directive 132 5.2.3. Sending Older Children into HJ Camps 135 5.2.4 Familiar Problems 137 5.3. CHAPTER CONCLUSION 139 CHAPTER SIX - THE CITIES LEFT BEHIND 142 LONDON 143 6.1.1. 'They went away. They came back. They are running wild.' 143 6.1.2. An LCC Response to Criticism 146 6.1.3. Reasons for Returning to London 149 6.1.4. 'What about Your Child? Have you Decided?' 152 6.1.5. London Life during the Blitz 154 BERLIN 156 6.2.1. Wartime Berlin - Without the War 156 6.2.2. The Bombing of Berlin 159 6.2.3. A Meeting of KLV Executives 162 6.2.4. Reasons for Parental Non-Compliance 165 6.3. CHAPTER CONCLUSION 167 CHAPTER SEVEN - POLICY CHANGES 170 7.1.1. Personnel Changes 172 7.1.2. Escalations 172 LONDON 175 7.2.1. Changing Policy in London 175 7.2.2. Discussing Compulsory Evacuation 177 7.2.3. Propaganda Drive 179 7.2.4. Policy Changes: Plan IV, the Trickle, and the Doodle Bug Evacuation 182 BERLIN 187 7.3.1. Changing Policy in Berlin 187 7.3.2. Eltern der Berliner Schuljugend! 190 7.3.3. Policy Changes: Schulverlegung 194 7.3.4. Evidence of Opposition 195 7.4. CHAPTER CONCLUSION 197 CHAPTER EIGHT - THE END OF THE WAR 200 LONDON 201 8.1.1. The End of the War 201 7 8.1.2. The Organised Return of the Children 202 8.1.3. The Aftermath 206 8.1.4. After the War: the Evacuation's Legacies 209 BERLIN 213 8.2.1. The End of the War 213 8.2.2. The Closing Down of the KLV 215 8.2.3. A Difficult Journey Home 216 8.2.4. Rebuilding from Ruins 219 8.2.5. After the War: The KLV legacies and the Kriegskinder Generation 221 8.3. CHAPTER CONCLUSION 223 CHAPTER NINE - COMPARISONS 225 9.1. OPERATIONAL ASPECTS 226 9.1.1. The Level of Compulsion 226 9.1.2. The Role of Teachers 228 9.1.3. The Distance from the Cities 230 9.2. THE STATE, ITS AGENTS AND CITIZENS 231 9.2.1. Difficult Relationships 231 9.2.2. Questions of Power and Agency 235 9.2.3. Motives and Purposes 238 9.3. CHILDREN AND CHILDHOOD 240 9.4. CHAPTER CONCLUSION 243 CHAPTER TEN - CONCLUSIONS 245 REGISTER OF KEY DOCUMENTARY SOURCES IN THIS STUDY 250 BIBLIOGRAPHY 255 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 268 8 Register of Tables, Photographs and Images (Evacuees arriving at Stevenage train station) Photograph IWM: HU69028 page 4 Hand-drawn map of evacuation routes across London, LMA: EO/WAR/1/131 page 83 Table 1: Responsibilities of London's evacuation in spring 1939 page 93 (Chelsea Test, Older Girl checking young boy's Label) Photograph LMA: EO/WAR/1/23 page 100 Table 2: Responsibilities for Berlin's evacuation in October 1940 page 109 Leave this to Us Sonny Poster IWM PST 13854 page 116 Kommt mit in die Kinderlandverschickung Poster DHM: P 2000/48 page 116 (Girls waving Swastika Flags from Train Carriage) Photograph BA: Bild 146-1978-013-14 page 130 The Great Evacuation Photograph IWM: HU 36871 page 169 Mothers! You'd give your life for your children... Press Clipping LMA: EO/WAR/1/75 page 181 (Boys splashing in the Sea) Photograph BA: Bild 183-B04116 page 186 Children are Safer in the Country...Leave Them There Poster LMA: EO/WAR/1/76 page 199 Der Luftterror geht weiter - Mutter schafft eure Kinder fort Poster from Shoa.de page 199 LCC table of reasons for evacuees' inability to return to London LMA: EO/WAR/1/131 page 205 Titmuss' estimates of total participation in the Evacuation scheme Table (Titmuss, 1950, p. 562) page 208 (Routemasters and children on a London street) Photograph IWM: 552-127 page 249 9 Glossary of the most Common Terms German Abbreviation English A.R.P.