Figure 1.--Here we see a groupmof German soldiers, some look rather old. This suggests tous the photograph was probnly taken in 1944. The boy does not seem to be German. The Wehrmact as part of the Volkstrum took in teenage boys as young as 16 years of age. Some even younger boys as part of the Hitler Youth joined the fight in the final year of the War. This boy is not, howver, a HJ boy. Infact his uniform looks like a Red srmy uniform. It was very unusual for German soldiers to take in boy mascots of Slavic ancestry. There were interests of Volkdeutsche from the Soviet Union, but as far as we know there were no Slavic boys. Of course some Ukranians and even Russians fought with the Germans and these units may have taken in Slavic boys if allowed by their German officers. These soldiers look German, but do not seem to be front-line soldiers. We are not siure just who the boy here. He seems to be wearing a Red Army uniform, but looks very comfortable with the Germans. We do not know where the photograph was taken, presumably somewhere in the Reich. The building is rathger destinctive, perhaps someone will recognize it. Click on the image for a fuller discussion.

World War II was a massive cataclism that affected virtually every part of the world in on way or another. And because of the intensity of the War and the genocidal policies of the Germans and Japanese, many more civilians than combatant were killed. In some cases this was overt murder. In other cases it was using food as a weaponv or through indufference. While children were the most vulnerable civilans, in many cases it was the parents who were first killed or transported for forced labor. As a result, Europe and Asia were awash with tens of thousands of orphaned or unattended children in desperate need. The same was true in the Pacific, although the island populations where Ametican combat troops were committed were smaller than was the case in Europe. In China there were many orphaned chikdre, but Allied servicement were not committed in large numbers to China. Quite a number of children attachd themselves to servicemen of the various combatants, in part because food was available but also for companionship. And to various degrees the soldiers were drawn to the children. It provide a rare sliver of tendrness amid the inhumanity of war.

Created: 7:49 AM 9/27/2012
Last updated: 9:28 AM 9/29/2012