When discussing World War II many people associate the post war period with the Marshal Plan and as an economical recovery however that is only one part of the post war recovery period. Another major controversial part of the post war recovery was dealing with displaced children.
Children have been displaced since their was a move for Nationalism in Germany. They would expand their influence and power through Western Europe and would move children they saw as desirable and take them away from their family. Author Zahra discussed in an example of how a whole village was reviewed by the Germans and only a few were taken to be relocated into a German family where they become the future of Germany. These children who were taken were moved from a different social identity to be merged in with the German culture.
Another set of displaced children are those who are of German social identity but were separated from their family or their family was killed during and areal bombing raid.
Following the war Zahra and Cohen bring up the point of what is to happen to these displaced children of several different national identities. Several different sovereign states and agencies laid claim as to where the children should be placed. France for example believed that they should receive many of the displaced children because they needed to replace the work force that had been killed during the war. Germany wanted claim because they believed that the children should stay where they are to keep stability. Czech and Poland both believed that they deserved their children back, they went as far as to kidnap their children from German families because the legal system and politics of the matter were taking too long.
Despite fighting a war where the civilian population was a sea away the United States, predominately the Eleanore Roosevelt thought that the children should stay where they are if they are a certain age for phycology reasons. It is also believed that this was the attempt for the United States to have many children stay in United States spheres of influence so that way they would not become future communists as well as to keep military tensions low when dealing with Germany and other European powers.
The photo below is that of Jewish children being adopted by an America family.
