Figure 1.--Here German soldiers during Barbarossa are relaxing at a camp. Boys have access to the camp and are polishing boots. Just how they will be paid we are not sure. The folliage suggests an early phase of Barbarossa, probably July 1941. We are not sure why, but we believe they are in Soviet areas, other than the Baltics, perhaps Belarus, in part because of the caps the boys are wearing. At the time the Germans were achieving great victories leading them to believe that the War was won.

We see some children who seem to be working for the Germans, providing various services. Polishing boots was probably the most common services, but there were many other small services boys could usefully perform for the soldiers. In many of these images the attitide of the children is unclear except that some reward seems to be expected. What we primarily have to go on is the expressions on the boys' faces. Here almost always we are talking about boys. The girls were more likely to be kept at home and away from the Germans. We are not sure money is involved as Soviet currency presumably no longer had value. And we are not sure about German currency. Perhaps candy, food, or cigarettes were on offer. Here we are just not sure.

Created: 4:09 AM 9/23/2007
Last updated: 12:08 PM 11/12/2017