Cruel World (12 page)

From its inception, racial requirements for membership in the SS had been far more stringent than those for the rest of the population. Aryan ancestry, in some cases, had to be proven back to 1800, and longevity of one’s forebears, loyalty, physical vigor, and numerous other characteristics were considered. Such paragons of Aryanism were not supposed to marry just anybody. Even before the Nazis came to power, future SS wives were subjected to the same criteria as their husbands. As of January 1, 1932, on threat of dismissal, no SS wedding could take place without the required certificate.
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All who were approved were solemnly entered in the Clan Book of the SS. By 1934, SS members were routinely encouraged
to marry young and produce at least four children, or, if this was not possible, to adopt hereditarily “worthy” children and raise them “in the spirit of National Socialism.” In 1935, with the ostensible aim of promoting this policy, Himmler set up a small organization within the SS Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA). Known as the Lebensborn Society, its declared objective was to support SS families that “have many children and are racially and biologically sound.” But it also promised to place and take care of unwed expectant mothers who were racially and biologically sound if examinations of the families of both parents showed that their child would be “equally valuable,” and to take care of the illegitimate child once born.
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Himmler knew what he was talking about: despite his fulminations about bourgeois morality, his own two illegitimate children were carefully concealed from the public and his own wife.
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Real financing for Lebensborn would come from other SS and Nazi Party funds, but certain categories of senior SS officers were required to join the society and fees were deducted from their paychecks. Membership for the lower echelons was voluntary. In 1939 it remained at a disappointing 8,000 out of a possible 238,000,
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and only 110 SS
familles nombreuses
were receiving aid from the organization, for the very good reason that despite their leader’s urgings, 61 percent of the SS remained unmarried, while the 93,000 who were married had produced only 1.1 children per family. The statistics were not improved by the fact that the background tests required so much investigation that by 1937 there was a backlog of 20,000 marriage applications, or by the totally contradictory regulation stating that selected officers could not marry before age twenty-five.
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Such minor problems were not of great concern to the SS chief, whose real motivation in founding Lebensborn was to prevent the abortion of Aryan children. Himmler calculated that at least 100,000 “worthy” children, who would otherwise be aborted, could be saved each year if the mothers were provided for. This, he mused, would, in thirty years, be enough to supply an army of 400,000 men and add 832 million reichsmarks to the GNP.
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The first Lebensborn home opened in August 1936 at Steinhoring, near Munich. By 1939 there were five more in Germany and Austria. The homes, like the NSV ones, were usually discreetly located in former institutions or villas in suburban or country settings. Basic organization was much like the NSV homes, but the interiors were better appointed and indoctrination far more important. A veil of secrecy hung over the inmates, who were addressed by their first names plus the honorable prefix “Frau” even if they were unwed, which was the situation of approximately
50 percent of the residents. SS doctors responsible for admissions were “bound by secrecy not only by their professional code but beyond that by special oath to the Reichsführer SS,” and were expected to “stand up for the honor of expectant mothers” and protect them “from social ostracism.”
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Admission was, theoretically, not easy. In addition to the already complex SS requirements, the candidates had to produce handwritten biographies, photographs, and a sworn statement that the listed father was the real one. The father’s identity had to be revealed and acceptable racial data supplied for him. If this was impossible, the mother was rejected.
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Himmler himself had the final word on admissions. “With the pedantry of a poultry breeder”
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he pored over the dossiers, and often scolded his confused operatives, who were not always clear about who was “Dinaric” or “Eastern Baltic” (both undesirable racial categories) and whether or not their “racial souls” were as they should be.

Clearly totally ignorant of feminine inclinations, Himmler envisioned that each home would become “a community of mothers” where all would be equal and happily learn Nazi ideology. It was hoped that after indoctrination classes on such stirring subjects as race theory, the mothers would sit around and discuss the ideas in
Klatsches
. This was, alas, seldom the case. Nor did the community idea work well. The married mothers did not wish to associate with the unmarried ones, and wives of higher SS officers wanted perks such as single rooms and exemption from kitchen duty. Men were allowed only in public areas and bedtimes were early. The general atmosphere was more that of a very strict boarding school or even a reform school than a cozy club. Food was plentiful, stodgy, and the source of many complaints from the mothers. The menus were personally vetted by Himmler, who was big on potatoes and sunflower seeds and even sent around a recipe for oatmeal, which he ordered served every day at breakfast, having heard that it was good for the nerves.
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Schedules were inflexible and the women under constant observation for physical and attitudinal weakness, both grounds for expulsion, despite which some of the ladies boldly declared that they were not “birth machines” and should not be treated as if they were “in Dachau.” Emotional outbursts were not taken lightly. One mother, who had worked for the SS in Russia and horrified the other women by telling them of the mass killings of Jews and their babies that had taken place there, was immediately thrown out.
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Secret dossiers, filled out by home officials, were kept on each mother and child and, stamped top secret, sent on to Himmler himself, which earned them the name Reichsführer Questionnaires. The SS leader divided the families into four categories: the women
in Group I, the most desirable category, were often employed by Lebensborn or other SS agencies, while those in Group IV were expelled. The criteria for retention in the program at this stage were even less scientific than those used for admission. “Worldview” and “character” were given the same weight as race and health. Frau Else W. was described in her file as “quiet, restrained and smart” but lacking in “leadership qualities” and “energy.” She was criticized for complaining a lot during her pregnancy and delivery, and it was noted that her happiness at having a child was overshadowed by various “groundless” complaints over “alleged” physical problems. Luckily for Else, a thirty-six-year-old first-time mother who very well might have had a tough pregnancy, her subsequent report cards improved and she was kept in the program.
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But many another mother and child were ejected on the basis of such observations.

