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We do not yet have historical information on the development of orphanages in France. We believe that the first French orphanages were Catholic charity instituions. We have no information on the first orphanages. Most orphans were taken in by other family mmbers. The Church especially monastaries took in orphnas. The first orphanages were probably operated by the Church. We are not sure when the French state began to open orphanages. The secular orientation of the Third Republic probably affected the development of state orphanages. Surely World War I resulted in need to open many new prohanages. the scale of the death and destruction was beyond the dimensions of normal french siocierty to deal with. The carnage on the Western Front was unprecesented. It was not that French children lost both parents. The caranage was mostly the fathers at the front. The fathers were the family breadwinners. Which meant that large numbers of French families had no means of support. As a result many orphanages were opened to care for these children. One of the orphanages was opened n American group and called the Army Orphanage to care for the children of French soldiers. All World War I orphans were seen as 'pupilles de l'état/pupilles de la nation'. This was not an entirely new concept. Napoleon had ordered the children of the men who died at the blody Battle of Austerlitz to be adopted by the nation. This was, hperver, a single act and not a continuous policy. It was adopted as a national policy during World War I because of the huge losses (1917). It was not just creating orphanages. There were programs to assist children being cared for at home by injured fathers and widowed mothers. This included paying school fees, ummer camos, and other assutance efforts. The sitution was different in World War II. The Germans defeated and occupied France in the first year of the Wae (June 1940). Casualties were his a fraction of World War I, although large numbers of French soldiers were interned in POW camps within the Reich and used in slave labor for 4 years. Thus again there were prphanages duringband after the War, but not as mamy. Many were operated by the Church as Vichy had very limited resources given the massive German exploitatiin of the economy.
We do not yet have historical information on the development of orphanages in France. We believe that the first French orphanages were Catholic charity instituions. We have no information on the first orphanages. Most orphans were taken in by other family mmbers. The Church especially monastaries took in orphnas. The first orphanages were probably operated by the Church. We are not sure when the French state began to open orphanages. The secular orientation of the Third Republic probably affected the development of state orphanages.
Surely World War I resulted in need to open many new prohanages. the scale of the death and destruction was beyond the dimensions of normal french siocierty to deal with. The carnage on the Western Front was unprecesented. It was not that French children lost both parents. The caranage was mostly the fathers at the front. The fathers were the family breadwinners. Which meant that large numbers of French families had no means of support. As a result many orphanages were opened to care for these children. One of the orphanages was opened by an American group and called the Army Orphanage to care for the children of French soldiers. All World War I orphans were seen as 'pupilles de l'état/pupilles de la nation'. This was not an entirely new concept. Napoleon had ordered the children of the men who died at the blody Battle of Austerlitz to be adopted by the nation. This was, hperver, a single act and not a continuous policy. It was adopted as a national policy during World War I because of the huge losses (1917). It was not just creating orphanages. There were programs to assist children being cared for at home by injured fathers and widowed mothers. This included paying school fees, ummer camos, and other assutance efforts.
The killing ended with the Armistuice (1918), but the srress on families continued with the loss if the orinciopal breader eraers. And of course children need to be cared for into their teens, meaning that prphanages wereneed in thev 1920s and into the v30s.
The sitution was different in World War II. The Germans defeated and occupied France in the first year of the Wae (June 1940). Casualties were thus a fraction of World War I, although large numbers of French soldiers were interned in POW camps within the Reich and used in slave labor for 4 years. Thus again there were orphanages during and after the War, because many famiklies lost their primary bread eramets. Albeit not nearly as manyn as in World War I. Many were operated by the Church as Vichy had very limited resources given the massive German exploitatiin of the economy.
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