German Children’s Response to Aid

Abstract

Following up on the food aid provided to German children discussed in chapter 8, this chapter explores how children felt about and responded to the aid that they received. Using letters and drawings from children sent to aid organizations or given to individual aid workers themselves, primarily the American Friend Service Committee, these sources confirm some details of food distribution and triage schemes employed by missionaries and their sponsoring organizations. The chapter also reviews some of the themes related to children’s measurements discussed elsewhere in the book, showing that in many cases very different kinds of sources—statistical records on children’s heights and weights, instructions to aid workers, and the recipients’ own letters and drawings—result in similar conclusions.