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Session Submission Type: Panel
Holocaust survivors, refugees, and especially unaccompanied children, serve as poignant symbols of children who are victims of war violence. While one might expect such violence to cease once a war ends, this is often not the case. The immediate postwar period – the transition from war to peace– is marked by uncertainty and a tense waiting for what comes next. After the end of hostilities in World War II, millions of children found themselves in this precarious position throughout the former Third Reich and East Central Europe. These included Holocaust survivors in Hungary, young refugees in (current) Slovakia – both German expellees as well as settlers who replaced them – Czech children from Lidice, and Polish children born to forced laborers and DPs.
This situation was the result of coercion, but the solutions offered were not without their own forms of violence, particularly in the case of neglected children. Various actors made decisions for these children in the name of their best interests, but these interests were understood in divergent ways. Institutional care was intended to aid rehabilitation, but years later, testimonies reveal that the memories of children’s time in these centers are often painful, much like the memories of forced migration. By examining the experiences of four groups of children, we can explore their fates through the lens of time, considering how such extreme experiences shape their lives. These examples also serve as a stark warning for today, as children continue to be among the first victims of adult conflicts in contemporary wars.
Polish Unaccompanied Children in Post-War Limbo - Jakub Grzegorz Galeziowski, U of Warsaw (Poland)
Departing from Krickerhau, Arriving to Handlová: Migration in Childhood Memories of German Expellees and Slovak Settlers - Michal Korhel, Inst of Slavic Studies PAS (Poland)
Postwar Czechoslovakia and Displaced Children: Search, Strategy, Memory - Jana Paseková Kasíková, Inst of Contemporary History CAS (Czech Republic)
Children of Survival: Jewish Orphanages and the Paths to Aliyah in Post-War Szeged (Hungary) - Dora Pataricza, Budapest U of Jewish Studies (Hungary)