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| My brother Eugene standing, in a DP Camp school |
Since 1939, Polish children in occupied Poland were not allowed to continue their education and schools were closed.For most of these children, the war meant almost six years without any schooling, creating a gap in formal education. Many children did not learn to read and write until later on. Kindergarten and elementary schools were organized in DP Camps. Children lived with their parents and came to classes in modest buildings or a barrack, where sometimes several different levels shared a classroom. So many of these children were robbed of their childhood. Parents had to work in the camps and placed their children in schools and daycare as well.
As you can see in the photo these children have no books, pencils , etc: like you would imagine a school would be. The days were long for them ,many had to wait until the parents were done with work, which can be ten hour days or more. My brother Eugene remembers those school days , he has passed on at a young age. Oh, how I wish I could talk to him. May he rest in peace.
I remember that even into the 1950s my mother was involved in DP resettlement. Some of the children born in the camps were my earliest friends.
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