The Children in Need in Postwar Macedonia (1944–1950)

The article examines the educational and social needs of children in the devastated and impoverished People’s Republic of Macedonia (Narodna Republika Makedonija – NRM) as one of the constituent units of the yugoslav Federation (Federativna Narodna Republika yugoslavia – FNRJ) in the first years after the end of World War II. The focus is primarily given on the measures and activities that the Macedonian policy makers undertook in the areas of education and social protection of children and the changes their implementation brought in children’s life. Based on the study of a large number of legal acts and other primary sources, the various aspects of the democratization of education and social care in the new postwar political context are examined: expansion of the school network, access to educational and social institutions and services for all children, recognition of the right to education in the mother tongue, establishment of pre-school education, special education and the protection of vulnerable children. The research interest is also focused on the needs of a large number of children refugees, mostly Macedonians, who were evacuated during the civil war in Greece from its northern parts and sent to the socialist states in the Balkans and in Eastern Europe. Most of them were housed in yugoslavia and especially in Macedonia, which in 1948 became the largest transit center and shelter for thousands of children in need. Based largely on archival material and testimonies of child refugees, the article sheds light on the process of evacuation of children, their life in children’s homes throughout Macedonia and the endeavors of the state to meet their needs for shelter, food, education and normal life.