Story:
Unwanted babies for sale in France during World War II, 1940
Other Versions
1. Unwanted Babies For Sale In 1940’s Italy
2. Unwanted babies for sale in France – early 1940’s
3. Nondesired babies, France, the Second World War, 1940
Fact Check:
The photograph is widely circulated online saying it shows unwanted babies for sale in France in 1940 during the World War II. The popular black and white photograph shows two babies hanged over a wall with a message board – A VENDRE. While one of the babies hanging in bags appears unhappy, the other one is clearly seen crying. The photograph is real, but the claim that it shows unwanted babies for sale in France, Italy or other place is not true.
Not Unwanted Babies For Sale
The photograph and controversial message in question keeps surfacing on social media and image sharing websites quite often. The message board in the photograph – A VENDRE – does indeed mean ‘For Sale’ in French. So many viewers bought the story of selling the babies, which as a matter of fact, is not the case.
The kids in the photograph are not unwanted or abandoned babies put up for sale by desperate parents. It is in fact a staged photograph of “children for sale” in France taken around 1904-1905. It is part of some adorable and hilarious “Babies For Sale” Postcards from the early 20th century. A series of such staged photograph post cards circulated in France at the beginning of the 20th century. You can see some of the other photographs above. Selling babies like that openly would have been against law at that time as well. That reminds us of another interesting picture story suggesting until 1915 it was Legal to Mail Children in United States.
So, the claim that the photograph shows unwanted babies for sale in France during 1940s World War II is a hoax. The staged photograph is a post card meant for humor. Some of those babies don’t seem to be happy with the photo shoot anyway.
Hoax or Fact:
Hoax.
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