Everyday Life and Education of Children in Orphanages of the Ukrainian SSR (1945 – the 1950s)

Abstract

Today, the problem of orphans does not lose its relevance, so it needs more detailed analysis to take into account the experience of the past.

The goal of the paper is to show in detail the daily life, education, household responsibilities of orphans, and their relationship with the staff of orphanages in the Ukrainian SSR in 1945 – the 1950s.

The everyday life of orphans living in orphanages in the Ukrainian SSR in 1945 – the 1950s is described in the paper. In addition, the education of children at school, industrial training at workshops in orphanages, types of everyday work in which the children were involved, and their daily household responsibilities are studied. It is noted that in the simplest, everyday affairs, the pupils always had to overcome difficulties, mostly of a material nature, which home children rarely encountered, but which had a rather big impact on their daily lives. The issue of relations between children and the staff of orphanages and communication between orphans is also highlighted in the paper.

Thus, the daily life of orphans in the first postwar decade was not easy. The state, on the one hand, seemed to be trying to provide children with proper general education and industrial training. On the other hand, children in orphanages did not have the opportunity to get the necessary knowledge and skills in full due to the lack of minimum living conditions and material support for orphanages, which would contribute to the successful learning of the educatees. Besides, orphanages, because of their low prestige as a place of employment, were mostly staffed with non-professional or low-skilled staff. It also made orphans’ life much more difficult, and sometimes even harmful and life-threatening.