Babies born in Lebensborn homes were not registered with the local civil authorities and therefore had no recognizable “place of birth.” Those who were accepted became wards of the SS, which set up a special guardianship office for their support.
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This led to dreadful complications with the mainstream children’s agencies, and many normal routes to medical care, education, or welfare were closed to Lebensborn children, as they were not listed in any known jurisdiction. The problem was remedied in part by the establishment of official birth registers within the homes and the use of false cover addresses. The SS even went so far as to establish false identities, and actively supported elaborate deceptions. The headmistress of a German school in occupied Holland became pregnant. She was transferred to Germany under a false name. At term she had the baby at a Lebensborn home, where it remained while she returned to Holland. After a time she “adopted” the child and it was sent to her but retained the false surname.
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Rejected mothers and children, whose birth certificates were equally baffling to lower-level bureaucrats, did not have the dubious support of this system and faced terrible difficulties in the real world.

Despite all the promotion of motherliness, it was the child that was important to Himmler. The babies were kept in nurseries separate from their mothers under the watchful eyes of teams of nurses, who proudly reported that diapers were changed six times a day. This was not just a matter of efficiency. Under the close supervision of the nurses, an “unworthy” child could be immediately identified. If the defect was not too serious, mother and child were simply expelled. Otherwise both parents were liable to sterilization and the child was sent to an institution and an uncertain future.
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The children were taken to the mothers for breast-feeding, which was compulsory but was often resisted by mothers wanting to preserve the contours of their bosoms. SS pediatric theory held that children did not remember anything up to the age of two and could be kept in “collective” situations without detriment until then. After two, family life was considered essential, and if the mother could not support her child when it reached that age, the child was sent to a foster home.

Babies taking the air on the terrace of a Lebensborn home
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(photo credit 3.1)

Accepted children were made true members of the greater SS community in a naming ceremony that was essentially a bad parody of the traditional baptismal rite. The ceremony was performed with high drama. In one home, the room in which the event took place not only boasted flowers, laurel branches, Nazi flags, and a bust of Hitler, but also included a portrait of the Führer’s mother. All the staff, residents, and often a few relatives of the child were invited. SS officers chosen as “godfathers” (Himmler
himself if the child was born on his birthday) accompanied the mother and child. The celebrant, usually the director of the home, gave a little homily, making clear that the concept of original sin, as well as the teaching of the Church that unwed motherhood besmirched a woman, should be rejected as “un-German.” After a musical interlude, the celebrant asked the “German Mother” if she promised to bring up her child “in the spirit of the National Socialist worldview” and the “godfather” if he would supervise the child’s education in the ideas of the “SS-Clan.” Once these assurances were given, the director held an unsheathed SS ceremonial dagger over the child and said: “I take you into the protection of our clan and give you the name so-and-so. Carry this name with honor!” The names suggested were archaic Nordic ones such as Freya, Gerhild, or Sigurd, and were not popular. Many mothers quietly chose to skip the naming ceremony and secretly baptized their children later on.
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All Himmler’s strenuous efforts were, in the end, insufficient to make illegitimacy acceptable to German society or even to the majority of the SS, who were not enthusiastic about adopting or taking Lebensborn children into foster care. Locals employed at the homes, though glad of the abundant food and adequate pay, did not much respect the unwed mothers, an attitude exacerbated by the rule that employees could be fired if they found themselves in a similar situation, though they were often allowed to go to a different home to give birth. Even SS doctors and nurses took posts at the homes only as a last resort and felt stressed by the constant need for deception. Rumors of “stud farm” activity and other sinister goings-on were rife but untrue. Such implications appalled the essentially prudish Himmler, who also quailed at the thought of artificial insemination, which he feared would water down Aryan strength. Still, the homes with their assurance of secrecy were true havens for many desperate women, and, in the end, a large percentage of the mothers managed to keep their children. Enrollment remained low until the war was well under way, when the homes, in most cases located far from the constant bombing and well provided with food, had great appeal. It is estimated that about 5,000 illegitimate babies were born at Lebensborn homes in Germany between 1935 and 1945—rather fewer than the hundreds of thousands Himmler had envisioned.
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The advent of war led to an upsurge in procreationist propaganda quite separate from Lebensborn. But as soldiers went off to battle
and possible death, their wives and lovers became less enthusiastic about having children who might be orphaned. To counter this trend, Rudolf Hess, the Nazi Party’s deputy leader, went public and let it be known that the Party was prepared to assume guardianship of war orphans, legitimate or not, noting in a highly publicized Christmas letter to the pregnant unwed fiancée of a soldier who had been killed that “the highest service a woman can render to the country is the gift of racially healthy children for the survival of the nation.”

This declaration was taken up by SS publications, which not only agreed, but also promoted the idea that soldiers heading for the front should leave an “heir” behind. A public furor ensued, with strong negative reaction from both the Catholic Church and the Wehrmacht.
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Even Himmler had to backpedal, and in a long and defensive new proclamation said that his earlier statements had been “misunderstood.” He had not meant that SS men should try to seduce ladies whose husbands were off at war. This indeed was an insult to German womanhood. But, he hedged,