At the beginning of the Second World War, the evacuation of children was organized by primary schools with the help of school doctors. From January 1945, during the Hunger Winter, around 600 children were sent away by the Inter Kerkelijk Bureau (Inter Denominational Bureau); the children were taken to families in provinces where they could leave the war behind them for a while. In the winter of 1944-1945, some parents also took the initiative to send their children away.
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This project focused on the role of religion in these evacuations, as the religions of the biological families and the foster families often did not match. The Interkerkelijk Bureau considered it important that the religions of the Schiedam population were the same as those of the evacuees. However, the interviews revealed that religion was not important to the interviewees.
© Photographer: Menno Huizinga