Advertisement placed by Cadbury in The Nursery World advising parents on how to prevent children suffering from war worries
Cadbury advertised their Bourn-vita drink as a nutritious product that would help children sleep and avoid war worries. Child psychologists and the general public were very concerned about the effects ...
Calendar illustrated by Hans Schwarz showing an internment camp
This drawing looks like an internment camp. It is unclear whether it relates to German concentration camps or British internment camps, or when exactly it was drawn. Like many other refugees Hans was ...
Child’s ration book
Food rationing began in January 1940.
Envelope marked ‘Secret: Not to be Opened’ sent to the head teacher of Shooting Butts Camp School by Staffordshire Education Authority
The envelope was to be kept under lock and key and only to be opened in the event of invasion.
Evacuation log book St. Clement’s Junior and Infants School Nechells
Evacuation of children from Snow Hill station
World War 2 affected the lives of children far more than any previous war. The fear of enemy bombing raids over British cities led to the mass evacuation of children to safer, rural areas. Between August ...
Evacuation of children outside New Street Station
Hans Schwarz with his wife Lena and one of his sons
Hans met his future wife Lena, a student at Birmingham University, on a tram in Birmingham. They were married in 1943 and had two sons. Hans went on to be a well-known painter, illustrator, and sculptor. ...
Hans Schwarz, aged 16
After Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, British relief agencies were concerned about the fate of Jewish children. The British Government was reluctant to allow too many Jewish refugees to enter Britain ...
Instructions on the position of schools in the event of invasion sent to the head teacher of Shooting Butts Camp School by Staffordshire Education Authority
Letter from the Quakers’ Germany Emergency Committee confirming that Hans Schwarz had a permit to enter Britain
The Society of Friends’ Germany Emergency Committee was formed in 1933. Its remit was to investigate what was happening in Germany and help where possible. Dr. Hilda Clark, Honorary Secretary of the Emergency ...
Letter from Viktor Schwarz to the Society of Friends in London requesting a permit out of Austria for his son
When Hans Schwarz was 16 years old his father Viktor, a bank clerk, arranged for him to escape from Vienna under the sponsorship of the Society of Friends’ Germany Emergency Committee. They organised ...
Letter written by Hans in German from Birmingham to his family in Vienna
The letter reads:
Dear Dad, Dear Aunty,
It has been 3 days since I last wrote to you both, but so much has happened, I don’t know where to begin. I am coping well with the language, I am not learning ...
Log Book of Pipewood Camp School for Evacuated Girls
The 1939 Camps Act established Camp Boarding Schools. Older girls from Birmingham Senior schools were evacuated to Pipewood Camp School in Blithbury near Rugeley which opened in June 1940. The teachers ...
Notice sent to the parents of children who were to be evacuated from St. Clement’s Junior and Infants School Nechells
Children from St. Clement’s School, Nechells, were evacuated to Church Gresley, near Swadlingcote, Derbyshire on 1 September 1939. After the bombing of Birmingham in summer 1940 a second group of children ...
Poster advertising defence bonds to raise money for the war effort