Circular
1938-02-04 038-0162-002 By far the greater number of the children have been happy; they are well-fed and healthy. In spite of the terrible war conditions which they had been undergoing and the war neurosis from which many suffered - who can forget how at Southampton they threw themselves on the grou...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
04 February 1938
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/FE2A12B1-5833-49A5-A745-14C464716DE6 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/A47C2D1F-0928-48E3-A73D-F44FDB7C1E39 |
| Summary: | 1938-02-04
038-0162-002
By far the greater number of the children have been happy; they are well-fed and healthy. In spite of the terrible war conditions which they had been undergoing and the war neurosis from which many suffered - who can forget how at Southampton they threw themselves on the ground at the drone of an aeroplane? - less than one per cent. have been any trouble to us. Late last summer, after the fall of Bilbao, the question of the return of the children was raised. As time passed it became clear that the government planes were not bombing the town and the front moved further away. Just at this time there was a big attempt in some quarters to make the return of the children a political question. Our position throughout was clear; children were to go home to the parents so soon as they asked for them and conditions were safe for them to do so. In early autumn a list of applications for the return of some 800 children was received from Bilbao. Unfortunately, as is shown in the enclosed letter reprinted from "The Times" of 27th January, many doubts about the genuineness of the applications were felt. The Committee could not risk sending back children to those who were not their parents and careful investigations had to be made. As "The Times" letter shows these investigations led us to accept the genuineness of the applications and in the short space of ten weeks, between the middle of November and the present time, we have been able to reunite with their parents just about a thousand children. Thus out of the 3,826 who came just over a quarter have been able to go home. There are still with us 2,800; we expect to have most of them with us for some time to come. No doubt a few more will be able to go home at the request of their parents; but in many cases their parents are now themselves refugees either in France or in Government Spain. In other cases the parents are divided, one in Bilbao, one a refugee; and in others again the parents are untraceable. Not only the food and health conditions, but the terrible new series of bombing attacks would make us very reluctant to send any children to their parents in Government Spain until conditions change considerably. It is up to us therefore to carry on this, one of the finest of the many refugee relief schemes the people of this country has attempted, and to see it through with true British thoroughness. We have come to a definite stage in the work. Most of those who first offered help and most of the local committees who undertook support, did so on a six months basis. We have already supported the children for eight months; we have to do so for several months more.
292/946/38/162(II) |
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |