Swiss children

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A girl from Vienna travels to Switzerland on a children's train, around after 1945
Shipping pier Friedrichshafen: Thanks to the Swiss population for their help for children in need in post-war Germany

In post-war Germany and Austria, Swiss children are those children who received help and support from Swiss host families in the period after the Second World War . The willingness of Switzerland and the Swiss population to help was expressed in the extensive campaign Swiss donation to war victims. The children's aid of the Swiss Red Cross was carried out as part of the Swiss donation .

Offers of help

Swiss Sundays

Evangelical and later also Catholic clergy organized the boat trip from Friedrichshafen to Romanshorn and mostly one-day guest stays with Swiss families. The children returned with gifts and gratitude. New friendships developed.

Temporary family connection

The Swiss children were children who were subjected to bombing, sirens, hunger , fear and destruction during World War II . After the end of the war, Swiss host families offered them temporary family ties for up to six months.

Border aid

The Swiss Grenzlandhilfe also took in a total of 181,000 children between 1946 and 1956, 44,000 of which came from war-torn Germany. Many children from Austria, who were called Öschrichli by the Swiss , came to relax. Many of these children were malnourished, ill, or from large families or from families whose fathers had not returned from the war.

Aid organization

The former Swiss children later helped other children in need themselves. With the campaign for the longest ship bridge in the world, the German association "Schweizer Kinder" commemorated Switzerland's post-war aid on May 20, 2007, and at the same time pointed to its donation-financed aid work.

See also

literature

  • ildegard Nagler (ed.): The miracle of a journey. The Swiss children and their trip to fairy tale land. Friedrichshafen 2003.
  • Bernd Haunfelder : Swiss Aid for Germany 1917–1933 and 1944–1957. Appeals, reports, letters, reminders, speeches. Aschendorff, Münster 2010, ISBN 978-3-402-12870-1 .

Web links

Commons : Swiss children  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Website of the Swiss Children's Association, Friedrichshafen. History of the "Swiss Children" 1946/1947 ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ A b c Club of Former Swiss Children, Vienna
  3. ↑ Hildegard Nagler: Neighborhood assistance after 1945 at Lake Constance. In: Harald Derscka / Jürgen Klöckler (ed.): Der Bodensee. Nature and history from 150 perspectives. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 2018, ISBN 978-3-7995-1724-9 , pp. 274-275.
  4. ↑ Thought of Swiss aid with ships. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of May 20, 2007, author abbreviation ubl.