Figure 1.--Here we see the boys at the Vienna Children's Observation Home in 1925. We have been unable to find any information about the facility. There was a great need for such facilities After World War I and the difficult economic conditiions in Austria following the War. A reader writes, "I notice that all the children are wearing Lederhosen with 3 buttons on the side. By this time I believe that would be strictly decorative but I am not certain. The outfits include square neck knit shirts, shoes without socks, and shaved heads. It almost seems to be a uniform of some sort. Probably more likely, they did so to keep the children dressed alike." I think it is definitely a uniform which by its very nature is designed to keep the children dressed alike. We can not be certain that all the boys are wearing Ledehosen. They may be, but from the photograph there is no way of being sure. It is interesting that so many are wearing Lederhosen. This was a charity institution and Lederhosen were not cheap. Ledershosen were common in Austria, but there were cheaper alternatives. Note that the boys are not wearing leather halters which commonly went with Lederhosen for boys this age.
We have very little information about European orphanages before the modern era. A rare refeence we have found is to th the Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron in ancient Greece. But this seems to gave been a cult sabctuary for a relatively small number of orphaned girls. We know nothing else about orphnages in the classical world. At the time, orphaned children were mostly taken in by family. In the case of poverty, many fathers sold their children into slavery. We know little more. The Christian church pursued many charitable endevors, including caring for orphans. We do not have a lot of information on this. We do not know of any actual orphanages. We do know that monastaries and nuneries took in orphan childern. Parish priests might informally find families to take in orphans. The first actual institututional orphanages we begin to see were in Europe (18th century). And as the Industrial Revolution took hold we begin to see large numbers of orphanages. A few orohanages appeared in thev 18thbcentury, but they were essentially 19th century instituitioms, for ever imortalized in the public mind by Charles Diucken's Oliver Twist. This is usually depicted as the evils of industry and capitalism. Actually poverty was largely hidden in rural areas, it is only with the Industrial Revolution and urbanization that poverty became visible and the creatioin nof a middle class which sought to do something about it. And not only in Europe, but we begin tomsee orpahanges appearing in Europann colonies in Asia and africa as well. And with the wealth generated by the industrial revolution, churches and government had an increasingly capacity to care for indigent children and orphanages. We note orpanages being founded throughout Europe. Orphanages continued to be commoin nthroyoughout Europe in nthe firstbhalf of thev 20th century. After Workd War II and immeduaire aftermath, you nbrgin to see a shift to small group homes and foster care for needy children.
Orphanages plated an important role in the history of caring for children. Some information is available on a few individual Austrian norphanages, but so far we have been unable to find any overall history. During the 19th century, orphanages housed children in need. This included children who were orphaned or abandoned or whose parents were temporarily unable to care for them because of illness or poverty. As men were for the most part the family breadwinners, if the father dies or was incapacitated this meant that mothers had great difficulty caring for the chikdre, especially largevfamilies. There were few options dependent children. We have been unable to find information on thev history of orphanages in Austria. We know they existed and we believe that they were mostly operated by the Church band church-based charities. In Austria this mnean the Catholic Church. There was a special need after World War I because of the number of men killed or severely injured and the difficult economic situation. American relief efforts gave specialmattention to feeding children after the War. They were probably taken over by the NAZI Party after the Anschluss (1938). This was part of the NAZI campaign against Christianity, especially the Catholic Church. We have no information at this time as to what happened after World War II. We do know that in the post-War era as with other countries, Austria has moved toward community-based and family-based child care systems. There are now quitev a number of small group homes in Austria. There are also children growing up in foster care.
Belgium
Much of World War I on the western front was fought in Belgium. There was terible devestatin and thousands of orphabed children. Photographs of Belgian orphanages during World War I show the boys mostly wearing smocks.
The literature on English orphanages and work houses is legion. Of course most of our concept of English orphanges comes to us from the bleak descriptions Charles Dickens provides in Oliver Twist. As bad as conditions were in 19th century English institutions, it should be remembered that these were some of the first attempts to deal with the problems of poverty. The Victorians viewd these efforts as Christian charity. Other strongly held Victorian values resulted in the creation of institutions that were in fact as bleak as Dickens described. Many Victorians saw poverty as a lack of effort and a result of a
flawed character. Others felt that it was more charitable not to intervene and that Government action would simply foster a debter class that would create even more indigents. Boys in English orphanges usually wore short pants and knee socks. Corduroy was a popular choice.
It is unclear to me how clothes worn by orphans reflected clothes worn by other children. It is likely that French orphans probably was similar to that of families with moderate means. In France this meant that uniforms were common. Many orphanages appeared to have used smocks, in some cases similar to those worn by French school boys. Smocks seemed to have been used by many schools as they were a useful garment to protect clothes and reduce laundry.
In connection with World War I, one often thinks of Belgian and French orphanages. The last years of the War and the years immediately following World War I were terribly difficult in Germany. Large numbers of German civilains died of starvation. (This was one factor in undermining civivilan morale in World War I and a reason that the NAZIs attempted to avoid rationing in the early years of World War II, efforts which led to the plundering of occupied countries.) Unlike World War I efforts to feed Belgium, because of the War there was little interest in humanitarian assistance to Germany, even after the War. Many fathers were killed in the War and mothers had trouble feeding their children. Unemployment was rife and fathers that did return could not find jobs. Thus large numbers of children were put in orphanages at least temprarilty because their parents could not feed them. One boy who spent 1916-18 in an orphanage with his brother recalls the meger food. His family was not allowed to supplement the food or even give a few coins. Such donations had to be turned over to the orphange. He did not mention the clothing at the orphanage. We note a German orphanage, probably during the NAZI era.
