Hitler's Aryan Race Attempt

World War I cast a long shadow on Germany. More than two million soldiers fell during the conflict.The Treaty of Versailles fell during the conflict.The Treaty of Versailles forced the Central European country to pay financial reparations and surrender the Alsace-Lorraine industrial region on its western border. The Weimar Republic, which grew from the German Empire's ruins, was weak and could not calm the German people.WWI forced Central Europe to pay financial reparations and surrender the Alsace-Lorraine industrial region on its western border. The Weimar Republic, which grew from the German Empire's ruins, remained weak and could not calm the German people.

The National Social Worker’s Party gained power after this hardship. This party promised to bring the country back to its former imperial glory. The party thought it needed to create super beings of Aryan descent through eugenics and remove those they considered inferior. They took ideas from Friedrich Nietzsche, including the Übermensch."Übermensch",means biologically-superior, what the party saw as the final human form.The National Social Worker’s Party gained power after this hardship. This party promised to bring the country back to its former imperial glory. The party thought it needed to create super beings of Aryan descent through eugenics and remove those they considered inferior. They took ideas from Friedrich Nietzsche, including the Übermensch.ÜbermenschAt the start of the Lebensborn program, the United States promoted eugenics for decades. Though the movement started in the first decade of the 20th century, the Supreme Court ruled in 1927 that forced sterilization was legal in Buck v. Bell.

On December 12, 1935, as part of this effort, Adolf Hitler wrote in his book Mein Kampf, "There is today one [country], in which at least weak beginnings toward a better conception [of citizenship] are noticeable.""Of course, it is not our model German Republic, but the United States."Heinrich Himmler and the SS specifically recruited German and Norwegian women for the program.Heinrich Himmler Hildegard Trutz was one of the first women in the program. She became an example of ideal Nordic features due to her tall build, blonde hair, and blue eyes. Trutz was a long-time party supporter and joined the Lebensborn program in 1936 at age 18.Himmler aimed to increase Germanic and Nordic populations after years of falling birth rates in Germany.

The United States promoted eugenics for decades at the start of the Lebensborn program. Although the movement started in the first decade of the 20th century, the Supreme Court ruled in 1927 that forced sterilization was legal in Buck v. Bell.Buck v. Bell.

This single court decision affected the country from the 1920s through the 1970s. It allowed the sterilization of thousands of people deemed "undesirable"."undesirableThe policy targeted the disabled, the mentally ill, minority groups, unwed mothers, and the poor. This policy greatly influenced Germany's desire to target specific groups in the same way.

Adolf Hitler wrote in his book Mein Kampf, “There is today one [country], in which at least weak beginnings toward a better conception [of citizenship] are noticeable.”Mein Kampf.“Of course, it is not our model German Republic, but the United States.”

Heinrich Himmler and the SS recruited German and Norwegian women for the program. Participants had to sleep with SS officers and have children outside of marriage for housing, protection, and healthcare. After birth, the mother lost all parental rights to her child.encouraged to sleep with SS officersand bear children outside of wedlock in exchange for housing, protection, and healthcare. After giving birth, the mother would give up all parental rights to her child.

Hildegard Trutz was oneof the first women in the program. She appeared as an example of ideal Nordic features due to her tall build, blonde hair, and blue eyes. Trutz was a long-time party supporter and joined the Lebensborn program in 1936 at age 18.

To join, she passed a series of medical tests and background checks to confirm her pure Nordic background.

The program did not succeed as first expected. In 1939, Heinrich Himmler ordered the SS to seize children who matched Aryan specifications.seize childrenDuring WWII, the SS forcibly took about 200,000 children from other countries, focusing on Poland and Yugoslavia, for the Lebensborn program.

The program forced these children through "Germanisation" to reject their childhood and birth parents.These children rejected their childhood and birth parents.The Third Reich indoctrinated the children into its ideology. SS families took in those who did not fight the process; those who refused moved to concentration camps.

After the conflict ended, only 25,000 displaced children were found and reunited with their families.

The Lebensborn program aimed at young women in their late teens and early 20s. The program policies asked them to offer their bodies to the state. Third Reich leaders used youth groups to increase membership in the Lebensborn program.

One of these groups allowedHildegard Trutz.came to volunteer. After school, she spoke to her group leader about her future. The leader told Trutz she had a patriotic duty to bear children for Germany's future. Trutz signed up right away.

Joining the Lebensborn program meant women faced socialization, selection, and intercourse. These women met SS officers in different places, socialized, and chose a man based on who they liked most after these meetings.

The women waited "until the 10th day after the start of the last period" before sleeping with the man for three nights to get pregnant. Hildegard Trutz's account shows this.Hildegard Trutz’s account.She went to a castle in Bavaria with 40 other girls for the same process. SS officers had a duty to sleep with a program woman daily, switching participants after the three-night limit.

The Third Reich created maternity homes for women pregnant through the Lebensborn program. Program leaders placed these homes in German-occupied countries across Europe; for example, 10,000 babies were reportedly born in Norway's homes alone.

These maternity homes held two types of women: those who wereSS officers purposefully impregnated her.andunwed mothers.Women not officially in the Lebensborn program were recruited to give their babies to the SS because of their family line. These women needed to show proof of a "pure" family tree going back at least three generations and the same proof for the father.

Women stayed in a Lebensborn home until they gave birth. If the child was "desirable," the SS gave care and education, including boarding schools that promoted indoctrination.

Germany's fear of a shrinking Aryan population was so great that, alongside the Lebensborn program, thethe regime pushed soldiers.to father children outside of marriage with any suitable Nordic or Aryan woman if possible. Men who refused to care for the child faced no blame because Germany promised to support children the Third Reich accepted.

Of all men who fathered children registered in Norwegian Lebensborn homes, only a small group married the women with whom they made families.

Starting December 16, 1938, German women who had four or more children received medals.The medal was the Mother's Cross of Honor.It had three levels: bronze went to women with four or five children; silver went to six or seven; gold went to eight or more.

Medal levels shifted. Women who kept having children could get more awards. They could also lose medals for cheating on marriage, neglecting children, or other social issues.

Germany changed marriage laws in 1938. This made it easier for men in their late 40s or 50s to leave their wives for younger women. A man with four children, no children, or separated from his wife for three years got a divorce without penalty.

Germany counted between 1938 and 1940.Germany counted about 30,000 divorces.The change of law influenced 80% of these reforms.

The Lebensborn program created about 20,000 children. Many of these children were ashamed.They felt shame after World War II.After WWII, some formerly occupied countries, like Norway, branded women who bore children with SS members as traitors.

Norway's exiled government...declared the women collaborators.They tried to deport the children. One statement said, "We warned them before. We repeat this: these women will face contempt from all Norwegians for their lack of restraint."

The children faced prejudice. Norwegian newspapers warned the children carried the genetic mark of the Third Reich. A Norwegian official said in 1945, "Believing these children will become decent citizens is like believing rats in the cellar will become house pets."

At the end of WWII, the SS tried to erase all records of the Lebensborn program. The SS took many of the children and never returned them to their families.Children born into the program kept their past hidden or did not know where they came from.Birth certificates left blanks for the father's name. Mothers involved in the program stayed silent because of the controversy.

In 2006Men and women born into the program began speaking about their views, their personal history, and the treatment they faced.