Lebensborn home Hurdal Verk, Norway, 1940-45
Lebensborn (Fount of Life), was a German Nazi organization founded to help “racially pure” mothers and children, especially unmarried mothers, to increase the “Aryan” birth rate. Mothers would give birth in Lebensborn homes and the homes arranged adoptions of these children to “racially pure” parents, particularly SS members and their families.
There were Lebensborn facilities in several occupied countries but its focus were mainly Germany, Norway and Poland. In Poland, The USSR, and other countries, the Lebensborn program also kidnapped “aryan” children to be forcibly Germanized in centers and then sent to German families and SS Schools.
Norway had 9 homes, making it the country with the most homes outside Germany. The Norwegian centers did not kidnap children but focused on the illegitimate kids from Norwegian mothers and German soldiers. According to Himmler Norwegian women were racially akin to the German people and “mothers of good blood,” but they would not be able to follow the German mentality. The pregnant women and infants should be taken care of by Lebensborn to ensure that the kids were alienated, and preferably completely detached from, the mother’s homeland. All homes had entirely German staff. Altogether, there were around 8,000 Norwegian Lebensborn children. During the war, between 200 and 250 of these kids were sent to Germany for adoption.
After the war the stigma against the Lebensborn kids were massive and most were ostracized, abused and bullied. Many were forcibly taken from their mothers and adopted, sent to mental institutions despite being mentally healthy or lost their Norwegian citizenship. The Lebensborn kids received an official apology from the Norwegian prime minister in 1998.
