Figure 1.--The full, enormity of these images is not immediately apparent apparent because it looks like they are photographs of children and their parents are just not in the photograph. But the actual situation is that the Germans have either killed the parents or seized them for slave labor in the Reich. They commonly did not bother with the children because hey were of no use. If theu had beem Jewish children they would have been killed. Non-Jewish children they just did not bother with. Of course childrten this age would not have survived on thir own. Here three Ukranin chilldren were photographed amid the remains of what was once their home on a collectiuce farm in late 1942. After German forces destroyed the family’s house, they took or killed the adults, probably womwnm, as captives for slave labor. They left the children abandoned..

The chaos created by the NAZI invasion separated many families. Large numbers of people fled east. Skilled workers were evacuated east along with factories. Conditions were dreadful in the areas occupied by the NAZIs. The result of the war damage, attrocities, and deportations were a huge number of orphaned or displaced children. This problem was especially severe in the occupied areas. The NAZIs ignored the problem because their goal was to reduce the population of Slavs and the children in particular were of no economic value. Soviet authorities were thus left with a massive problem when they began liberating areas occupied by the NAZIs. Some children wondered the desolated cities or countryside. The situation was handeled better than after World War I/Civil war when gangs of children banded together and roamed the countryside. Many orphanages were established to care for the children. In some cases their parents were dead. In other cases their parents or a parent survived the War but had difficulty finding what happened to their children. The problem was most severe with the younger children. They could not identify themselves and often basic records as to even the village they came from were lost in the chaotic situation. Some children were adopted or evacuated to distant locations. Fathers returning to destroyed villages had no way of knowing if their children had survived. They had to go from orphanage to orphanage. Special radio programs attempted to reunite families. Large numbers of children were never identified.

Created: 11:18 PM 4/12/2022
Last updated: 11:18 PM 4/12/2022