Impact Of Ww2 On Children (The Forgotten Victims Of World War II) - Essay Example

? IMPACT OF WW2 ON CHILDREN (The Forgotten Victims of World War II) As if World War I had not disrupted life in general, world saw beginning of another horrifying era: World War II. Even though men and women both made unlimited sacrifices for their countries; the role played by a very important part of society, the young generation cannot be ignored. Youth showed strength and unity in face of adversity. The hardships that children had to bear during World War II are beyond imagination. Restriction of diet, evacuations to be safe from air raids and bombings, loss of family members, and disruption of education systems are only a few of the problems faced by these brave souls. World War II, as often called as “War against children”, saw kids who were hungry, displaced, murdered, abused, and kidnapped. Post war humanitarian movements to protect these children were initiated very late. This paper focuses describing the different ways these precious minds were affected by World War II. The monumental effects will be briefly explained in order to give a rough idea of how horrifying the war experiences were for these kids. Table of Contents 1.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..4 1.2 Impact of ww2 on children’s daily lives…………………………………………………….4 1.3 Child Soldiers………………………………………………………………………………...5 1.4 Physical impact on war children…………………………………………………………...5 1.5 Moral and spiritual impact on war children………………………………………………6 1.6 Psychological impact on war children……………………………………………………..6 1.7 Social and cultural impact on war children………………………………………………8 1.8 Educational impact on war children……………………………………………………….9 1.9 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………..11 Works cited……………………………………………………………………………………...12 Effects of World War II on Children 1.1 Introduction World War II established a whole new meaning to lives of not only the soldiers fighting over it but also those at home front, especially children. It was a critical time which resulted in reorganization of the whole society. For many children, World War II was the defining experience of their lives. Some associated the times with patriotism while some with intense consciousness of being part of a generation distinct from others. Others saw the era with great anxiety, a period of family separation or bearing heavy personal and financial losses. The pressures exerted on these children affected their daily lives as well as their way of thinking. Children along with elders were voluntarily or involuntarily forced to not only exert their every move towards war efforts but also solve day to day problems on their own. This paper is an attempt to explore the variety of effects World War II created on the youth. 1.2 Impact of World War II on Children’s Daily lives Juliet Gardiner asserts that “the forgotten victims of World War Two were the children.” ("Children and World War Two") It did not matter to which country they belonged to, whether they were American, British, and Japanese or from Poland, youth of all regions were massively affected by it. In Britain alone, nearly 2 million children were evacuated from their homes at the start of the War. ("Children and World War Two") An uncountable number of killings gave rise to many orphans. Otherwise, as most of the men of a family entered war, daily life of the younger ones was mostly affected. They had to face time away from not just fathers, uncles, and brothers but also long hours away from mothers, who took place of husbands in factories. Once the bombing started in some areas, they had the frightening experience of shelling and had no choice but to safeguard themselves in bomb shelters. In some cases, children were transferred from their home places to small villages, orphanages, and other country homes during evacuations. (Zahra 308) In some cases, kids were faced with abuse or having their ration cards snatched away from them or ended up going through child labor. The little ones were cared for by the teenager lot and overall young minds had to mature early to bear the situation at hand. 1.3 Child Soldiers Children of age fifteen and above served as child soldiers in about three-quarters of all the ongoing conflicts in the world at war. (Marten 2) Those at far younger ages participated as spotters, observers and message-carriers. This torture was an inflicted pressure on these precious minds to bear for survival and sometimes a result of pure brain washing against enemy. An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 children were child soldiers for both rebel groups and government forces during war. (Marten 2) 1.4 Physical impact on War Children War-related violence, trauma, bombing, and total breakage of family infrastructure dramatically altered physical conditions of the youth. Following are the physical impacts of World War II on Children. Death: Hundreds and thousands of children died as a result of direct violence, rape and abuse during war. They were targeted either on basis of war conflicts or ethnic cleansing. Bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed thousands of