A tragic and disturbing story from Norway. Another bitter fruit of Nazi philosophy whose seeds are still scattered in the battered minds of its vicitms.
Living hell of Norway’s ‘Nazi’ childrenIn his tiny flat on the edge of Oslo, Paul Hansen shows me his family album. It doesn’t take long. He only has three photos. One picture shows Paul as a toddler, the other two – the mother who abandoned him – and the father he never knew.
Paul was the product of a brief encounter between a Norwegian woman and a German soldier: a family history which was to make his life a living hell.
"At the end of World War II, I was locked away in a mental home," Paul tells me.
"Later I found out it was because I was the son of a German soldier. They called me a ‘Nazi brat’. But it wasn’t my fault I was born this way. Hitler, the war, none of it is my fault. I was just a child."
It was Adolf Hitler’s henchman, Heinrich Himmler, who had encouraged liaisons between German troops and Norwegian women: part of his plan to breed an Aryan master race of blonde-haired, blue-eyed babies for the 1,000-year Reich. They were known as the Lebensborn (Fountain of Life) children and – after the war – they became targets for revenge. …
Search for justice
Once too ashamed to go public with their stories, now 150 war children are demanding justice.They have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights – accusing the Norwegian state of discrimination. As their stories of abuse were read out to the court, some of the former Lebensborn children sat in tears.
Historian Lars Borgesrud was commissioned by the Norwegian government to research the war children’s stories. He has convinced they have suffered state discrimination.
"Between 1946-1958 special rules and regulations in social laws were adopted, which actually excluded sections of war children and created poor economic conditions for these children."
The full story here.
Accidental Blogger 
6 responses to “The Sins of Their Fathers”
Answers.com has a fairly detailed and rather unemotional listing of the numbers and categories of children all over the world who are termed ‘war-children’. While the lebensborn have been subjected to ill-treatment and abuse, I don’t know if it descends to the level of what is happening in places like Africa and Sri Lanka with the child-soldiers.
The last word by one of those seeking compensation seems a little mercenary.
“She believes the state must be made to pay for the way she was treated.
“Norway is a stinking rich oil nation,” Gerd tells me. “We feel that justice cannot be done without an economic compensation. Words are very cheap.”
Only then – Gerd believes – can Norway’s war children finally gain their self-respect, after 60 years living in fear and in shame. “
This does make it seem that they are more interested in money than an apology.
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This does make it seem that they are more interested in money than an apology.
I actually don’t see anything wrong with the above sentiment. The indignities and abuse that these children may have suffered, will not be mitigated by calming words of sorrow. Sometimes the pocketbook is the only place where you can hit to obtain a modicum of justice (and revenge). Israel and Jewish Holocaust survivors have been compensated similarly by Germany and corporations that benefited from Jewish labor and suffering. The Lebensborn kids suffered in their own land at the hands of fellow citizens. They deserve the compensation for the humiliation surrounding the circumstances of their birth over which they had no control. Sometimes the mercenary way is the most satisfying way. I have often wondered why ex-colonies of European nations have not sued for occupation, humiliation and depletion of their national wealth. Colonization was too a form of slow holocaust – of systematic theft and obliteration of historical identities and screwing up national psyches for ever. Europe owes its current wealth overwhelmingly to colonization. I know that in the practical sense, not all historical wrongs can be corrected by current day lawsuits. But these Norwegians and their memories are alive. They have a case and should have their day in court.
Yes, I agree that the plight of “war” children everywhere is the same. Irrational humiliation and cruelty at the hands of adults. It is a tragic shame. Although they were not technically War Children, most Anglo Indians (except the very old and poor) left for Australia and England after Indian independence. Even before independence, theirs was a peculiar status of neither here nor there – scorned both by the British and the Indians. One of the most touching comments I have heard about War Children was made by Ted Koppel when he recounted his interview with some American/Vietnamese children who had been relocated to the US from Vietnam. Some were in their teens. Koppel asked them what they liked most about being in the US. One young girl said, “Here I can see the sky.” Koppel was intrigued and asked why she didn’t see the sky in Vietnam. The girl replied, “There, I was too ashamed to look up.”
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I don’t begrudge the lebensborn any restitution that they can manage to extract from the Norwegian govt., just pointing out that Gerd F’s words come out as sounding more interested in the money. It may even be the language barrier for a non-native English speaker when they state their words in English, that seem to come out in terms less diplomatic than intended.
Interestingly, I came across this link from an earlier BBC special where more is said about Gerd’s search for her roots. A lifetime of bitterness underlies her statements to the reporter.
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Thanks for the link. After reading that story, I realized that I knew about Gerd Fleischer, having read her story before. I didn’t recognize her as the same woman in my own post because I had forgotten her name. The earlier BBC story and the reference to her part Lapp mother jogged my memory. Yes, definitely there is a lot of bitterness here. To be rejected for who your father (or mother) was is a terrible thing. I would suspect that the law suit probably is based not so much that the Norwegian govt. was complicit in her suffering but that it did nothing to “protect” them. I think the sentiment of “deep pockets” plays a role here. If you are a wronged person in an affluent nation, it is somewhat justified to sue for compensation from a society which was party to your suffering. (Somewhat akin to a child born out of wedlock suing an affluent man for paternity but not bothering if the father is a homeless man.) The “war children” of poor countries get nothing – ever. Perhaps the whole world should pitch in?
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It would be a better world in which all those who were wronged have some form of restitution given to them. But that’s not very likely to happen.
The ‘deep pockets’ does play a major factor here, but will the money give her a final peace of mind? I don’t know whether it will come unless she learns to let go of the anger. Till then, all the money in the world will not satisfy her, though it can definitely make her life more comfortable while she works out these issues in her mind.
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