Secret Nazi ‘Lebensborn children’ go public

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15548608/

Folker Heinicke always had the feeling that something about his upbringing just wasn’t right.

Raised in a German home full of wealth and privilege did not dull his notions that something was missing, but it would be decades before he would learn the full truth: he was the child of a Nazi program to strengthen the German race with Aryan blood.

He and other children — known as “Lebensborn Kinder” or “source of life” kids — were the product of parents chosen for their traits to breed Hitler’s idealized blue-eyed, blonde-haired Aryan race.

For the last four years, Heinicke and about 40 other children raised in the Nazi program have met to support each other. On Saturday for the first time, they told their stories in public, swapping tales of aunts who turned out to be mothers, ice-cold adoptive parents who slid into alcoholism and the joy at finding a blood relative who embraced them as a member of their family.

“There was always the feeling that something wasn’t quite right,” said Heinicke, who was stolen from present-day Ukraine by the Nazis. “It happens when you have no mother, no father, no roots.”

[madfloridian]

1. From the BBC from last year...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4080822.stm

[LostinVA]

3. Interesting -- thanks for the link n/t

[silverojo]

2. One Lebensborn baby became a world-famous pop star

Anni-Frid Lyngstad, of the Swedish group ABBA. She was born in Norway to a Norwegian mother and a German officer, who (of course) returned to Germany. Her small family was so ostracized, that her mother "died of heartbreak" (how's that for a euphemism?), and her grandmother took her to Sweden while she was still a toddler, to start a new life.

In her case, this led her to meet the other members of ABBA, become internationally famous, marry a bandmate, divorce that bandmate, marry a prince, and become a princess--a title she still holds, even though her husband died of cancer.

Though she's literally had a fairy-tale life, she has suffered a great deal from depression throughout that life. She was reunited with her father in 1977...but then, some time later, she learned WHY he was her father, and she has refused to deal with him since.

She just got married again, and hopefully she'll find happiness, after all these years....

[Vidar]

4. Had no idea. Thanks for the information. I wish her well.

[cobaindrain]

6. are you sure?

She was a Lebensborn baby? I thought her german father and norwegian mother had an affair, but it wasn't anything intentional set up by the German government.

[Lisa]

5. I hope those poor people find some peace

I think it's deeply moving that they have decided to learn their past personal history, and are speaking out against Nazi-type eugenics and racial policies.

Back during the atrocities in Argentina, there were children abducted from "undesirable" families too. Some of them are also beginning to learn about their parents.

[FernBell]

7. Interesting read, thanks.

[LiberalEsto]

8. Family values? nt