Empty Cereal Box

Views From Inside an Adoptee

November 13, 2006

They're Still at It

The bitch that bore Hitler is still in heat--Bertholt Brecht

After reading the comments on my previous post, I had to follow Heatherrainbow's link (thanks Heatherrainbow) to the New York Times (the one about the "perfect" Aryan children adopted by Nazis) and found the page had been removed. So I found it on BBC NEWS for Nov. 4. It does bear an eery resemblance to the "egg donor program" advertisements that bombard print media nationwide these days. For anyone who missed it, here it is:
Nazi 'master race' children meet


A group of children selected by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime with the aim of creating an Aryan master race has met openly for the first time as adults.

Children from the Nazis' "Lebensborn" or "Font of Life" project gathered in the German town of Wernigerode to discuss the trauma over their origins.

The project aimed to create a breed of people that fitted the Nazis' physical ideal and could manage a future empire.

It saw thousands of often illegitimate children placed in Nazi members' homes.

The children were frequently selected for qualities the Nazis regarded as typically Aryan, such as blonde hair, blue eyes or pale skin.

They were often adopted by the families of the Nazis' elite force, the SS. For years those children either did not know about their past or were too ashamed to discuss it in public.

Trauma and prejudice

The head of a group of people who grew up under the project said Saturday's gathering was a means of exposing myths about the system.

"The aim was to take the children out into the open, to encourage those affected to find out their origins," Matthias Meissner of the Lebensspuren, or "Traces of Life" group said.

He said the meeting was also a way of showing "the outside world that the cliche of the stud farm with blond-haired, blue-eyed parents is not correct".

Many children from the project grew up to face prejudice and personal problems over their origins.

Folker Heinicke, 66, was taken from his parents in Ukraine and brought up by a German family.

He told the Associated Press news agency: "There was always a feeling inside that something was not quite right."

"I was ripped away from my mother."

While thousands of children with apparently desirable Aryan qualities were nurtured by the Nazis, the regime's aim to create a perfect race also underpinned the genocide of millions of Jews and other minorities.



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4 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

There is a very good book about this I read years ago, I think it is called "In true blood" by Clarissa Henry fascinating, and fascinating how some of the stolen children would not return.

14.11.06  
Blogger suz said...

Not related to this post but picked up from Mias blog. I hurt for you when I read this.
How can a natural mom shut off from herself and from her child? How can she choose denial over love? Do you have any answers?
I dont know but I could ask the same question in reverse. It goes both ways and sucks regardless.
Big hugs.

14.11.06  
Blogger Pendullum said...

I too had read the story of the 'Aryan children'...
It was a pretty moving piece.
Thank you for posting it...

14.11.06  
Blogger Laurie (formerly known as Momseekingpeace) said...

Yes I got your email
MSP

14.11.06  

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