By Dagmar Brenne - 29 August 2013
Some philosophical thoughts regarding an important topic: the illegitimate child
The scenario is as old as mankind itself: the child conceived out of wedlock, the untimely child, the unwanted child, the ostracized mother and child, driven away from home and family. Different cultures deal differently with the situation, sometimes with great cruelty: stoning both man and woman, killing the woman only, aborting the child, abandoning the child, adopting the child out and finally, the child being brought up in the family, by grandparents or other relatives. To be certain, illegitimacy has always been frowned upon. We know of some famous cases of illegitimacy, such as William the conqueror, Jesus Christ of Nazareth and the fictitious story by Charles Dickens, that softened many a heart: Oliver Twist. It is true, illegitimacy is not the ideal situation for a child’s entrance into the world. But the illegitimate child happens, in every corner of the world.
Lebensborn – a National Socialist concept
We can say with authority that the child born out of wedlock was not an invention of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. Many wish to paint the Lebensborn homes for unwed mothers as a breeding place for the ideal Aryan species. The Hitler government had to find a solution for a delicate situation on a national scale. On the one hand, there was a tremendous shortfall of births in Germany. Some two million women could not hope to find a husband. Too many men had died as soldiers in World War One. Two million women were denied of ever becoming a mother, while on the other hand, the country needed desperately to build up and increase the population. What solution could be found? The idea of Lebensborn was born, the “Wellspring of Life” homes for mothers, either married and in financial difficulties or unmarried. Men were expected to marry and father children. Family life and the role of mothers was a high priority of the Hitler government. The German kind, the “Deutschtum” was on the verge of extinction, unless German men and women were willing to do their duty and have German children. This was the situation in Hitler’s time, even if this sounds like a brutal reality to modern ears. To be sure, it is even more so the reality today. White European man is lurching toward extinction everywhere, not only in Germany.
Few people in the past would find it an odd thing to do something about this grave situation. Even in our modern age royal families are still selecting spouses on the same concept and principle. In the past people did not always marry for love, but for reasons of suitability, to continue the family line, and to marry spouses with a similar background and outlook on life. When we consider the high divorce rate today and the many children born with birth defects, we must wonder if the concept of solely “love”, especially across cultures, is too short-lived, nay, even too faulty an emotion to base a marriage on. There must be other guiding principles for a nation to act as the glue for a lasting commitment between a man and a woman. Can a nation thrive with so much turmoil in the families as we are experiencing at the present time?
Does not the upheaval in families eat up a man’s best productive years and cost the nation an untold outlay of money and resources? Does it not cause much bitterness, court costs and bewilderment in children and abandoned spouses? The National Socialists of Germany clearly were interested in furthering sound family life, based on mutual respect, on duty and a sense of belonging to something bigger then themselves, namely the German nation, “Deutschtum”.
Lebensborn – bridging the gap
The author has worked in a facility, Dalmar Child and Family Care in Carlingford, Sydney, that used to be a home for unwed mothers in times past, when unmarried motherhood was a most shameful thing. Women were cared for until their baby was born and then adopted out. If no adoptive parents could be found the children grew up at Dalmar. The boys were trained to be farmers on the land generously bequeathed to the Wesley Mission, of which Dalmar was a part, and the girls were instructed in domestic duties. Abortions were simply not on the agenda. Thank God for that. This is the way Australians dealt with the issue of illegitimacy in the past, to the best of their ability. The thoughtful person will know that a pregnancy is not always the woman’s fault. Not in Australia or in Africa, nor in Germany. Many things have been said about Lebensborn - not all untrue, but much of it is slanderously exaggerated. The truth is, that there were Lebensborn homes, both in Germany and abroad. The fact is, they cared for women who were “in the family way” one way or another, married or single. The reality is, that they were well-run homes, caring for both the women and the children, giving the mother the care she needed and often giving her anonymity, so she could resume her role in society after giving birth, if she was single. Abortions, as seen by the National Socialists were simply not a solution contemplated. And furthermore the truth is, that an unmarried woman was not to be made an outcast of society for the plain fact that she had a child out of wedlock. After all, somewhere, there was a man involved as well, and if the two could not be married, at least the child and mother had a chance in life. I have read a story that said that these children later on were found to be of exceptional beauty, but of more than average criminal tendencies. This was supposedly due to the lack of motherly love. I find this amusing, as this tells me of exactly the situation found routinely in the English boarding school system. A great lack of motherly love. But do the English claim a greater than average criminality?
Returning to the illegitimacy of children and supposed Aryan breeding programs of the Lebensborn homes, the gloating focus of many a commentary on the matter, I can see that some critics feel they must take the high moral ground. It does not happen here, they cry. But has not every family, even Anglo Saxon ones, some cases of illegitimacy? Was not even Winston Churchill conceived out of wedlock and a husband had to be found in a hurry for his mother? I know that my mother was about 7 months pregnant with my brother before she married my father. And you would not find a more bourgeois couple than they were. And being Aryan, I cannot see any particular flaw with that. An Aryan child would not fit in well with the Zulus of Africa, I must admit, but in Germany he would be exactly right.
To heal a fractured nation
It is important to know the circumstances to judge correctly. That applies to any situation. Just what was the German situation that the government of Hitler was confronted with? First of all, Germany was an impoverished country with a population that was starving to a great extent. Many men were unemployed with no hope of improvement, Germany had an economy with high inflation. The Germans found themselves in dire straits, just as it was desired by the “victors” of WW1. But worst of all was the fact of the German political splintering into many parts. One such political party was the NSDAP, the National Socialist Party, Hitler’s Party. If ever a democratically elected head of state won an election convincingly, it was Adolf Hitler. Hitler had a program to pull Germany out of the quagmire of humiliation . And -alas- it worked! Germany flourished. Like a benevolent “little Father Czar” (Väterchen Zar) he managed to turn the “mourning into joy”. Of course when the overwhelming success was seen it was Jewish money, loaned to Hitler, that had achieved the miracle. Oh, really? Why then cannot the same achievements be duplicated in another land? Is not the name Adolf Hitler and the ancient Nordic man’s symbol, the Swastika emblem, to the Jews as a red rag to a bull? Jews must have worked together with the alleged arch fiend of mankind? Did they? Why the animosity?
Could a country like Germany, desirous of healing the many wounds of the past, Catholic versus Protestant, Communist v National Socialist, worker v industrialist, rich v poor, serfs v nobility, yes, even Bavarian v Prussian, German royalty v Austrian royalty intent on uniting all differences under the one banner of “German” and “Deutschtum”-afford to exclude expecting mothers in the general benevolence? Should the strict measure of the Pharisees be applied, as the woman caught in adultery so many centuries ago, who was brought before Jesus? No, a hundred times no! It was the time of : “Woman, where are thine accusers!” Any fair minded person can understand that. The way to the Lebensborn homes was open to assist the pregnant, usually unmarried Germanic woman.
Hiroshima mon amour
In my young years I saw a French film, called Hiroshima mon Amour. It impressed me deeply. It was the story of a French woman, a film maker, who made a film in Hiroshima, Japan. She struck up a love affair with a Japanese man who told her about the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, while she told him about her love affair with a German soldier, whom the French resistance killed one day, when she went to their secret meeting place. Her head was shaved, she was abused, incarcerated in a cellar, the shame of her family and of the country of France.
This brings me to the topic of the willing or unwilling women, who became pregnant by soldiers in their different theatres of war. It is a well-known fact, even though rarely broadcast, that German soldiers did not rape women in foreign lands. They were not permitted to do so, under threat of their own life. Each German soldier carried a card of conduct. Nevertheless, a great many children were born to German soldiers in France, Holland, Denmark etc. Actually, the German men were rather attractive, clean, of superb health and constitution. They were the healthiest in Europe. The Norwegian case of “war children” is particularly noteworthy. We can be certain that the children conceived by the non-German women were from “amours” and not from rapes. Still, conditions did apply, as the saying goes. The union with Nordic women and German soldiers were far more favourably viewed than others. The sensitive modern mind shrinks from such exclusion of one and preference of the other. Anyway, that’s how it was. After all - the modern person does not have to fend for such a child, however tenderly concerned, these things are all seen to by government organizations. By protesting he feels he has done his part. The idea behind the Nordic preference was, to have the best possible offspring to fit in with the German nation’s need for increased population. That should not offend anyone, seeing I migrated to Australia under the auspices of the “White Australia” policy, an obvious preference for white migrants some time ago. You see, Germans are not alone in their selective ways.
