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World War II indeed brought more horrors to children than any other modern war. The horrors inflicted on children virtually defy description. Children were affected not only by the staggerings dimensions of the War, but by the tactics and strategies adopted by the combatatants. The Germans and Japanese used terror bombing of civilian populations as an offensive tactic in the early phases of the War. The Americans and British eventually adopted the same tactic as part of their strategic doctrine. Children as part of the civilain population were this affected. The Germans did even more than bomb civilains. First they targeted handicaped children for sterilization or death. Once the War began they targeted non Aryan populations for death or slavery in a new Europe. Children here were a special target as they had no value as workers and thus Jewish children were among the first to be killed. Some wre even used in diobolical medical experiments. Thousands of other non-Jewish children were kidnapped and assessed racially by SS and other doctors. Most that failed the racial testing or were uncooperative eventually died in concentration camps. Those that passed were brought to the Reich for Germiniztion by SS and other approved families.
World War II indeed brought more horrors to children than any other modern war. The horrors inflicted on children virtually defy description. Children were affected not only by the staggerings dimensions of the War, but by the tactics and strategies adopted by the combatatants.
The Germans and Japanese used terror bombing of civilian populations as an offensive tactic in the early phases of the War. The Americans and British eventually also began bombing cities as part of their strategic doctrine. Children as part of the civilain population were thus affected. Thousands were killed in the aerial campaign including large numbers of children. The NAZIs initiated terror bombings at the beginning of the War. Some of the attacks on Warsaw, Rotterdam, Belgrade, and other cities were designed specifically as terror bombings on unprotected cities with no military objective other than to terrorize the helpless population into surrender. Hitler called it "Schrecklichkeit" (frightfulness). He called the bombing of Belgrade "Operation Punishment" Both America and Britain labeled German and Japanese bombings of cities as attrocities, but then unleased an even more horrific campaign. One problem in World War II of course was that there were no smart weapons. Given the instruments of war at the time, the RAF bombers at night was often lucky to hit the right city let alone an actual target. The Americans bombed during the day, but only a fraction of the bombs fell on the targets which were primarily in the major cities. While the Allies did not enunciate "Schrecklichkeit" as a policy, the Germans civilians concerned would be hard pressed to find a destinction. Here morality becomes very difficult to assess. If ever a war met the definition as a just war in Christian theology it was World War II. Certainly bombing cities full of civilians, including women and children, is a terrible act. But how does one fight an enemy mobilized for war producing weapons in those cities with civilian labor that is committed to the War effort--a War effort with evil objectives? Is a country morally right to respond to an enemy using terror bombing by terror bombings of their own? Is it not moraly acceptable to bomb cities to destroy a country's ability to conduct war when that country is engaged in the sytematic murder of millions and the enslavement of millions more? How many more Europeans, including Germans, would have died if the Allies had not forced the NAZIs to surrender in 1945? The Dutch, for example, were starving when the Allies reached them--including some HBC readers. May other Europeans were in similar circumstances.
The NAZI Germans did even more than bomb civilains. First they targeted handicaped children for sterilization or death. NAZI hereditary courts were set up. Teachers and family doctors referred children to these courts. Some children were serilized. Others were taken from therir partents and killed in sanitoriums by doctors ans nurses. These were not Jewish children, but Aryan children.
Once the War began they targeted non Aryan populations for death or slavery in a new Europe. Children here were a special target as they had no value as workers and thus Jewish children were among the first to be killed. Some wre even used in diobolical medical experiments. Others were targeted for killing murder in Polish death camps, especially gypsies. Most Jewish children were murdered within a fe hours of arriving at the camps. Others experienced more lingering deaths--the subject of diobolical medical experiments.
The most horrific fate of Jewish children and adults is well documented. The future for other non-Aryan peoples in Eurpoe was a kind of brutal servitude to their Germanic masters presided over by the NAZI SS.
Thousands of other non-Jewish children were kidnapped and assessed racially by SS and other German doctors and medical staff. (The medical profession in Germany was one of the most compliant with the NAZIs and the New Order.) Most that failed the racial testing or were uncooperative eventually died in concentration camps. Those that passed were brought to the Reich for Germiniztion by SS and other approved families.
World War II left large numbers of people homeless are far removed from their homeland. Millions of homes had been
destroyed. Whole populations had been removed. The Soviets transported large numbers of people from the Baltic
Republics to Siberia. Poles were moved west. Chechens and other peoles were also transported. The NAZIs of course
targeted the Jews for death camps. Many Poles were transported from the areas of Poland incorporated into the Reich.
The Germans brought millions to the Reich for slave labor labor. Many were young people without children, but some
had children which were left behind. Many parents were killed in the bombing and shelling. Among the displaced were
huge numbers of children. The children were of course the least likely to survive. If separated from their parents their
chances were not good. Jewish children were among the first to be killed by the NAZIs because they had no economic value which could be exploited. One can not
forget the images of the starving Jewish children in the Warsaw Getto whose parents had been killed and they were left alone. Even non-Jewish children were
unlikely to survive without their parents. But many did survive and at the end of the war there were hundreds of thousands of displaced children. Adding to the
human tragedy were millions of Germans streaming back to the Reich to avoid the Red Army. After the War German populations in Poland and other countries were
forcibly transported to occupied Germany.
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