Creation of the Lebensborn Project

Lebensborn, or spring of life, was one of the most terrible secret and projects carried out by the Nazis. Heinrich Himmler created the Lebensborn to December 12, 1935 with the aim of making the German race pure, meaning that society (Verein Eingetragener Lebensborn or Registered Society Lebensborn) offered a racially pure young women the opportunity to secretly give birth to a child . The baby was then in charge of the SS who was of their education and adoption. 

Children born in households maintained specifically for this (see table below). Initially, these houses were for the mothers had their children, however, with the aim of creating asuper race, the SS transformed these houses at venues between women and racially pure German SS officers. Many of the children born in Lebensborn, since the SS were in charge and without contact with their mothers and without affection of the parents become autistic. 

From 1939, the darkest side of the Lebensborn policy was the abduction of children racially acceptable in the occupied countries of Eastern Europe. These kidnappings were organized by the SS in order to collect the children who had traces of the Aryan race (blonde hair, blue eyes, etc..). Thousands of children were transferred to Lebensborn centers in order to beGermanized. In these centers, everything was done for the children to reject and forget their biological parents. As an example, the SS nurses tried to persuade the children that they had been deliberately abandoned by their parents. Children who refused were punished Nazi education, most of which was finally transferred to concentration camps (usually was to Kalish in Poland) and exterminated. The rest were adopted by SS families. 

In 1942, in retaliation to the assassination of Heydrich (the governor of SS) in Prague, a SS unit exterminated the entire male population in a small village called Lidice. During thisoperation, some officials of the SS carried out the selection of children. Of all the children, 91 were considered likely to be Germanized and sent to Germany. The rest were sent to concentration camps specially made for children (as Dzierzazna and Litzmannstadti) and later exterminated. 

It is virtually impossible to know the exact number of children abducted in the occupied countries of Eastern Europe. In 1946 it was estimated that over 250,000 have been forcibly abducted and sent to Germany. Only 25,000 returned to his legitimate family after the war. It is known that many German families refused to return the children who had been received from the Lebensborn centers. In some cases, children themselves refused to return to the original family, having been the victims of Nazi propaganda had convinced them that they were truly German. It is also known that many thousands of children who were not likely to be Germanized were simply exterminated.