As I think about it, I wonder if the Allied forces, past and present are caring for the women of their soldiers’ unions, rapes or otherwise, in the countries they had “liberated” after the German occupation. Of course I do not expect any great concern for German women, long regarded as “beyond the pale” by the victorious Allies but - how were things in “liberated” France, Holland and Belgium? Yes, and even in England after a visit by the GI’s or in Iraq these latter days? You see, the Hitler government felt it was its duty to look after the offspring of the unions of German men with foreign women. The Lebensborn homes were not only in Germany, but also abroad in countries where German soldiers were stationed. There were 30 Lebensborn in total, equipped and staffed to the latest state of the art – 12 homes in Germany, two in Austria, four in Poland, one each in Luxemburg, Belgium, Holland and France, eight in Norway. Perhaps there were more, I have no documentation of it.
Norway, the sad case of the “Tyskerbarn”
When in July 2011 Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 youngsters in Norway, my mind returned to the unbelievably sad case of the Norwegian war children, the “Tyskerbarn”, the children with German fathers. But in the case of these unfortunate war children they were not only 77, no - they were about 12,000 in number. Their lives were examples of untold suffering, abuse in their families, sexual aberrations, neglect, humiliation and for many an untimely death. Nobody cared, nobody took up their case, they were fair game to everyone. A few years ago some 120 banded together and took their country of Norway to court, a brave act in itself, as it identified them once again as the hated “Tyskerbarna”. Not only once, no twice, they went to court. The second time they hoped to get justice and recognition in the European court in Strassburg. The litany of suffering on part of these innocent children, well into their 60s by the time of their court cases, any person with a sense of fairness reads with horror and disbelief. The German fathers were often times prevented from contacting the children, their alimony payments pocketed by teachers, pastors, mayors and others. Germany paid a sizable amount of restitution, which disappeared without ever reaching the children themselves. My mind finds it hard to fathom for such hatred to exist toward the innocent ones. The greatest number of these children were born in the Lebensborn homes, of which eight existed in Norway. Some children were already living in Germany after the war, but were forcibly returned to Norway, to endure much suffering. No, they were not “The children the Nazis left behind”, as a nasty headline said, reporting the pending court case in 2001. Germany would have taken them in as their own, but Norway would not release them. Once again, I wish to point out, that the mothers of these children were not forced into relationships with the German soldiers.
But that is where perhaps the problem lies. Quite a few Norwegian men, I have been told are homosexual in their orientation, nevertheless Norwegians took great umbrage of their women folk turning to the German men. One of the children of these unions was the dark-haired ABBA girl, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, who fled from Norway to Sweden with her mother and grandmother. We are very glad about that. She delighted people worldwide with her great talent, whereas many of her peers were locked up in psychiatric wards together with their mothers, labeled “mentally defective and tending to perverted behaviour”.
You may judge by the case Anni-Frid Lyngstad how much talent and inventiveness was lost to Norway by the inhumane treatment of these children! The depth of hatred, I must repeat, absolutely stuns me, as if hell had opened toward all things German, in East and West, North and South. And that by a country, Norway, that wishes to be counted as civilized and progressive. And yet, the later German Chancellor, who called himself by the assumed name of Willy Brand, a communist, lived in Norway during the war years. He himself was an illegitimate child who married a Norwegian woman.
The outcome of the court cases was, predictably so, that it was thrown out. After all, the time of going to court over the matter had long expired, the statute of limitations act applied here. It was too long ago and there was too little information to go by. Where were the witnesses to the alleged atrocities, etc? These were the reasons for the cases being dismissed. I wonder if any Jewish cases ever fall under the statute of limitation? I see ancient men, who had lived a peaceful existence for decades are still being hauled before a court for some war time incident, supposedly involving Jews.
