Safe Haven

The Wartime Letters of Ben Barman and Margaret Penrose, 1940-1943

Roderick J. Barman

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780773555051
• eBook ISBN: 9780773556133
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Modern British History
• Index: History

In 1940, when Hitler's tanks reached the English Channel and German bombs fell on London, the invasion of the United Kingdom seemed imminent. Among the many thousands of British children finding a safe haven during the war, Benjamin Barman was sent by his parents to stay with the Penrose family in London, Ontario.

Along with Margaret Penrose, a childhood friend of his mother, Ben wrote letters to his family from 1940 until his return to England late in 1943. Transcribed and illustrated with contemporary photographs, this correspondence provides graphic insight into the trauma faced by a child refugee as he struggled to adapt to a completely new life and society far from his family. Captivating and instructive, the letters, along with detailed reports provided to Ben's parents by his host mother, speak to Canadians' unflinching support of the British despite the many deprivations and difficulties that the war inflicted on them.

Introduced and extensively annotated by Ben's youngest brother, Roderick, a professional historian, Safe Haven reveals the intimate day-to-day life of one Canadian household during the Second World War and the realities of evacuated British children, their families, and the people who hosted them.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 Beginnings, 1931–1940
• 2 Going to Canada, April–July 1940
• 3 Reception and Settling In, July 1940–December 1941
• 4 Tensions and Anxieties, January–February 1942
• 5 Beginning to Become a Good Canadian, March 1942
• 6 Finding His Voice, April–September 1942
• 7 Ordered Home, October 1942–April 1943
• 8 Farewell to Canada, April–October 1943
• 9 Aftermath: Reintegration and Impact
• Appendix: Annotated Bibliography on Child Evacuation
• Works Cited
• Index