'For Their Own Good'

Julia S. Torrie completed her PhD at Harvard University and has taught European History at St. Thomas University in Canada since 2002.

“This work adopts an innovative transnational and comparative approach…Because of the richness of the sources it complements very usefully the history of refugees and the exodus in Europe during the Second World War, a history that for several decades has often been forgotten by historians.”  ·  Francia“With [this] publication Julia Torrie has established herself as a significant scholar of the home front during World War II...Dr. Torrie has written a fascinating book based on in-depth research in [more than twenty] French and German archives. She introduces younger and older scholars to aspects of World War II that have received little attention. She has also mastered the skills needed to carry out an excellent comparative study.”  ·  Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d’histoire“Torrie has written an interesting and thoroughly researched book that considerably deepens our knowledge of the relationship of the “Third Reich” to its own population and to that of occupied France. She shows that the evacuations within Germany as well in occupied France were problematic.”  ·  Historische Zeitschrift“The book makes an extensive use of French and German archives and has generally demonstrated a good knowledge of the existing secondary literature…Overall Torrie’s text is a welcome contribution to the literature on World War Two.”  ·  H-France Review“Torrie has accomplished a great deal, a rich analysis of the significance of evacuations to national identity, the relationship between rulers and ruled, as well as the ambiguous mix of competition and sharing among enemies.”  ·  Central European History“Overall, this is an impressively researched study…In revealing the need to examine opposition to evacuation policies, Torrie’s book is an important addition to the literature on wartime civilian evacuation.”  ·  American Historical Review“…a useful, well-crafted book…any bi-national comparison will face difficulties of the incomparable. It is skilful to attempt one, and Torrie’s succeeds. .. we are more enlightened as to the relations between people and state in authoritarian regimes, and have developed ideas of belonging, rights and privileges. The book is a worthy contribution to a growing literature on the civilian experience of air war in Europe.”  ·  Reviews in History“The strength of Torrie’s monograph is certainly its comparative analysis of German and French evacuations and relationship between them…A highly readable and convincing study.”  ·  Choice"[The book] is well written and well constructed...A high quality work."  ·  Robert Gildea, Oxford University

• List of IllustrationsAbbreviationsAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1. Preparing for Air WarChapter 2. Order or ChaosChapter 3. Organizing EvacuationsChapter 4. Our Stay Gives Us No PleasureChapter 5. If Only Family Unity Can Be MaintainedChapter 6. On the Basis of SelectionChapter 7. Responding to ChaosChapter 8. Evacuation's AftermathNotesNote on SourcesBibliographyIndex