The work of SOS Children´s Villages started in Austria after the Second World War. As a consequence of the war there were orphans and homeless children everywhere. The existing children´s homes were large institutions. A young medicine student Hermann Gmeiner (1919-1986) wanted to find a new way to take care of these children. He came to the conclusion that the most effective way to help children in risk is to offer them a new home, a mother and a family.
Gmeiner started collecting money to build an SOS Children´s Village. The first children´s village was built in 1949 in Imst, Austria. The idea of the SOS Children´s Villages spread quickly around the world. At the moment there are SOS Children´s Villages on every continent with the SOS-Kinderdorf International as their umbrella organization.