Figure 1.--
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Figure 1.-- |
As the Allies stepped up their bombing campaign, the Nazis began evacuating children, just as the British had done in 1940 when the Blitz began. The German evacuation program was very different. While British children were taken in by families in more secure areas outside the cities targeted, the German children were instead sent to camps. As in Britain, the children were evacuated from threatened cities. They were sent to Hitler Youth KLV (Kinderlandverschickung) camps located mainly in the rural regions of East Prussia, the Warthegau section of Poland, Upper Silesia, and Slovakia.
From 1940 to 1945, over 2.8 million German children were sent to these camps. There were separate KLV camps for boys and girls. About 5,000 camps were eventually in operation, varying greatly in sizes from the smallest which had 18 children to the largest which held 1,200. Each camp was run by a Nazi approved teacher and a Hitler Youth squad leader. The camps replaced big city grammar schools, most of which were closed due to the bombing. Reluctant parents were forced to send their children away to the camps.
As the Allies stepped up their bombing campaign, the Nazis began evacuating children, just as the British had done in 1940 when the Blitz began. The German evacuation program was very different. While British children were taken in by families in more secure areas outside the cities targeted, the German children were instead sent to camps. As in Britain, the children were evacuated from threatened cities. The German children, however, were sent to Hitler Youth KLV Kinderlandverschickung (KLV) camps. The camps replaced big city grammar schools, most of which were closed due to the bombing. Reluctant parents were forced to send their children away to the camps.
The Hitler Youth organization set up Kinderlandverschickung (KLV) Camps. KLV stands for Children's Country ???. They were located mainly in the rural regions of East Prussia, the Warthegau section of Poland, Upper Silesia, and Slovakia.
From 1940 to 1945, over 2.8 million German children were sent to these camps. There were separate KLV camps for boys and girls. About 5,000 camps were eventually in operation, varying greatly in sizes from the smallest which had 18 children to the largest which held 1,200.
Each camp was run by a Nazi approved teacher and a Hitler Youth squad leader. The directors varied. Some were wounded SS veterans. Others had Hitler Youth or Labor Service backgrounds. Often they had their own pet ideas for organizing these camps and the training programs to be employed. They in effect used the children to try out these ideas.
Life inside the boys' camp was harsh, featuring a dreary routine of roll calls, para-military field exercises, harsh drill, hikes, marches, recitation of Nazi slogans and propaganda,
along with endless singing of Hitler Youth songs and Nazi anthems. School work was neglected while supreme emphasis was placed on the boys learning to automatically snap-to attention at any time of the day or night and to obey all orders unconditionally "without any if or buts."
The regime at these camps varied depeding on the camp director. At one camp the children were punished tasking desert. Punishments varied from camp to camp. Often the children were beaten. At one camp children were locked in a smokehouse where it was hard to breath . At a number they had to stay in outhouses. Nails were in the walls so they hand to stand up in the stench for extended periods.
The Hitler Youth were under some constraints as to what they did with the boys while they were living at home. Even in NAZI Germany, parents could complain to authorities if discipline or activities breeched established norms. Even committed NAZI Party members did not want their children treated harshly. Once the children had been removed from the protected environment of the home, they were defenseless agianst the regime. Isolated in these camp and without any counter-balancing influences from a home life, the boys descended into a primitive, survival of the fittest mentality. It was a kind of real life occurance of William Goldings's Lord of the Flys. Weakness was despised. Civilized notions of generosity and sympathy for those in need faded. There was a lot of bullying and fighting among the boys. Rigid pecking orders arose in which the youngest and most vulnerable boys were bullied, humiliated, and otherwise made to suffer, including sexual abuse.
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