The Lebensborn project was one of the most secretive and horrifying initiatives undertaken by the Nazis.


 This project was initiated by Heinrich Himmler, one of the men that spearheaded the Holocaust. It was initiated in December 1935, the same year that intermarriage with the Jews was abolished as they were considered racially inferior.


For many years, Germany had been experiencing a decrease in birth rates. Himmler's aim was to reverse this trend and boost the Germanic population to at least 120 million. To achieve this objective, he encouraged men who were considered racially pure to have children with Aryan women. According to Himmler, the children born under the Lebensborn program would grow up and become the future leaders of a Nazi-Aryan state.


In 1939, the Lebensborn program had failed to yield the desired outcomes as anticipated by Himmler. Consequently, he issued a direct order to all SS and police officers, instructing them to father as many children as possible to offset the expected war casualties.


One of the most horrifying aspects of the Lebensborn policy was the abduction of children deemed "racially superior" from the eastern occupied territories after 1939. While some of these children were orphans, many were forcibly taken from their parents. The SS orchestrated these abductions to procure children who met the Nazis' racial criteria, such as having blonde hair and blue or green eyes. Thousands of children were taken to the Lebensborn centers to be "Germanized," and it is believed that up to 100,000 children were abducted from Poland alone. At these centers, the children were subjected to various measures to make them reject and forget their biological parents.


As the Allies advanced, children residing in the various Lebensborn homes were relocated to inner homes. On May 1, 1945, just a day after Hitler's death, American troops entered Steinhoering and discovered 300 children between the ages of six months to six years old.


In 1946, it was estimated that more than 250,000 children had been abducted and forcibly taken to Germany. Unfortunately, only 25,000 children were recovered and reunited with their families after the war.

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