Millions of people had to move away from their homes during the Second World War for many reasons:
- they were refugees whose country had been invaded
- their homes were destroyed and they had to go in search of shelter elsewhere
- men and women went to work in the armed services or in munitions industries
This selection of documents is mostly about one particular group of people on the move: the mothers and children who were evacuated to "safe areas", away from areas likely to be bombed.
There are many accounts of individual experiences of evacuation; some were happy and others were not. Some people considered that their childhood had been ruined simply by their separation from their family, and for others it was a wonderful break from the deprivation of the slums.
It was a very ambitious idea to move such a huge number of people around the country and it required careful organisation. It turned out not to have been careful enough.
By the middle of the war there was a much clearer idea of what should have been done. The plans for the rest of the war and for some future war (which has not happened yet) were very different.
The main difference was that more private evacuation was to be encouraged, because people were much more likely to stay with family or friends. Where that would not be possible, school groups would be kept together as far as possible, in hostels where they would be with other children and teachers whom they knew.