The first governor of Greece, Ioannis Kapodistrias, founded the first orphanage in Greece for the children that were orphaned during the independence war. The orphanage was founded in 1828 in Poros island and it was soon transfered to Aegina island. It hosted 600 children. Orphanages came to play an even more important role on the 20th century, especially following World War I and II.
We have no detailed information about orphanages in Italy. We suspect that most orphanages in Italy were founded and supported by the Catholic Church. We are not sure to what extent the state was involved. One might think that the Fascist Government in the 1920s-40s might have given some attention to orphans. There must have been a serious problems with orohaned and disxplaced children in Italy after World War II. We have no details on the situation at this time. Hopefully our Italian readers will provide us some information about orphanages in Italy. We do know that an Irish priest, John Patrick Carroll-Abbing (1912-2001), founded Boys' Towns of Italy inspired by Edward Joseph Flanagan (1886-1948) in the United States. Father Carroll-Abbing founded the first Italian Boys' Town at Civitavecchia (near Rome) in 1945. It was followed by eight additional Boys' Towns during 1946-1955.
(The) Netherlands
Recoirds of Dutch orphanages date to the 16th century. We know this because the Dutch Nationaal Archief holds a variety of sources which are of interest in genealogical research. They hold archives of Dutch orphanages dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries,
HBC has no information on actual Polish orphanages, but some information is available on a Soviet orphanage for Polish children. The Polish Home in Zagorsk (which had since reverted to its traditional name, Sergeyev Posad) was like an oasis in a desert and I have extremely happy memories from that period of my childhood, even though the quantities of food, including American food, as opposed to quality, were insufficient. For example, when on picnics we were instructed to hide our Whitbread sandwiches from Soviet children.
We do not know much about Portuguese orphanages at this time. We believe that the Catholic Church opened the country's first orphnages, but we are not sure just when, probbly the late-middle ages. The Church established charitable institutions long before the state began to fulfill such functions. We know that orphans were used in building the Portugese Empire. Populating colonies was a problem because people were often afraid of leaving tgheir home communities. Orphans could be sent with little community resistance. Sources in the 17th century discuss this. This probably was a factor earlier. It is not clear if the children were obtained from functioning orphanages. There were also state orphanages. We do not know when they were founded, perhaps in the 19th century. We do know that state orphanages were active in the 20th century. We notice a network of institutions for children called Casa Pia. Dawn Refuge is an orphanage run by Campus Crusade for Christ. They help children from abusive or neglected backgrounds.
Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu prohibited both abortion and contraception. He wanted no limit on population growth. He was convinced that population growth combined with communism would lead to economic growth and prosperity. , He issued Decree 770 which banned abortion (October 1966). The only important exception was if the mother was over 40 years old or was caring for four or more children. As a result birth rates especially rose substantially and in homes where the parents could not or would not care for the children. Later Ceauşescu began to fine people for not having children (1977). The children born as a result of these Gobernment policies became known as the 'decreței' (diminuative of decree) meaning decreed children. This increase in births of children that parents did not want resulted in children being abandoned or turned over to opphanages. At the time the orphanages were the repository for children with disabilities and mental illnesses. The normal children were mixed in with them. Even before the wave of decretai began arriving, the orphanages were underfunded and comditions were appalling. The wave of new arrivals turned these facilities into what only be describbed as hell houses. The children experienced institutionalized neglect, physical and sexual abuse as well as drug use to control behavior. One repoter explins how, "The supervisors cultivated violence to humiliate and control the children, he said. The older kids hit the smaller ones. The educators beat everybody. The staff preferred to hit them in the face and head." [Odobescu] Children of school age were chained into cribs and rarely allowed outside. Food, clothing, and medical care were minimal. Some 500,000 children appeared to have been involved. No one knows how many died. Ceausescu used the Securitate to hide the awful truth. Many orphanage administrators embessled some of the limited funding provided by the government. When Ceausescu was deposed, the world learned of the horrifying details about the abused Romanian orphanas. Not only were there thousands of them whose developed had been distorted, but there some 3,000 infected with H.I.V. and not being treated.
Russia in the 20th century has done tumultuous events and changes, including World War I, the Communist Revolution, the Civil War, post-War famine, Stalinism, collectivization, the Gulag, World War II, socialist stagnation, collapse of the Siviet Union, and economic failure. Childern along with their parents had to pay the consequences of the resulting chaos and economic problems. Large numbers of children were prphaned or abandoned by their parents. And this was not just in the early years in the aftermath of World War I. While orphanages have disappeared in most of Western Europe and America, large numbers of children in Russia are being cared for in orphanges. Most are spartan uninviting places with poorly paid and trained staff. For the children with disabilities, conditions are even worse and the institutions do not provide even the barest minimal standards of care. This situation continued throughout Soviet history. And the problem even increased in the last years of the Soviet Union which finally imploded (1991). Russian institutions in the late-1990s were bursting with abandoned children, who now total more than 600,000 children who are defined by the state as being "without parental care. During the late 1990s, more than 113,000 children have been abandoned, reflecting a breathtaking rise from 67,286 in 1992. Another 30,000 are reported to run away from troubled homes each year, clogging the urban railway stations and metros, sometimes ending up in shelters and orphanages.
Serbia
Fighting began in Serbia a month before the outbreak of World war I. International relief aid began to flow into Belgium which the Getrmans invaded and occupied (August 1914). The Central Powers alo invaded and overran Serbia (October 1915), but this receved much less attention. Thre were, however, pivate efforts to save Serbian war orphans who had collected around military camps.
