Lebensborn

Lebensborn, a neologism meaning ‘fountain of life’, was a Nazi programme organized by Himmler to increase the birthrate of ‘racially sound’ babies.

The Lebensborn Registered Society was formed in December 1935 with the objective of caring for the wives, fiancées, and girlfriends of members of the SS and the police, and special maternity homes were established for this purpose in Germany, and later in certain occupied countries. To encourage a higher birthrate publicity for contraception was forbidden in Germany and abortion was severely punished. Illegitimacy was no longer stigmatized and unmarried mothers were given all the rights of married women. Most of the girls using the homes belonged to the Bund deutscher Mädel (League of German Girls), the female part of the Hitler Youth organization. They were taught that motherhood was the highest form of service to the Third Reich and were encouraged to become pregnant by SS men who, married or not, were relieved of any responsibility for their progeny. The total number of births in Lebensborn homes is believed to be about 12,000. Some mothers chose to keep their babies, but most were adopted by ‘racially sound’ parents. Those born physically or mentally handicapped were sent to a special institution where they did not survive (see euthanasia programme).

Another aspect of Lebensborn was the importation of Aryan-looking children from occupied countries who were then placed by the society with German families or in special schools. This process of acquiring ‘racially valuable’ children started as early as 1940 when it was agreed with Himmler to deal with those aged under six, though later, in certain cases, they were accepted to the age of twelve. They were initially taken to transit camps where they were given German names and identity papers, and taught the rudiments of the language and of Nazi ideology. This usually took six months, and they were then placed with suitable families. Most came from families whose parents had been deported or liquidated but often they were just picked up in the street by the Sipo, SS personnel who were trained to assess likely candidates, or by women who belonged to the Nazi Welfare Association (Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt, or NSV) which dealt with children too old to be handled by the Lebensborn organization. At the Nuremberg trials it was revealed that the Wehrmacht had been involved in kidnapping 40,000–50,000 children during the German–Soviet war and that another 50,000 were taken from Ruthenia. About 200,000 Polish children, including thousands from the Zamość region, were thought to be ‘racially useful’ and were sent to Germany for adoption, and many Yugoslav children suffered the same fate. Of those abducted, 80% never returned.

Bibliography

Henry, C., and and Hillel, M. , Children of the SS (London, 1976).