War impacts everyone; world wars, even more so. Now through February, the National WWI Museum and War Memorial in Kansas City is hosting an exhibit which explores the lives of children swept up by the storms of World War I while adults were fighting on the front line and supporting the war effort.
Black and white photograph of American soldiers and a small girl. The soldiers and the girl all hold rifles over their right shoulder. Photo: object 2023.122.1 in the Museum collection. https://collections.theworldwar.org/argus/final/Portal/Default.aspx?component=AAAS&record=16235ede-63d9-4183-b069-bc8362c450f1 
Although everyone wants to shield children from the horrors of war, it seems that no one wants children to be completely unaware of war. The objects on display for this exhibit clearly show that society wanted children to believe that their fathers and their country were fighting for a just and important cause. People wanted their children to feel like they, too, were fighting for something important.
Picture: Joseph D. Marcelli wearing the play uniform made by his father, a tailor in New Jersey. Object ID: 2011.50.1 in the museum collection.
Picture: Joseph D. Marcelli wearing the play uniform made by his father, a tailor in New Jersey. Object ID: 2011.50.1 in the museum collection.
One way that adults tried to indoctrinate children was with uniforms such as the one pictured above. The museum also shows miniature nurses uniforms emblazoned with red crosses, so that girls could also play their part in imaginary war games.
Another way that children learned to hate the enemy, and therefore war against him, was by ridiculing the other side. Nursery Rhymes for Fighting Times took common Mother Goose rhymes such as Humpty Dumpty, and adapted them to make the Germans, especially Kaiser Wilhelm, look ridiculous.
Another way that children learned to hate the enemy, and therefore war against him, was by ridiculing the other side. Nursery Rhymes for Fighting Times took common Mother Goose rhymes such as Humpty Dumpty, and adapted them to make the Germans, especially Kaiser Wilhelm, look ridiculous.
Such propaganda seems horrible and jingoistic by today's standards. At the time, they were commonplace. The impressionable young minds of American and British children were being fed a clear lesson: that loyalty and commitment would win the war against an enemy that had to be defeated. Molded by the first truly global conflict, the children who grew up during World War I became the adults who had to endure the horrors of World War II. I wonder if they wouldn't have become The Greatest Generation had they not been trained into it in childhood.
Located in Kansas City, the National WWI Museum and Memorial is America's leading institution dedicated to remembering, interpreting and understanding the Great War and its enduring impact on the global community. Click here for more information about its collection or visiting the museum.
Jennifer Bohnhoff in an author who lives and writes in the mountains of central New Mexico. She wrote about World War I in her historical novel, A Blaze of Poppies.
Jennifer Bohnhoff in an author who lives and writes in the mountains of central New Mexico. She wrote about World War I in her historical novel, A Blaze of Poppies.
