Germany Key Places - '45 Aid Society

Members of the Boys were born in Germany.

The Boys were teenage and child-Holocaust survivors, who were brought to the UK after the war for rest and rehabilitation.

Members of the Boys were held in Nazi labour and concentration camps and used as slave labourers. They had also survived World War II in hiding or as lone children.

Germany Key Facts

Capital: Berlin

Population 1939: 79,375,281

Jewish Population in 1939: Approximately 214,000 to 215,000. Down from 1933 figures of 522,000 to 525,000

Present-day Population: About 83,500,000

Present-day Jewish Population: Approximately 125,000

Map of modern-day Germany — ^{Modern-day Germany.}

Good to Know: The borders of modern-day Germany are not the same as they were in the inter-war period.

^{Third Reich 1938}

The members of the Boys born in pre-war Germany came from the following places:

October 1938: The Polenaktion

The Polenaktion (“Polish Action”) was the first coordinated, mass deportation of Jews from Nazi Germany, taking place on October 28 and 29, 1938.

Roughly 17,000 to 25,000 Jewish people holding Polish citizenship (including those from Austria) were arrested in their homes with little to no warning.

It was a key prelude to the Holocaust.

The Boys in Germany: Slave Labour

Members of the Boys were held as slave labourers in concentration camps in Germany.

Many of the Boys endured death marches in Germany in the closing months of World War II.

^{Map showing the principal concentration camps in which the Boys were held.}

The Boys were held in the following concentration camps and their subcamps:

The Boys in Germany: Liberation & the Displaced Persons’ Camps

^{Map Showing the DP camps in Germany where the Boys were cared for.}

The Boys were looked after in the following Displaced Persons Camps in Germany:

Belsen-Hohne DP Camp

Feldafing DP Camp

St Ottilien

Photograph of St Otillien Monastery, Bavaria.

Föhrenwald-Wolfratshausen DP Camp

Kloster Indersdorf

The Second Group of the Boys

The Second Group of the Boys flew from Celle near Bergen-Belsen and Munich in Bavaria. They landed near Southampton in southern England. They were then taken to the Wintershill Hall hostel.