Nazi SS Leader Heinrich Himmler developed
the Lebensborn (meaning Wellspring of Life) Program for the Third Reich. The program, which began in December 1935
and continued until the end of the Second World War, persuaded women of so-called pure
blood, to mate with single and married SS Officers and ultimately give birth to blonde,
blue-eyed children. Himmler oversaw the Lebensborn Program throughout
its tenure and frequently visited Lebensborn homes. He was arrested as a war criminal when the
Second World War ended and killed himself by swallowing a cyanide capsule on May 23,
1945 while he was imprisoned. 10. The Goal of the Program Beginning in the early 1900s, Germany’s
birthrate was in decline. Due to tough economic times, and a shortage
of marriage-age men, particularly after Germany’s defeat on November 11, 1918 in the First World
War, the use of birth control and women seeking abortions became common practices. By 1933, the birthrate per thousand was only
14.7%. The Lebensborn Program was a method for the
Nazi’s to reverse the birthrate decline and at the same time create a superior Aryan
master race, which would dominate Europe as part of German Fuehrer Adolph Hitler’s Third
Reich, or Thousand Year Reich. Hitler’s plan was to complete the last third
of a trio that included the First Reich (the Holy Roman Empire), and the Second Reich (the
Hohenzollern Dynasty), both of which lasted about a thousand years each. As it turned out, the Third Reich only lasted
11 years. 9. Lebensborn Homes Locations Pregnant women who could prove their children’s
Aryan lineage were given special financial support and special treatment by the government. Alternatively, they could leave their children
in Lebensborn homes, where the children would receive the best of care and, of course, a
Nazi education. Initially, there were 10 Lebensborn homes
and all were located within Germany. The first opened in 1936 in Steinhoering,
a small village near Munich. As World War II raged on and the Nazi’s
began to invade and conquer other countries in Europe, it gave Himmler an opportunity
to expand the Lebensborn program. Eventually, nine Lebensborn homes were added
in Norway, two in Austria and one each in Belgium, Holland, France, Luxembourg and Denmark. Himmler established more than 20 of these
Lebensborn institutions altogether. 8. The Kidnappings The Lebensborn Program was also responsible
for the kidnapping of thousands of European children and many of these children were from
Poland and Slovenia. Any children who looked Aryan enough were
abducted and those who had virtually no Jewish traits were “Germanized”. On July 25, 1942, Himmler instructed the SS
to send children from Slovenia to Germany. 600 children between the ages of six and 12
were given to Lebensborn officials. In his book, Give a Child to the Fuehrer – the
Lebensborn Organization, German historian Volker Koop says he found a list of these
Slovenian children in a federal archive along with notes from SS Captain George Roedel who
marked next to each child’s name “parents shot”. These “Germanized” children were told
that their parents were dead or had abandoned them and they were given new identities, including
new names, birth certificates and even fake lineage and were then sent to Germany to live
in institutions or with German families. Children two to six years old were sent to
Lebensborn homes. The children who could not be “Germanized”
were sent to concentration camps. 7. The Fathers SS Officers needed state consent to marry
and this consent depended on the officer’s prospective wife meeting the strict Lebensborn
standards. In 1936, an ordinance was issued advising
every SS member that he should father at least four children. Many of the fathers of Lebensborn children
were married members of the SS (the Nazi Party’s most feared military unit) with their own
families, who had obeyed Himmler’s order to spread their Aryan seed, even out of wedlock. Due to the secrecy of the program, the identities
of the fathers were not recorded on birth certificates. 6. The Mothers If a woman wanted to participate in the Lebensborn
Program, she had to have blonde hair and blue eyes, no trace of any genetic disorders and
she had to demonstrate her Aryan ancestry, as far back as her grandparents. She also had to prove the identity of the
father, who also had to have the proper racial characteristics. Only 40% of the women who applied to join
the program actually passed the racial purity test. More than 60% of Lebensborn mothers were unmarried. The Lebensborn Program had its own registry
office system to keep the mother’s and father’s identities a secret and most of these documents
