ABSTRACT
CHILDREN are the living foundations of a nation's future. All modern states supplement parental care with welfare and education, and seek to transform their youngest wards into effective and loyal citizens. When total war threatens a whole nation government policies become crucial to the survival of all civilians, and are the final defence of a state's youngest and most vulnerable members. In such a crisis all dangers to life are intensified, choices are coarsened, and the treatment of children becomes an ultimate index of a regime's human priorities and social vision.
