Operation Pied Piper

When war came, the authorities in London and Berlin operated evacuationschemes that sent children into billets and camps in rural reception areas. Thechildren’s exodus either happened orderly and followed years of planning anddiscussion amongst policy makers (London), or haphazardly following thesudden realization that the war would not be fought exclusively elsewhere(Berlin). As policies, the government evacuation schemes were bold,controversial and - considering their distinct political contexts - surprisinglysimilar; as were some of their consequences: the recipients did not acceptthem uncritically, the municipalities failed to evacuate the majority of childrenfrom the cities under attack, and private provision catered for a lot morechildren than the official schemes.This study of the British evacuation and Third Reich Kinderlandverschickung is an original and importantcontribution to the existing scholarship in two ways. First, it stays in the cities (rather than leaving with theevacuees towards the already well-researched evacuation experience) in order to show the scheme’ geneses, butalso to appreciate issues related to their operational conduct in the face of stray children, closed schools andrebellious parents in town. Second, the study explores the evacuation schemes in the two warring capitals incomparative perspective, thus critically analyzing how policy was developed and executed in the face of shiftingand differing political contexts and acute sociological challenges. This study traces local developments throughsources, from the earliest plans contemplated in London during the 1930s to the collapse of the Third Reich anddelayed return of Berlin children in 1946. It covers operational aspects andexplores themes of agency, citizenship, childhood, schooling and therelationship between state and individual.The robust historical research, combined with a strong central narrative,should appeal not only to historians of education or military historians, butalso to policy makers, educators, former evacuees and all readers with aprivate or professional interest in wartime childhoods and evacuations.