Lebensborn
|
|
- Note: the term "Lebensborn" is used in Norway to describe children of German soldiers. For this usage, please see Children of the Nazi era. This article is about the Nazi Lebensborn programme.
Nazi Germany's Lebensborn (fountain of life) plan was a human breeding plan intended to expand the "Aryan race", who were to be the new master race of Europe.
Under the plan by Heinrich Himmler, German men were encouraged to produce children with "racially pure" Aryan-looking women. The plan was adopted in 1936, and stated that every "SS Mann" should father 4 children. Unmarried mothers had the opportunity to live in special homes and receive financial support, while the children would be adopted.
The Lebensborn programme operated mainly in Germany.
| Contents |
Kidnapping children from occupied countries
Lebensborn officials were also involved in kidnapping children from occupied countries, e.g. Polish, Czech and French children. Approximately 50,000 to 200,000 Polish children were kidnapped, those who after examination were deemed "aryan" enough were then sent, with falsified birth certificates, to selected families. These families were often given a false backstory about the children whom they were adopting, e.g. they were adopting children of soldiers killed in battle. Most of those children never returned to their original families, and their descendants are usually not aware of their national origins.
What Happened to the Lebensborn Children After the War
After the war the children of lebensborn were sent to special adoption agencies, from there if they were not claimed or wanted for adoption then they were mainly sent to mental institutions in Poland. The polish government has recently paid compensation for this treatment, as it was unjust to put children in mental institutions for up to 20 years because of their parenthood.
See also
Books
- The Lebensborn Experiment in Germany C. Clay and M. Leapman (1995) ISBN 0430589787
- Of Pure Blood Marc Hillel (1976) ISBN 007028895X
External links
- A short description of the Lebensborn programme (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Lebensborn.html)
- Article about the Lebensborn (http://www.shoa.de/lebensborn.html) on shoa.de (in German)
- [1] (http://members.tripod.com/~ssscott/holocaust.html) - Few paragraphs in the text are about Lebensborn policies in occupied countries.
Template:WWII-stub Template:Socio-stubde:Lebensborn nl:Lebensborn