Figure 1.--This bewildered little German girl in 1920 crawls in a Berlin gutter after being abandoned by her widowed mother who could no longer feed her. Click on the image for a discussion.

The best publicized tragedy assocaited with World War I was the Belgian War orphans. In the case of Belgian, massive quanities of food assistance flowed from the United States. Given the huge casulaties there were as a result of the War virtually millions of children who were orphaned or had lost their fathers--reducing them to poverty. This was the situatin in virtually every major beligerant country, except the United States. Although the War had for the most part not been fought on German soil, the economic crisis at the end of the War brought real deprivation to the German people. There was malnutrition and starvation and the children were the most affected. Few other countries came to Germany's assistance, except the Dutch. Further east, in Russia racked by Revolution and Civil war following World War I, conditions were even worse.

Armenia (Ottomon Empire)

More than a million mostly Christian Armenians were murdered by Ottoman authorities during World War I. Clara Barton led the first Red Cross relief effort conducted outside the United States. While most of the killings occurred during the War, Ottoman actions against the Armenians began in the 1890s. Western newspapers carried articles about "barbaric Mohammedans" murdering Christian martyrs during 1894-96. The killings provoked wide-spread international contamination, but no country intervened to stop the killings. Another series of pogroms occurred in 1909. The Ottomans entered World war I on the side of the Central Power (Germany and Austria-Hungary) in late 1914. The wide-spread, organized genocide against the Armenians began in 1915. Accounts on the numbers of Armenians vary. The estimate of 1.0 million is often used, but some accounts are as high as 1.5 million. [Balakian] The Ottomans used World war I as the NAZIs used World War II as a cover for the killings. The Turkish Government denied at the time and Turkish Governments even today continue to deny that the killings took place and were coordinated by Turkish authorities.

Austria

Belgium

The best publicized tragedy assocaited with World War I was the Belgian War orphans. In the case of Belgian, massive quanities of food assistance flowed from the United States.

England

France

Given the huge casulaties there were as a result of the War virtually millions of children who were orphaned or had lost their fathers--reducing them to poverty. This was the situatin in virtually every major beligerant country, except the United States. The situation was especially severe in France because of the number of Frech casualties--the highest of any combatant country except Russia. Mothers struggled as best they could, often supported by extended families. There were also Government programs to assist struggling mothers. I do not yet have details on these proigrams. Some widows remairred meaning the children were raised by step fathers. There were also orphaneges for children who had also lost their mothers or whose families could not take care of them.

Germany

Although the World War I had for the most part not been fought on German soil, the Government's mismanagement of the economy, especially the farm production, resulted in sharply reduced harvests. Farm workers were conscripted with no yhought of the impact on food production. The economic crisis at the end of the War brought real deprivation to the German people. There was malnutrition and starvation and the children were the most affected. The image here illustrates the dire conditions (figure 1). Few other countries immediately came to Germany's assistance, except the Dutch --ironic given what the Germans did to the Dutch in World War II. .

Italy

Russia

Further east, Russian casualties were even more severe than those sustantined by the Allies on the murderous Western front. Huge numbers sucumbed to German poison gas attacks. in Russia racked by Revolution and Civil War following World War I, conditions were even worse. Across Russia beginning with World War I but continuing for three decades until well after World War II, conflict and violence connected with wars, foreign and civil, occupation, revolutions, Soviet social and ethnic restructuring, and racial/ethnic persecution resulted in millions of children losing their pasrents and being torn from their homes. [Baron] Large numbers of street children developed. We have noted references to gangs (without the modern coinottions) of childrren coiming ogether in an effort to surviuve. This was a problem which Soviet authorities inherited. And it was not just the result of the War, but also of the Civil War which followed. Assessments vary on Soviert policies toward them. Some Western scholars privide positive assessments. [Stolee and Kelly] Tragically, the problem of displaced children did not end with the the Soviet era.

Sources

Baron, Nick. Ed. Displaced Children in Russia and Eastern Europe, 1915-1953 (Brill: 2017). ISBN: 9789004175303. We have not yet been able to obtain a copy to use for our assessment, but mention it here as an imprtant source, not only for Russia, but all of Eastern Europe. .

Kelly, Catriona. Children's World: Growing Up in Russia, 1890-1991 (New Have: Yale University Press, 2007).

Solzhenitsyn, Alexsanddr I. Trans, Thomas P. Wjitney. The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-56: An Experiment in Literary Investigation (Harper & Row: New York, 1973), 660p.

Stolee, Margaret Kay. "Hoimeless children in the in the USSR, 1917-1957," Soviet Studies. Vol. 40 (1988), pp. 64-83.

Created: December 20, 2002
Last updated: 4:08 AM 11/17/2004