The threat of war

In the 1930s the rise of Nazism was a growing threat to peace in Europe. Britain began to prepare for the possibility of another war.

It was feared that air raids and gas attacks would pose the greatest risk to civilians, and detailed plans for Air Raid Precautions (ARP) were drawn up. The Munich Crisis in the autumn of 1938, when war seemed imminent, hastened activity. Air raid shelters were distributed to householders, a night-time blackout was planned and 38 million gas masks were issued. Arrangements were put in place for the mass evacuation of children from cities.

Britain became a safe haven for some 4,000 'Ninos', children caught up in the fight against fascism in Spain, and for nearly 10,000 Jewish children from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, who were sent by their parents on 'Kindertransport' from December 1938 to escape Nazi persecution.