were burned at the end of the Second World War. The Nazi’s believed that women from Norway
were perfect for their program, as most were fair-haired with blue eyes. It is estimated that about 50,000 Norwegian
women had affairs with German soldiers. They were thought of as German Whores, by
other Norwegians and were disciplined with treatments like publicly having their heads
shaved, once the war ended. Their children were taken away from them and
most never saw them again. 5. The Doctors Doctors were a vital part of the Lebensborn
Program. It is believed that Medical Director Gregor
Ebner went to school with and was a close friend of Himmler’s. At the Steinhoering home, he not only supervised
the births of 3,000 Lebensborn babies, but also carried out reproduction experiments
on many women. Ebner was captured near the end of the Second
World War and was tried for crimes against humanity, war crimes and other crimes. When he died in 1974, he still held firm to
his Nazi beliefs. Hundreds of doctors (and nurses) at Lebensborn
homes were there not only to care for the children but to also indoctrinate them as
Nazis. They also helped determine whether a child
was German enough to be adopted or sent to his or her death in a concentration camp. 4. The Children About 8,000 Lebensborn children were born
in Germany. They were baptized in ritualistic ceremonies
involving an SS dagger and their parents (adoptive or otherwise) promising the child’s loyalty
to the Nazi cause. Those children who were left by their single
mothers in Lebensborn homes were taken care of by doctors and nurses who were employed
by the SS. Many were eventually given to rich Nazi families
to rear as their own. In Norway, between 1940 and 1945, approximately
8,000 to 10,000 Lebensborn babies were born and about half of those were born in Lebensborn
institutions. The Nazi Party automatically considered these
children German. 3. The Lawsuits When the Second World War ended and Germany
pulled out of Norway, there were thousands of Lebensborn babies who, through no fault
of their own, were either unwanted or had been taken away from their mothers, many of
whom had been arrested because they’d had children with German soldiers. Some of these unwanted Lebensborn children
from Norway say that they were locked up in state sanctioned institutions, subjected to
medical experimentation, sexually abused and made to feel shame because of who they were. A group of Lebensborn children sued the Norwegian
government and some settlements have been made. Norway’s Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik
made a public apology for the state’s mistreatment of Lebensborn children on December 31, 1999. 2. Famous Lebensborn Babies Folker Heinecke, a blonde haired, blue-eyed
little boy, was kidnapped from the Crimea in 1942. Himmler was apparently fascinated by him and,
as was common among kidnapped Lebensborn babies, had him examined by German doctors to make
sure he didn’t show any traces of Judaism. Adalbert Heinecke, a wealthy and honorary
SS member, adopted Folker. During the past 60 years, Folker has searched
for his birth parents and was one of the Lebensborn children featured in a 2009 BBC Film called
Children of the Master Race. American actress Marta Kristen was born Bridget
Annalisa Rusanen on February 26, 1945. Her mother was from Finland her father was
a German soldier. Bridget was only two months old when her mother
left her in an orphanage in Oslo, Norway. In 1949, an American couple adopted her and
her name was changed to Marta. In l969, Marta found her birth mother, Helmi
Rusanen, who was living in Finland. Marta appeared in many television shows, like
Dr. Kildare, My Three Sons and Wagon Train in the 1960s and is probably most famous for
her starring role as Judy Robinson in Lost in Space. 1. The Most Famous Lebensborn Baby The most famous Lebensborn child is Anni-Frid
“Frida” Lyngstad, a founding member of the Swedish pop group Abba. Born on November 15, 1945, Anni-Frid’s father
was a German sergeant named Alfred Haase. After the Second World War ended and afraid
of retaliations against those who had any dealings with the Germans during the occupation
of Norway, Anni-Frid’s Norwegian mother Synni Lyngstad and her maternal grandmother
Arntine Lyngstad, took her and moved to Sweden. Soon after moving to Sweden, Synni died from
kidney failure. Her grandmother raised Anni-Frid. Anni-Frid had been told that her father had
died during the war but he had actually survived and was a pastry chef living in Germany. She met Haase for the first time in September
1977. Haase died in 2009.
