Lebensborn: The Nazis’ Secret Sex Program to Create a ‘Master Race’
For the Nazis, the ability of “Aryan” women to give birth was a major directive. The low birth rate pushed them to desperate measures, including mass kidnappings.
Imagine, if you can, the harsh reality of war and occupation. You’re a child, just a tiny girl in the countryside of Norway. But you are not a “real” Norwegian, because although your mother is a fair-skinned, blue-eyed daughter of Norway, you were born during the war to a soldier of the occupation army, a German.
Your mother wasn’t raped. But maybe you would have been less ostracized if she had been raped. At least then you’d all have the same enemy.
Instead, you are, as the locals call you, one of the Tyskerbarn. Children raised and kept in relative comfort by the Germans during the occupation of World War II.
But in 1945, when the Nazis fell, these children and their mothers were expelled. They were expelled and rejected from their communities, branded “collaborators” with evidence of this literally in their hands. Many were brutally abused, some were even placed in homes for the mentally ill.
The end of the war did not solve any problems for these abandoned mothers. Instead of being seen as a symbol of Aryan motherhood, their lives became miserable. At a time when millions of people were cheering for the end of German rule, the collapse of the Nazi dreams hit these abandoned “harbingers” of the New Order particularly hard.
Forgiveness may not have been possible under the circumstances. Still, one can imagine these mothers and their children wondering why this had happened.
Plan for the Settlement of Germany by the “Master Race”
German authorities, both before and during the Nazis, were concerned about the heavy losses of young men during the bloodshed of the First World War. Catastrophically for the country, more than 2 million German men died in the conflict. After the war, between 1920 and 1932, Germany’s birth rate fell by 43%.
When Hitler and his closest confidants, including SS chief Himmler, seized the reins of power in 1933, they were fixated on bringing the “master race” to supreme power. Politically, militarily, and demographically.
Their plan for settling the Fatherland was far-reaching. The first important step on the road was the separation of the “real” Germans from the minorities. In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws came into force. This policy determined the division and oppression of Jews and other non-Aryans. As well as political opponents, the mentally ill and homosexuals. Between these laws and the horrors of genocide there was a straight line of inevitability.
But beyond the lesser-known consequences, these laws also allowed the Nazi state to become a veritable machine for investigating sex crimes. People were instructed not to have sexual relations outside of their “race.” Marriages between Aryans and non-Aryans were forbidden. And the “undesirables” (for racial or medical reasons) had to be sterilized so that they could not reproduce.
Diseases leading to forced sterilization included alcoholism, dementia, and schizophrenia. During this period, about 400,000 Germans were sterilized. In addition to illness, race and ethnicity were factors in determining who went under the knife.
In just a few years, the noose tightened. In 1939, systematic mass murder began. Hitler decided to call it a “mercy killing,” even though there was no mercy. Homes for the disabled and mentally ill were systematically emptied. Their inhabitants were transported to newly built gas chambers for the effective killing and destruction of undesirables.
The League of German Girls and Preparation for “Aryan” Motherhood
At the same time, the division and ultimately the mass murder of the “inferior” peoples followed the same path. At the same time, the Nazis were implementing elements of their plan to seed Germany with children who were to be the vanguard of the master race. To this end, two complementary organizations for boys and girls have been established.
Most people, even those who are superficially familiar with Nazi history, know about the Hitler Youth. This male-dominated organization embodied the Aryan ideals of blond hair and blue eyes. Preparing the boys for further service.
The young girls’ organization is less well known. The League of German Girls sought to produce perfect Aryan women. Ready for the honorable position of mothers in the future Nazi state. The development of girls will be closely monitored. As they grow up to their highest destined role, which is to receive SS-approved sperm from Aryan men. And to put their babies in the hands of the state for upbringing.
These “racially valuable,” physically healthy, blonde-haired female children were favored in the Third Reich. Their exaltation exposes the dark rot at the heart of this so-called exaltation of women and mothers.
Lebensborn Program: Winners and Losers of Genetic Lotteries
As soon as the girls reached childbearing age, they became eligible to participate in the Reich’s “fertility promotion” program. If they were admitted, proved to be Aryan and underwent a thorough medical examination, they were invited to live in special homes. Where they were available to meet with SS officers, whether they were married or not.
This system was, in fact, the heart of the Nazi organization Lebensborn.
There were 10 Lebensborn houses in Germany, and even more in the Nazi-occupied territories. The atmosphere there was quite rich. They were usually located in houses confiscated by the Nazis.
Lebensborn, literally translated as “source of life,” was Heinrich Himmler’s diabolical program. Aimed at achieving numerous goals throughout Germany and its occupied lands. Allegedly, Lebensborn’s main goal was to oppose the high rate of abortion among “racially valuable” women, especially unmarried women.
Lebensborn’s group homes were a place of comfort and recuperation after the hardships of pregnancy. As well as another opportunity for the girls to meet the right SS men. The women were provided with the best quality medical care available in the Reich.
What did Lebensborn do?
Inevitably, the Lebensborn mission began to expand. If providing a safe alternative to abortion was a priority. The additional goal was to encourage the fertility of young, healthy Aryan and Nordic girls.
To facilitate this, homes became accessible not only to the pregnant wives of SS officers. But also for unmarried, single women who could be persuaded to mate with the SS and hand over their newborns to the state.
The Lebensborn houses were officially the birthplaces of married SS wives. However, according to statistics from that era, of the 8,000 Lebensborn children, 60 percent of their mothers were unmarried at the time of birth.
Often, due to the rarity of male partners, some SS members reported having more than one date a day. All of this was in line with the Nazis’ goal of creating an all-powerful “race of supermen.”
Himmler ordered all members of the SS to “spread their Aryan seed even out of wedlock.” Hitler agreed, stressing that so-called racially “valuable” men “must multiply very generously.”
The Next Step: Mass Kidnappings
The main goal of the program was an ambitious plan to increase the population of Germany by 30 million Aryans in one generation. Given this lofty but absurd idea, the results of the program, which produced a total of about 8,000 children, were disappointing.
So the Nazi leaders redoubled their efforts. If they couldn’t increase the number with the “usual” means of encouraging reproduction. Therefore, literally stealing children from occupied countries for Germanization was a diabolical extension to achieve their goals.
The Nuremberg Trials declared this program to be genocide.
The Aftermath of Lebensborn: Contempt and Division
Naturally, such a gloomy program did not stand up to publicity after the victory over Hitler and the liberation of Germany. Lebensborn employees sought to destroy all records associated with the program. What we know has been uncovered through interviews with allies and the memories of many children and mothers affected by this horrific program.
Perhaps more tragically, the children themselves have been treated even worse. Once hailed as the future of the Reich, these children outside Germany were often accused of being genetically inferior. Ironically, many were committed to mental hospitals for the crime of being half German.
It is hard to underestimate the damage done to so many children and adults by the Nazis’ insane scheme to repopulate Germany. One little girl managed to survive.
Do you remember the little Norwegian girl who fell into a vicious cycle of bullying and repression with her mother? They managed to slip away from their home country to Sweden. Where, 17 years later, the little girl Anni-Frid became better known around the world as Frida, one of the two main vocalists of the musical supergroup ABBA.