Some pretty freaky and deplorable things happened during the Nazi regime, but there’s one that I’d never heard of before. The Lebensborn program. This was part of the Aryan idea where they would breed German soldiers with the blonde haired, blue eyed Norwegian women to expand the “master race”. Of course the Nazi’s lost the war and then suddenly there were all of these “traitors” and their half-German children in countries that were intensely hostile towards Germany. Intended to be the next step in improving the Aryan race they instantly became unwanted and spat upon by the country of their birth. It’s not known how many of the women were amenable to the breeding program, some may have had relationships with the officers who impregnated them, but I’m doubting that was the case for many of them. The Lebensborn program resulted in the expulsion and/or abuse of thousands of people.

If you’ve ever listened to ABBA, you’ve heard the voice of a rather famous product of this program. Anni-Frid Lyngstad is one of the four members of the pop group and her story was covered by The Guardian several years ago.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/jun/30/kateconnolly.theobserver

There was concern that the children of Nazi soldiers would have the same penchant for fascism as their fathers and many were treated as outsiders and dangers to the world.

In addition to the breeding program there was also the kidnapping of children who fit the Nazi criteria for being Aryan. It is suggested that around 250,000 children were removed from their homes by the Nazis in order to be trained into German ideals and culture at the expense of their families and cultural identity.

Thankfully the days of the Lebensborn are over, but there are many people living with the consequences of what happened. This wasn’t taught in my history classes, but I suppose there may have just been too many deplorable things to cover them all in the time I was educated on the general topic. I hope you guys learned something interesting, even if it was disturbing.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Erin

 

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