In 1982, the world famous group ABBA broke up. The former members went their separate ways. One of them, Annie-Fried Lingstad, was even able to become part of the Swiss royal family. What did she go through before living a quiet life? It turns out that her birth was associated with the eugenic project of the Third Reich to produce purebred Aryans.
SS Sergeant's daughter
First, she was the only non-Swede at ABBA. Anni-Fried has Norwegian-German roots. Her mother gave birth to a daughter at the age of 19 from the German sergeant Alfred Haase. The parents were not married, moreover, in Germany the sergeant had a family, but how could this be an obstacle to real feelings?
Haase was soon transferred to another duty station and until the seventies he did not know that he had a daughter and who she was. German journalists enlightened him, Annie-Fried met with her father, but the relationship did not work out.
To avoid the condemnation of neighbors, a young Norwegian woman, pregnant with the future ABBA soloist, came to the Norwegian branch of the Lebensborn project, where her daughter was born. At first, Anni-Frid's care was more than good: she was born from a German to a Norwegian, and the Norwegians belong to the Aryan race. That is, Annie-Fried was an Aryan on all lines, which was extremely important for Lebensborn.
The project, translated as "Source of Life", was launched in Germany in 1936 to produce purebred Aryan babies on an industrial scale. The SS men who passed an additional selection were to become fathers, which guaranteed the quality of the genetic material.
"Lebensborn" was by no means a brothel or a brothel - the girls were selected there extremely highly moral, and intimate relations served not for pleasure, but for the generation of Aryans. The project participants were recruited, in particular, by the League of German Girls. Children grew up under close medical supervision, ate well, and from a certain age received the correct Nazi upbringing. The state did not forget the Aryan mothers either; they lived much better than the average German family. Those who gave birth to especially pure-blooded Aryans for "Lebensborn" were awarded the Iron Cross with all the privileges relying on. Fathers did not bear any responsibility for the offspring; their role was only in conception. Moreover, young strong men were needed in the army and the SS.
Promotional video:
About 12 thousand children were born under the Lebensborn program in Norway, and after the expulsion of the Germans, the anger of the Norwegian people fell upon them and their mothers. The Norwegians did not distinguish themselves by fighting the Wehrmacht and the SS, they conquered the country in two months: starting in April, they finished by June 16, 1940. There was a Nazi party in Norway, the ideas of Nazism were warmly supported by the Nobel Prize for Literature Knut Hamsun.
Not becoming to resist the armed forces of the Nazis, the Norwegians threw out the berserkers' rage on women and children. Despite her youth, Annie-Fried's mother was smart and moved with her daughter to her grandmother in Sweden before the persecution began. But two years later she died - Annie-Fried was left not only without a father, but also without a mother. Moreover, the girl for a long time was not aware of her origin as a "gift to Hitler" - the story was unearthed by the media at the peak of the popularity of the ABBA group. This did not add joy to the singer's life, although this cannot be said from her stage image.
Swiss princess
Annie-Fried began singing at the age of 13. First, these were Swedish folk songs, then - covers of American hits. She creates her own group that has achieved local success.
Anni-Fried got married at the age of 17, musician Ragnar Fredriksson became her first husband. The couple had two children - a son and a daughter. After the birth of Lisa-Lotta, the singer breaks up with her first husband. Her second chosen one was Benny Andersson in 1969. In 1971, ABBA was founded, with Bjorn Ulveus and Agneta Feltskog becoming two more members. When they parted in 1978, the sad and poignant ballad "Winner Takes It All" was born - the only hit in pop music not dedicated to love, but to divorce. In 1981, Annie-Fried and Benny parted ways. "ABBA" broke up and its members did not agree to reunite even for $ 1 billion, which, according to rumors, they were promised in the 1990s.
Annie-Fried continued her solo career and has been living in Switzerland since 1986. Here in 1992, she married a longtime friend, a Swiss prince, with whom she lived together for 7 years, after which she lost her third husband, who died of cancer. And a year before that, the singer's daughter, Lisa-Lotta, died in an accident.
Princess Annie-Fried Reuss von Plauen, as the former ABBA soloist is officially called, is engaged in environmental projects and charity work, is friends with the Swedish royal family, while continuing to live in Switzerland. Annie-Fried looks great while maintaining a healthy lifestyle and exercising.
Konstantin Baranovsky