Europe, 1940 to 1960

Mojca Ramsak

The war years from 1939 to 1945 meant great shortages of every kind, and the life of Europeans was subject to many restrictions. Between 1941 and 1945, children were killed in huge numbers throughout Europe during military operations and in concentration camps. Overall, 1.5 million Jewish children; children from Greece, Romania, Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria, Poland, Yugoslavia, France, and Germany; gypsy children; Slavic children; children who had the wrong nationality or religion or whose parents had the wrong political affiliations; or those who did not fit Hitler's concept of the Aryan race, died in the concentration camps of the Third Reich. Gypsy children and physically disabled children suffered pogroms and murder under the Nazis. Children took part in military conflicts through their activity in resistance movements in German- or Italian-occupied countries. Older children were occasionally used as informants or took part in sabotage actions. Others were told how to behave in ...

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