Butterkinder – Austrian Episode in the History of European Children

Beata Kosińska-Krippner

Abstract

By sketching the Situation of Austria after 1945, and by referring to the film Butterkinder - Über­leben nach dem Krieg. Kinderverschickung aus Österreich 1945-1950 (directed by Alois Hawlik) the author recalls generally little-known episode in the history of Austria concerning the But­terkinder, the children sent abroad from Austria after the war to regain their strength and faith in a better world. From 1945 onwards, families from Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Portugal and Hungary took in from around 80 000 to over 100 000 Austrian children. Some of them remained forever with their new guardians. The author points out that the film presents the post-war period not in terms of the winners or the losers, but from the point of view of the “butter children”, who, for the first time are given the chance to speak, and restore to the world and the Austrians the memory of this event, and recall the occasion of one of the first post-war European humanitarian actions, which left a trail across borders and was a demonstration of European solidarity long before the unification of Europe.