“Our Children” Poster

In World War II Britain, not every poster dealt with themes of morale, production, or war finance.  The Home Islands, under attack from the German Luftwaffe, had to determine a way to keep safe those parts of the population that were not directly related to the civil defense and combat effort.

The foremost group that English planners involved in this effort were children.  The youth of Great Britain, especially those who lived in southern counties vulnerable to German bombardment were evacuated en masse to the more northerly regions of the country.  Perhaps the most famous depiction of these events is in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, in which the Pevensie children – Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy – are transported to central England during the height of the Blitzkrieg.

The relocation effort is the focus of this poster, which features a smiling young boy and girl directly above an injunction that "Children are safer in the countryside…leave them there."  Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any evidence that allows one to definitively identify the author of date of the piece.  However, because of the historical events in question, it is safe to assume that the poster probably originated in 1940 or 1941, which were the peak years of the German assault against England.

The English have begun to experience a rekindling of interest in this subject.  A museum in London recently opened an exhibition to commemorate this period of history.  Says the curator: "Pretty well everybody over the age of 65 in Britain will have experiences directly relating to the impact of war but we also hope this exhibition will interest their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren."