How the Nazis turned Soviet children into Aryans, and what happened to them after the defeat of Germany

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

One of the main desires of Adolf Hitler, the founder of the Nazi regime, a bloody dictator who unleashed the most terrible war in the history of mankind, was to seize power over the world in order to rule the Aryans and spread a new, perfect race of supermen on the planet. To bring this idea to life, the Lebensborn project (translated from German - "source of life") was developed, the implementation of which relied on the Institute for Racial Research, which was part of the "Ahnenerbe" organization.

How and why the Nazis launched the Lebensborn project

The Lebensborn organization was founded in 1935 on the personal initiative of Heinrich Himmler. By this time, the Reichsfuehrer was seriously worried about the problem of the steady demographic decline in the country. Himmler feared that the continuation of this trend would lead to a significant weakening of the Nordic race. Therefore, the first specific goal of the "Source of Life" was to help increase the birth rate of "genetically valuable" offspring. The mission was carried out under the guise of a humane mission to counter abortion and help single mothers. Unmarried German women were encouraged to give the Fuhrer an Aryan child, emphasizing in every possible way their high mission.

In fact, not everyone in need of care could get into the program. Only those mothers and children who were considered "racially high quality" by Lebensborn specialists and SS doctors became participants in the project. To do this, a woman had to provide information about her pedigree, a personal questionnaire, a certificate of no criminal record, a medical record and under oath indicate who the father of the child is. Therefore, it is not surprising that more than 50 percent of those who applied to the Source of Life were refused. Repeated racial examination was carried out after childbirth. The babies born at Lebensborn were carefully examined and sorted out. A sick or underdeveloped newborn was threatened with death. A child who met the Lebensborn criteria was left with the mother (while she received benefits from the state) or transferred to a special shelter, and from there to a trusted family supporting the ideology of the exclusivity of the Aryan race.

"At any cost", or how the Germanization of the conquered territories was carried out and new Germans were "born"

The Second World War required the sending of millions of young people to the front. And no matter how hard the Lebensborn specialists worked, it was impossible to significantly increase the population of the Third Reich by only increasing the birth rate. There was only one way out - to replenish their ranks with immigrants from other nations. Lebensborn emissaries to select children with similar Aryan appearance (usually blue-eyed blondes) and their "Germanization" began to operate in Poland, and then spread their experience throughout Europe.

The “Source of Life” shelters appeared in Norway, Poland, Holland, France, Luxembourg. And in the USSR, the abductions of children were as large-scale as possible. Most often, searches for "potential Aryans" were concentrated in the northern regions of Russia, as well as in the Bryansk and Smolensk regions. Close attention was paid to the Crimea, where it was planned to create in the future a large settlement for the Lebensborn pupils. The children of the executed partisans and underground fighters, forcibly taken away from their parents, kidnapped in the streets, were sent to Germany. To get into the care of the Lebensborn, they had to pass a test of "racial worth" for almost fifty parameters. Otherwise, a sad fate awaited them.

How was the fate of Soviet children who ended up in the Lebensborn orphanages

The life of Slavic children under the care of Lebensborn began with a specially designed magnificent ritual of "naming". The action took place in front of a portrait of Hitler, placed on a symbolic altar, framed with torches and decorated with a swastika. SS officers took the guys in their arms and swore an oath of allegiance on their behalf. This was a kind of revenge: to make the children of those who are fighting against Germany convinced by the Nazis. The guys got new names. Sometimes in consonance with the real ones: so Nina could become Wilhelmina, Zina - Siegred. But in most cases they were ancient Germanic, not in any way reminiscent of their relatives, Siegfried, Gottfried, Wilfried, Eberhard.

Further, the smallest ones ended up in the families of SS employees, and the older ones - in special orphanages, in which the intensified "Germanization" of children was carried out. The native language was under the strictest ban, in everyday life - only German. There was constant indoctrination: you are a German, a future valiant soldier or a conscientious worker. Children tend to easily learn a foreign language and type of thinking, therefore, after three or four months, the drills of the newly minted Aryans were given to German families. Lebensborn had its own passport office, where data on the origin of the child was falsified. As a rule, Slavic children received the status of orphans, whose parents died for the great Germany and the Fuhrer. As a result, the Germans did not even suspect that their pupils were Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians.

Why did the children refuse to leave for the USSR after the defeat of Nazi Germany

The victorious march of Soviet troops across Europe left no doubt about the outcome of the war. However, the idea of a fix about a superior race still hovered among the bonzes of the Third Reich. Therefore, the Lebensborn houses did not cease to exist, but only moved further west. After the surrender of Germany and its division into occupation zones, most of the shelters ended up in territory controlled by the United States. American military investigators noted that a huge number of Lebensborn nursery wards had not expressed a desire to leave Germany. Some, under the influence of Nazi propaganda, sincerely believed that they were honored with the happiness of being an Aryan, others sincerely attached themselves to adoptive parents.

The kids did not remember their past at all. Many teenagers feared that they would be persecuted in their homeland because they lived with the Germans and served them. One way or another, but after the war, only a minimal part of the Slavic children returned home. Almost all Lebensborn archives were destroyed, so it is impossible to understand exactly how many children were taken from the USSR to Germany.

Currently, there is a special organization in Germany to help people who managed to find out the truth about their birth and who are striving to find biological relatives.

But some children inhuman Nazis used as blood donors.