Lebensborn: The Unnatural Selection

Mendel & Motherhood | Hitler Wanted More| Born Free| Benefits of Lebensborn | Recovering Bloodlines| After the War | Eugenics | Himmler | Facts & History | Shoah

Mendel and Motherhood

Motherhood, valued the world over, was even more valued in WWII Germany for Aryan Mothers. Hitler and the Reich knew that to have a thriving army one must also have a thriving populace---preferably of white, blond haired, blue eyed, intelligent and 'well-dna-endowed'^{note 1} creatures, ready at a moment's notice to do the bidding of Germany and the Fuhrer. This notion is no speculation: Hitler was once quoted as saying that if he could have and train the upcoming generation, he could achieve his goals of the Master Race: he knew, as other leaders of mass movements and causes have known, that youth both train the easiest, make the most willing converts, and are most easily deceived. Hitler commented that the present generation was too secularized and had too many ideas and ways that were not conducive to his "New Germany". The Youth, of Germany though, he knew he could build from the ground up, and later, within a generation, accomplish his purpose.

Within a generation, Hitler almost did succeed: as the pre-war and war years progressed, the Hitlerjugend, a mandatory youth organization started in 1933 by the Reich, educated, indoctrinated and even brainwashed in the literature, songs, spirit and methods of Nazism. Children as young as 8 when their training began, were soldiers by the end of the war: true believers.

Hitler Wanted More

Hitler however wanted more, than a highly trained new generation. While issues of "nature vs nuture" have been around as long as psychology and philosophy, the Reich had long been interested and involved in the emerging 'field' of Eugenics and Racial Science which was prospering in the US and in Europe, particularly in Germany and Britain. They wanted a race of persons not only trained in the ways of the Reich, not only free of 'outside' genetic influence, but bred from the beginning in the same manner as livestock and flora, for the best traits, coloring, and other attributes. Great research efforts were begun towards this end, and new studies of coloring, facial features, brain topography and ancestral lines were begun.^{note 2} Many experiments were conducted, and the Reich even set up an organization to investigate ancestral histories and traits, called Nazi Ancestral Research Division:Ahnenerbe . Also, incentives were given to families to have more children who would be raised in perfect health and ideology, including tax credits and loans. The greatest experiment was still yet to come.

Born Free

"Lebensborn", meaning literally, free born, was the experiment which was to shake even the foundation of traditional German culture: the name applied to a project in which young women, mostly unmarried, were recruited to become impregnated and give birth to genetically engineered aryan children, children whose fathers, mostly unknown to the the would-be mothers, would be Germans of high class and intelligence and traits, most of whom would be found among the SS. These children would then be surrendered to the State upon birth, a prenatal agreement, and the children would be placed in trained and 'excellent' German homes to be raised as perfect Aryans: the culmination of the Reich's aspirations. Legitimacy of births was only a secondary concern to this bold move of racial science. The fact that Hitler chose as 'sires' military and Gestapo men, the SS and others engaged in war, was also in line with the mythology of the Volk he wished to reintroduce to Germany: the highest place in eternal reward of mortals, second only to gods, was that of soldier or those who fought battles; whether it was merely imagery and metaphor or true belief, may be debated, but the principle and value pervaded the programs and philosophies of the Nazis.

The Benefits of Lebensborn

Single or married, most mothers enjoyed many benefits in becoming incubators of the third Reich: it was promoted as civic duty, and married couples were often given tax and loan incentives to produce as many children as possible. Since Lebensborn was to be an experiment in creating the purest aryan bloodlines possible and pushing the threshold of the oncoming Reich or 1000 year rule, when young girls were recruited, they were promised many benefits, including all medical expenses paid. It has been described in a documentary as an "open secret" among the SS, and Hitler is known to have made mention of it---and the SS seen a premiere bloodline was ordered by Himmler to set a goal for 4 or more children. ¹ Illegitimacy even then in Germany still bore the mark of stigma, so discretion was used and afterwards, most of the young women gave up their infants, often in a pre-agreement: the children at birth were given in priority first to SS couples and secondly to prototype Aryan families that both nature and nuture criteria would be fulfilled. Mothers were bound by contracts to the German State to place the children into foster care. Programs were also set up in Norway, with the Norwegian government in cooperation. Norwegian women were considered acceptable for their aryan features.

Recovering or destroying the Bloodlines

While it was considered only rumor, for a while, evidence came to light showing that in Poland, children were not only bred but stolen for their perfect Aryan features. Even pictoral evidence now exists. It is interesting to note that the picture used in the Reich of the 'perfect baby' in an advertising campaign similar to our 'Gerber Baby' as an example of aryan perfect, turned out later to have been a Jewish child in a twist of irony. Over 200,000 kidnapped Polish children remained after the war. Children illegally taken who were under 6 were sent to Lebensborn. The aryan-featured children were then put up for adoption. Said Himmler, " even if we have to rob or steal: either we recover this blood or we have to destroy it." ² Children who were disabled or otherwise infirm were poisoned or starved.

After the War

Actual parentage was covered up completely, and after the war in Germany came to an end on May 7, 1945, many found and have found since, that there was no way to trace their actual birth mothers and fathers. The children who were stolen from Poland and 'germanized' were not returned after the war because records had been destroyed or forged were not returned, in part because of no paper trail and in part because of the cold war which developed. The Lebensborn houses in Norway also sealed or destroyed records leaving many children without records of parentage. Himmler, who would have been able to direct a search or provide knowledge of documentation, died on May 23, 1945 leaving no knowledge whether records actually existed.

The Lebensborn babies after the war in Germany and occupied countries did not fair well: since they had no parentage and only foster care, they were often left abandoned or put in orphanages for the remainder of their childhood. When in Germany they had been under special protection of the Third Reich, but with the dismantling of the SS and war crimes trials, not only were they left without support, but save for benevolent foster families, they became targets for violence, humiliation and predators. In Norway after the war, participation in the program was deemed an act of mental instability, and the progeny of the participants, the Lebensborn children were seen as 'defective'. Many struggled for years since with stress related problems such as substance abuse, suicide attempts, and other problems. Records here also disappeared or were damaged. Had the Lebensborn experiment succeeded, the children would have found a place as a sort of 'ruling class' or aristocracy within the New Europe, the New Reich. It took though until the past ten years for Norway's Government to apologize for its participation in the 'experiment'. Many of these children have come forward with their stories shedding the only eyewitness accounts of a Racial Science experiment gone terribly wrong.

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