Figure 1.--These Soviet children were found by the Western Allies in the Reich at the end of the War. We are not sure how they got there. The oress caption read, "At play until they can return home: Some of the 300 children at the Center establish for Russian displaced persons in a former German barracks at Heidelberg. Play for the children is organized by former teachers amongst displaced persons with the asistance of the welfare officer of UNRRA Team No. 24 stationed at the center. The displaced persons in the Center are cared for until repatriation may take place." The photograph is dated Juky 10, 1945. Source: UNRRA.

Most displaced Soviet children were displaced domestically, because of the War or actiins taken by German and Germn allied forces or the Soviet NKVD. We note a small number of Soviet children found outside the Soviet Union, primrily in the Reich. This is complicated because the Soviet Union's boundaries changed as a result of the War. And we are not sure how these children ever got to the Reich, but there are a number of possibilities. First some of the women deported for labor may have been pregnant or gotten pregnant while in labor camps. The Germans killed most of three babies, but some mothers may have managed to save them. Second, some chilren were interned as a result of anti-partisan operations. German security forces destroyed large numbrs of villages. In some causes they murdered the people. In other cases the women abd children were This varied from commander to commander. we note some in German concentration camps in Poland. Some may have been moved to camps in the Reich in the final months of the war as the Red Army drove west. Third, may be some of the Lebensborn program, both children accepted and rejected. Perhaps readers will know more about these children.

Created: 6:57 AM 3/14/2015
Last updated: 6:57 AM 3/14/2015