Hello and welcome to the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Alex Collins.

Throughout World War II, German children in cities, some with their entire classmates

were evacuated to camps in rural areas. It was known as Kindeland Fischekung, which

translates as relocation of children to the countryside. The project was backed by Hitler.

He thought the camps were a good place for children to be taught Nazi beliefs while being

protected from bombing in their hometowns. Many children found the experience hard as

they were separated from their parents, some for many years. You may find some of what

you're about to hear distressing.

I've been listening to archive recordings from the House de Gershichter der Bundesrepublik,

one of Germany's biggest national history museums, where they gathered interviews about

life in these camps. They are not very well known, even in Germany. Some say this is because

of the links with the Hitler Youth Movement. Here are two of the most powerful stories I heard,

good to stop at.

We were 12 year olds separated from our parents in unfamiliar surroundings. We couldn't

call for the situation.

And Klaus Reimer, our headmaster had connections, so we ended up in a first-class resort, and

we spent a great year there.

When Klaus was sent to a camp by his parents, it felt like a big adventure. We stayed together

as a class, which was a good thing. To start with, we were sent to the Baltic coast, but

then bombs did start falling there, and so we went to what is now Poland. We played with

the Polish children, and in winter we went skiing together. We enjoyed ourselves there.

In the end, younger teachers were drafted into the army, so we got all teachers. Amongst

...