Exploring the Different Reactions of People Toward Evacuation

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Exploring the Different Reactions of People Toward Evacuation On the 31st August 1939 1.5 million school children were evacuated to the countryside to be taken in by families across the country. The evacuation took place over the next 3 days and by the end day war was declared. The idea of evacuation was protect and save innocent lives and look after the future of Britain against the new technology. The four groups involved each had very different experiences of evacuation. Many of the evacuees enjoyed the experience in the country although many hated it. Many of the evacuees felt that the country was strange and very different to life in the city as some of they had never even seen a cow before. The children had no say in where or even if they were to be evacuated. The children were often lined up in a line and picked out like cattle by the new foster parents. Some of the evacuees were very homesick and some were sent home early. They were often very scared as many were very young and they were just sent on a train alone to an unknown destination. Others found the experience were exciting and thought of it like more of an adventure as it was a new place. Some of the children felt unwanted and even sometimes badly treated or beaten, many were made to feel at home and like one of the family. The children that felt unwanted and had bad experiences felt resentful towards there parents as they were the ones that sent them there. It was said that Bernard Kops enjoyed for the first time “hot water that came from a tap, and upstairs lavatory and something called the eiderdown”. He was very lucky that he got sent to a nice clean home as many of them got sent to dirty homes and felt very homesick. The parents had a really hard time with evacuation, some of them were sent away with there children. Most were made to stay in the cities to help with the war effort.

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