The Lebensborn program ("Source of life" - Ed.) Was created on December 12, 1935 by order of the SS Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler. Initially, it was meant as a network of shelters where German women could donate illegitimate babies, then it turned into a conveyor belt for the forced Germanization of children from other countries.
The factory for the creation of the ideal Nordic race, which was planned to populate the territories of Poland, the USSR and the Czech Republic, has undergone changes since 1940. Its borders expanded in the literal sense: "branches" began to appear in the captured European camps. The preference was given for the most part to Scandinavian girls - from the Norwegian one could get the future “great Aryan”. The child born from such a union had to be "fair". It was just such a Nazi elite in Germany who saw the man of the future. But it was not planned to stop there, since blond boys and girls ran along the streets of Poland and the USSR, who were quite suitable for themselves in terms of external parameters and could bring invaluable assistance to the Third Reich.
From an orphanage, Lebensborn has become a conveyor belt for Germanization.
Lebensborn in the USSR
Officially, not a single Source of Life worked in the USSR. Distribution camps were predominantly in Europe: ten in Norway, three in Poland, two in Denmark, one each in the Netherlands, France and Luxembourg.
In the occupied lands, the future Aryans were sought in the Crimea, Bryansk, Smolensk, near Pskov and Novgorod. In 1947, the head of Lebensborn, SS Standartenfuehrer Max Sollmann, was brought to trial at the Nuremberg Trials. Then he announced the figures of the approximate number of abducted children: from 5 to 50 thousand were taken out only from the USSR. Zollman received less than three years in prison for his membership in the SS.
Eyewitnesses claimed that the children were taken from their parents and abducted on the street. Sometimes children of partisans were sent to the camp - this was a special punishment, the child could grow up as a patriot of Nazi Germany.
Children were taken from their parents, abducted on the street and made patriots of Nazi Germany.
How was Germanization
The number one task was to select the newly arrived children. Relatively lucky only healthy, blue-eyed, fair-haired - they were subjected to psychological tests and medical examinations, the rest awaited death in gas chambers.
In the shelters there was a "stick system". For offense, the children were beaten with a stick or put in a punishment cell. They made me forget where they came from and constantly repeated that they were now Germans. Himmler's program was successful, young Aryans quickly learned the German language and the system of "correct" thinking, then they were sent to childless German families.
Relatively lucky only the healthy, blue-eyed, the rest awaited death in the gas chambers.
What happened to Lebensborn after the war
In 1945, the experiment had to be interrupted. They tried to convince the Americans that Lebensborn was an organization that helps single mothers, but they found out the truth anyway. At the Nuremberg Trials, the workers of the "source of life" were accused of a crime against humanity and participation in a military organization, as well as for war crimes. The Norwegians participating in this program were called “German whores” and sent to secret concentration camps to do hard and humiliating work, while their children were teased with “Nazi bastards” and “rats”.
Volker Heinecke learned that he was not even German, his real name was Alexander, and his homeland was Crimea.
Volker Heinecke (formerly Alexander Litau. - Ed.) Can be ranked among the “lucky ones” among those who managed to find their roots in adulthood. The famous heir and businessman, who once decided to put things in order in the archives of his late father, found documents on adoption, which indicated the wrong place of his birth. Volker continued his search and sent inquiries to various archives, where he learned that he was not even German, his homeland was Crimea, but his real name was Alexander.
In one of the SS documents, Heinecke discovered a description of a military operation in the village of Kommunar in the vicinity of Crimea. After completing the puzzle, he realized that he was Lebensborn's child. However, of the Soviet children taken abroad, about 2-3% returned to their homeland, the rest either remained to live in Germany, or completely forgot their roots, grew up in German families and consider themselves native Germans.
Author: Dmitry Pavlov
