Correspondence written by Second World War Evacuees, 1980s

Substantial collection of 74 ms and ts letters (circa 550pp) written throughout the 1980s by men and women from all over the United Kingdom, reminiscing about both the good and bad times they faced as children who were evacuated during the Second World War, including vivid and diverse descriptions of the outbreak of the war, their initial feelings of bewilderment or alternatively excitement due to the subsequent exodus to the countryside that began in September 1939, the daunting selection process evacuees were routinely subjected to on arrival at their various destinations, the treatment they received, their billets and living conditions as well as how their education was often neglected, including one particularly interesting letter that touches on how anti-Semitic feelings affected Jewish evacuees, whilst providing an insight into the clash of urban and rural sensibilities and the extremities of wealth and poverty at this time, also exploring the long term effects that evacuation had on the children who experienced the phenomenon and how many felt alienated from their families and background when they returned home after the war. Altogether the letters touch on many of the key themes and issues surrounding evacuation during the Second World War.

Substantial collection of 74 ms and ts letters (circa 550pp) written throughout the 1980s by men and women from all over the United Kingdom, reminiscing about both the good and bad times they faced as children who were evacuated during the Second World War, including vivid and diverse descriptions of the outbreak of the war, their initial feelings of bewilderment or alternatively excitement due to the subsequent exodus to the countryside that began in September 1939, the daunting selection process evacuees were routinely subjected to on arrival at their various destinations, the treatment they received, their billets and living conditions as well as how their education was often neglected, including one particularly interesting letter that touches on how anti-Semitic feelings affected Jewish evacuees, whilst providing an insight into the clash of urban and rural sensibilities and the extremities of wealth and poverty at this time, also exploring the long term effects that evacuation had on the children who experienced the phenomenon and how many felt alienated from their families and background when they returned home after the war. Altogether the letters touch on many of the key themes and issues surrounding evacuation during the Second World War.

Cataloguer CLS