children. (Rosen 199) Injury: Millions of children suffered war injuries due to target killings, dangerous weapons use or landmines explosions as well as severe injuries generated from atomic bombings. The first experimental “gas chambers” were used on German children who were mentally incapacitated. (Rosen 200) Disability: Kids endured a wide range of disabilities without any access to rehabilitation centers or any health care facilities. Landmine victims were left without limbs to survive on their own. Illness: Child health conditions in general deteriorated to high extents in war. Malnutrition, unsafe drinking water, lung related health problems due to bombings, unhygienic sanitation and housing and exposure to infectious illnesses are only some of the health associated problems faced. Interruption of population immunization and loss of immunity to certain diseases led to high mortality rates. (Lanius 315) 1.5 Moral and Spiritual impact on War Children Since children had to experience migration without elders’ assistance, indifference from the surrounding world, harsh refugee camp life, or worse still, malevolence, caused a severe loss of meaning for good life and character building. (Santa Barbara 891)They completely changed their moral structures and boosted their confidence by using lying, manipulation, stealing and sometimes selling sex for their mere survival in war. Ethnic cleansing and refugee camps gave way to sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. (Santa Barbara 891) The pure innocence, sense of care, love and honesty were totally lost in these kids. 1.6 Psychological impact on war children These young minds were exposed to such haunting and terrorizing situations that left behind irremovable psychological impacts. High rate of deaths and severe losses in their lives led to emotional instability, anxiety, confusion and deep depression states in war-affected children. The most haunting issues faced by them were in the concentration camps as well as violence in refugee Centres. (Levy and Sidel 168) Prolonged exposure to grief and brutality resulted in posttraumatic stress disorders in the youth. Hiding of children during World War II: Children during the Blitz of London who were taken into hiding to save from deportation were deeply traumatized as they had to be separated from their parents and had no idea where they would be going or with whom they had to live for how long. Even life after war was a deeply damaged experience as children often forgot their parents, or parents could not find their young ones and had to take help of Red Cross, or advertisements. Certain families were still remained unsure of the identity of the returned child creating severe dilemmas. ("Children in World War 2 - WW2 Children & Evacuation Impact") Life in Concentration Camps: Japanese children who were sent to concentration camps suffered from low self-esteem, accelerated loss of culture, language and identity, and experiencing unexpressed pain of parents left behind. (Levy and Sidel 169) Many were forced into child labor, were sad and angry about the injustice and lost their innocence completely for meeting “survival of the fittest” standard. Evacuation during World War II: Children who had to undergo evacuation to continue life with foster parents suffered greater levels of depression, clinical anxiety and high levels of self-criticism. Some children like polish who were deported to Siberia had to continuously change their names. There was no freedom of speech, and low quality of home nurturing caused forced child labor, sexual abuse and theft of belongings of the little ones. ("Children in World War 2 - WW2 Children & Evacuation Impact") 1.7Social and cultural impact on War Children World War II triggered a series of social changes in the whole society. As governments were in deep financial strains, unemployment was rampant and government spending that year exceeded its annual income. Downfall of Social Structure: Widespread poverty and destitution resulted in high rates of mortalities as the government’s poorly funded health systems were unable to combat against diseases. Moreover, less spending on communications and transportation caused havoc in social setups of communities. Women and Children as Workforce: One of the social effects on children was increased participation of women in workforce of factories and offices, as husbands, brothers, uncles and grandfathers were at war. (Boyle 250) Children were left at home, unaccompanied, restless with added responsibilities of taking care of household chores and caring for babies and toddlers. Abuse and Rape Incidents: Invading armies left behind a massive trail of young girls who were raped and got pregnant. As a result of this trauma, attitude of this race towards men was changed. Cultural Changes during Evacuations: In Britain “Operation Pied Piper” planned to move 3.5 million children in 3 days. (Zimmerman) Children who were forced to move out to manor houses in country sides or schools were faced with not only separation issues but also had to infuse cultural practices of foster families in order to survive. Many of them saw people practicing norms