KLV train - Kinderlandverschickung

In Girl in the Glass, when the Clypeate is heading across the German countryside, they pass a long train filled with smiling children. Declan asks:

“Any guesses why there’s a train full of junior Nazis?”

Garrett conjectures:

“Looks like a KLV train, I heard about them. Kinderlandverschickung trains. They’re sending these children away from the western cities, getting them out of harm’s way by transporting them far away from potential bombing targets.”

The Kinderlandverschickung (KLV), literally "relocation of children to the countryside," was a German program existing before World War II, primarily sending sick or underprivileged children to rural areas for recreation and recuperation. As World War II approached, the program shifted to evacuating children from cities vulnerable to Allied bombings and sending them to safer rural areas. Although presented as a measure to protect children, the program also served the regime's goals of indoctrinating and shaping the youth according to Nazi ideology. 

Approximately half of the evacuated children were placed with host families, while the other half resided in around 2,000 KLV camps. The camps, often run by the Hitler Youth, subjected children to paramilitary drills and political indoctrination. The program initially aimed for short-term stays, but as the war intensified, children were often away for months.

The KLV program involved children of “German blood,” excluding Jewish children and any children with medical conditions. An estimated 2.8 million children participated in the KLV program, with some survivors recalling the time as cheerful, although homesickness and anxiety were also commonly experienced.

Cheerful KLV poster

Packed KLV trains

Cheery KLV propaganda