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NAZI authorities considered Norway to be a rich source of Nordic breeding stock. There were no organized kidnappings that we know of, but some sources say that Norway was not imune to occasional NAZI kidnappings. More importantly, there were extensive liasons between German soldiers and Norwegian girls. More than 0.5 million German soldiers were stationed in Norway during the War. Virtually all the off-spring would be racially acceptable. Himmler regarded as direct
descendants of the Wikinger, and therefore German soldiers were incouraged to have affairs with Norwegian womem. Lenensborn homes were established throughout Norway. One source suggests that there were nine homes set up, almost as many as in Germany. The homes were very attractive. The women got excellent care and good food. Conditions were very difficult during the occupation and the community would have been very hostile to women having the children of the German soldiers. Thus many Norwegian mothers made use of the homes and were treated as pampered recruits to the ranks of the NAZI master race. They had to agree to turning the baby over to the SS for repatriation to Germany. Records are incomplete, but estimates suggest up to 12,000 babies were born in these homes. [R. Abe, "Lebensborn e.V." Shoa.de website, retrieved May 3, 2002] After the German surrender, these homes were evacuated and records destroyed. While the rest of the country rejoiced upon liberation, the Lebensorn children were thrust into Mightmare lives". The mothers and other women who conorted with the Germans were despised and called "Deutschenhuren". They were treated as criminals and arrested. About 14,000 women were arrested. The children were often left to fend for themseles. They were shunned, taunted or physically abused by bitter and vengeful neighbors, teachers or other members of their local communities. Government doctors, psychologists, church officials and bureaucrats branded the children as everything from mentally retarded to harboring dangerous genes because of their parentage. The director of the Oslo Mental Retardation Home, for example, wrote that the Norwegian women who consorted with the Germans were menntally defective. Thus the children cairred this stigma. One girl tells of being beaten and bullied at school. Then her mother married a former resistance
fighter - "a Norwegian patriot who hated me", she recalls. Then the beating and bullying
was part of home life too. [Gerd Fleischer quoted in "Norway's 'lebensborn'," BBC News December 5 , 2001, 16:21 GMT] Often the children were institutionalized. Many of these Norwegian Lebensborn "war children" (krigsbarn) tell of terrible treatment in these instituations. Some of the "war children" in 2001 brought suit against the Norwgian Government, demanding compensation the ill treatment they say they received by Norwegian sosiety and especially by state officials. The plaintiffs claim their lives were ruined and they`re still suffering
for the deeds of their parents, because their fathers were viewed as the enmeny and their mothers as traitors.
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