different from their own and totally unusual structures of society. Social Reforms through Foreign Military Bases: A positive aspect was introduction of social reforms via visiting troops. These establishments made advancements in healthcare, education, transportation and communication fields. Canadian and American troops altered social values and attitudes. ("Children and World War Two") Standards of living, styles of dressing, new relationships, both friendly and romantic began and changed. Introduction of American Radio “Voice of the United States” and other entertainment practices for civilians like sporting events, invitations for movie nights initiated social reforms and introduced American popular culture into local homes. ("Social Impacts: Newfoundlanders in World War II ") 1.8 Educational impact on War Children After World War I, children up till 15 ages had to compulsory attend school in Britain. This measure kept being postponed until people saw outbreak of WW2. Education kept moving low on list of priorities for survival. Education during Evacuation: As evacuations of children started in the world to safeguard them for air raids, most of the schools were closed down, and many of them were handed over to Civil Defense Services. (Gosden 100) This led to increased acts of Hooliganism (refers to unruly, aggressive, destructive bullying behavior conducted usually collectively).Poorer children were faced with a greater disadvantage. Not only did they have no school but also lost free milk and school dinners. Lack of inspections in the ongoing schools also led to outbreak of scabies and head lice. Some children continued their education in pubs, churches, village halls, ware houses or anywhere else there was space to accommodate for learning, like, Public air raid shelters. These were also target of attacks which forced the government to close them down for this purpose. Children were taught air raid drills so as to be familiar with procedures to follow in case of heavy bombing. (Gosden 35) As teachers along with children were also evacuated, towns had schools closed down. Schools in rural areas remained open but they were often shared with children who were evacuees. Thus, there was a double shift system, i.e. local children using schools in morning session and evacuees using the premises in afternoon. During war, many male teachers were conscripted into armed forces. This led to shortage of teachers and inevitable increase in class sizes. (Gosden 101) Universities: These were open throughout the War even though number of professors and students were greatly reduced due to war work. This paved the way for many young women aged between twenty and thirty to continue higher education. Hatred against Hitler: Children who grew up during World War 2 were often taught at schools that invading enemy is to be hated and the sole reason of all the disasters. A wartime children’s poem: “Whistle while you work, Hitler is a jerk, Mussolini is a weenie, and Tojo is a jerk.”(Mintz) 1.9 Conclusion WW2 brought earth shattering events to young lives. Disruption from homes, threats from aerial attacks, and loss of fathers to war had a huge effect on them that could not be removed long after the war ended. Children from all around the world suffered a great deal at the hand of evacuations and pressures to be dealt with as war soldiers. Children of WW 2 will never forget the harsh times that ruined the most special time of their lives, childhood. Their ways of thinking, ways of emotional expression and attitude towards life and people in general were distorted, all because of WW 2. Thus, this report summarizes how greatly the war impacted the physical, social, psychological and educational aspect of the lives of these forgotten victims. Works Cited "Children and World War Two." Historylearningsite.co.uk, 2013. Web. 14 Dec 2013. . "Children in World War 2 - WW2 Children & Evacuation Impact." Worldwar2.org.uk, 2013. Web. 14 Dec 2013. . Boyle, Cynthia. Document-Based Assessment: World War II. Shell Education, 2013. Print. Gosden, Peter. Education in the Second World War: A Study in Policy and Administration. Routledge, 2013. Print. Lanius, Ruth A. Impact of early life trauma on health and disease: The hidden epidemic. Cambridge university press, 2010. 315. Print. Levy, Barry S and Victor W Sidel. War and public health. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Print. Marten, James Alan. Children and war. New York: New York University Press, 2002. Print. Mintz, Steven. "Digital History." Digitalhistory.uh.edu, 2013. Web. 14 Dec 2013. . Rosen, David M. Armies of the young: Child soldiers in war and terrorism. Rutgers University press, 2005. 199. Print. Santa Barbara, Joanna. "Impact of War on Children and Imperative to End War." Croatian medical journal, 47. 6 (2006): 891. Print. Social Impacts: Newfoundlanders in World War II." Heritage.nf.ca, 2013. Web. 14 Dec 2013. . Zahra, Tara. The lost children. Harvard university press, 2011. 308. Print. Zimmerman, Dwight. "Operation Pied Piper: The Evacuation of English Children During World War II | Defense Media Network." Defense Media Network, 2013. Web. 14 Dec 2013. . Read More