The kidnapping of children by the Nazis. To this day, it’s not something you read about very often. Yet it did happen, and on a larger scale than one might initially think. The exact number of children kidnapped by the Nazis is not clear-cut or easy to determine. However, estimates suggest that approximately 20,000 children were abducted from the occupied part of the Soviet Union and about 10,000 from Western and Southwestern Europe. However, the vast majority of child abductions took place in Poland. It is estimated that around 200,000 Polish children were taken by the Nazis.
Where the children were taken
Most of the children were taken to Nazi Germany. But not all of them were given a good life. Some of the children were forced to perform hard labor. Some children were used for medical experiments or so-called “Germanization.” These were among the most notorious crimes the Nazis committed.
To this day, evidence of these atrocities can be found on the internet, such as this letter.
This letter is from the Lebensborn service and was sent to Mr. Müller’s Reichsdeutsche family. Mr. Müller was informed that two perfect boys had been found for him, at least one of whom he would surely like. The boys, whom the Nazis had abducted, had even been given genuine Germanic names.
The full text of the letter:
Dear Mr. Müller!
I am pleased to finally announce that I have found two boys, one of which you will most likely approve. They are Sep Piehl, born on December 3rd, 1935, and Eugen Bartel, born on March 11th, 1937. I believe that at least one of them is of an age that is well-suited to your household. The children currently live in Oberweis (Upper Danube). Arrange to take the 6:19 train leaving Gmunden on January 4, 1944, and arriving in Oberweis at 6:37. If you need overnight accommodation, confirm with me and I will arrange it. It is necessary that you bring your identification papers with you.
Please notify me no later than December 22, 1943, whether I can expect you in Oberweis on January 4.
In any event, please complete the accompanying proofs of health for yourself and your wife. The authorized departmental or SS physician will, as is standard, provide me with the completed forms.
I hope that my news to you has given you special Christmas joy.
Hail Hitler!
The reason behind the kidnappings
The Nazis’ goal with this project was to Germanize children, especially those whom the Nazis believed to be of Aryan or Nordic descent. Nazi officials involved in these actions were convinced that many children, primarily in Poland, were descendants of German settlers who had emigrated to the east. The “lucky” children were labeled by the Nazis as racially valuable, or gutrassig. These children were spared forced labor and medical experiments. These gutrassig children were forcibly adopted by German families and placed in SS boarding schools.
In the eyes of the Nazis, these gutrassige children were by no means Untermenschen, nor were they Poles or Russians. They were Aryan children, and according to the Nazis, this gave them the right to take the children back to Nazi Germany.
But this was not the arbitrary decision of a single Nazi acting alone. Once they arrived in Nazi Germany, their body measurements were taken. The color of their eyes and hair was also documented. The shape of their heads was assessed, and based on this, let’s call it cynical science, the Nazis determined whether the children were Aryan enough.
And the families of the children who were taken away? They often paid with their lives.
Children who, once in Nazi Germany, had the misfortune of being classified as “of little value” were sent to the Nazis’ extermination camps. Or, as a grim alternative, they were subjected to medical experiments that often had fatal consequences. Sometimes this meant gruesome and horrific treatment at the hands of Joseph Mengele, the Angel of Death.
The children who had passed all the Nazis’ tests, and were thus deemed Aryan enough, were first placed in children’s homes. There, they were given German names and were allowed to speak only German. By the time the children had almost forgotten their Polish heritage, the time was ripe for adoption by a German family. The obvious question is, of course, why would ordinary German families agree to this at all? In most cases, however, the reality was that the German families who adopted these children knew absolutely nothing about the children’s incredible background.
The Return of the Children
It took a long time before the Allies became aware of these abduction practices during the liberation. As they advanced, Allied forces encountered groups of Germanized children. They immediately realized that there had to be more children and people like this among the German population. Even after the war ended, great efforts continued to track down these children. The more Germanized children the Allies managed to find, the more stories emerged. And they all told virtually the same story: forced education in German and mandatory use of the German language, a total indoctrination of children. And something else came to light. The children who failed during the indoctrination efforts were simply killed.
The indoctrination was deeply ingrained in the lives of many of these children. As a result, many had to be coaxed into simply telling the truth. Psychological techniques were used when speaking with these children, such as complimenting them on how well they spoke German and then asking how long they had been speaking it. In one case, a nine-year-old girl innocently stated that she had been speaking German for four years. When she was then confronted with the fact that she must have spoken German before that as well, the truth came to light, and the child admitted that she also spoke Polish.
The Allies made every effort to repatriate these children to their home countries, and to their parents or families, if any survived.
These Nazi practices were also brought to account during the Nuremberg Trials. This occurred in The United States of America v. Ulrich Greifelt, et al., or the RuSHA Trial, the eighth of the twelve Nuremberg Trials. These trials specifically concerned the abduction of children by the Nazis. The children themselves also testified during these trials, despite the fact that many of them and their parents were terrified of returning to Germany. From 1947 to 1948, the Nuremberg Trials ruled that the abductions, Germanizations, and exterminations of the children amounted to nothing less than genocide.
Although it cannot be determined with absolute certainty how many children ultimately returned to their own families, there are estimates that are likely accurate. Approximately 10% to 15% of these abducted children returned to their families after the fall of the Third Reich.
Field Command members: the Author’s Note for this article is available in the Field Command area.
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By Nick Ravenshade — Author
Header image: Photo showing a child’s baptism (christening) ceremony/ritual; conducted by members of the SS at a “Lebensborn e.V.” maternity care home in Rheinhessen. Somewhere between 1936-1944. Source: Wikimedia Commons / Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1969-062A-58. CC-BY-SA 3.0.