In Norway, there were two outstanding personalities during WW2, who were clearly on the German side: Vidkun Quisling, the Prime Minister, and the Nobel prize winner in literature - Knut Hamsun. Vidkun Quisling had received high British decorations for his part in saving untold many Ukrainian lives in the Bolshevist induced famine, that killed some 60 Million people, according to Alexander Solzhenitsyn. When Quisling saw that the Allies made a pact with Stalin, one of the very ones responsible for the famine. Quisling’s conscience could no longer go along with the UK/ USA party line. Quisling was executed after the war for his “treasonous” turn around and his name today stands synonymous for “traitor” alongside the name of Judas.
Knut Hamsun was enthralled with the common sense of white race ideals of the National Socialists. Hamsun himself was a white man, a Norwegian and therefore deeply interested in safeguarding and furthering the white race of which he saw himself an important part. He wanted to advance children who would be an asset to the country and not keep the feeble and impaired artificially alive at great expense to the community, as we see today. Hamsun disappeared from view. His books were no longer published. He was incarcerated and humiliated. He was the greatest poet and author Norway had ever produced! It can be said without exaggeration, that whatever the National Socialists have created and advocated, the tongues are wagging until even the best invention is made to look like a perversion and snare to catch the unwary. Lebensborn homes most decidedly fall into that category. It is seen as another “Nazi horror”, as though it was completely against nature to establish a facility like it. When it is reported that the girls and future wives were taught to cook and guide a household, the outrage and mockery is great. Taught to cook, to clean and child care! Has anyone ever heard of such intrusion into the freedom of a woman? God forbid! These terrible Nazis! Away with them!
Nevertheless, if any country will ever want to survive and be independent it will need to introduce many of the institutions that the much maligned Nazis had put in place. We need to once again “know the laws of nature and live by them”.
National Socialism’s achievements
Apart from the very humanitarian Lebensborn homes, here are some other achievements of the National Socialists - scornfully called Nazis - with the unspoken desire to kill them all. The name “Nazi” alone insures the maximum animosity, just as shown by the most alarming Norwegian “Tyskerban” example. To the Norwegians the Lebensborn children were all Nazis, deserving to die.
Examples of achievements:
1. 458.179 one Family homes were built during 1933 - 1937, all with gardens and practically free of debts.
2.The rents were not permitted to be more than 1/8 of the average wage.
3. 91.000 Farms were established between 1933 - 1936 and they were to be hereditary family farms.
4. The conditions of employment were better than anywhere else in the world. Sports and leisure activities were fostered. Germany’s youth was the happiest and healthiest anywhere on Earth – Europe?
5. In the Olympic games in 1936 Germany won by far the most medals of any country. Jesse Owens, the USA negro runner was celebrated, regardless of publicity to the contrary. Yet the President of America did not come near him to shake his hand back in the USA.
6. The organisation “Mother and Child” was created with 30,000 centres in Germany. Child endowment was introduced.
7. 640 new churches of all denominations were being built by the government.
8. A law for the protection of animals was introduced, that is still unique in the world. The cruel kosher/ hallal killing was banned.
9. The police was disarmed, including truncheons.
10. Crime was at a very low level. Some smaller country courts were closed, due to lack of work!
11. German motor bike and push bike manufacturers were world leaders, not only in the volume of production but also in quality. Theft of bicycles was virtually unknown.
12. Art was at a high level of beauty and was promoted by the government. It was art of a pleasing kind and not the awful DaDa-ism productions that were the rage in other countries.
13. Germany produced the most elegant cruise ships. It also produced the Hindenburg Zeppelin, which was a flying Hotel. The Zeppelin even sported a lightweight piano on board, with a pianist entertaining the guests. Germany also built the first Helicopter, which was incidentally flown by a woman, Hannah Reitsch.
14. Germany nurtured the love for classical and music in general. Germany had the most symphony orchestras in the world and the best musicians.
15. Germany made great advances in medicine, chemistry, food science, natural sciences, varnish, artificial oils, petrol and many more. Television was a German invention as was the Video.
The time of the National Socialists in Germany was the most productive and inventive period of time the world had ever seen. Advances were made in a wide spectrum of areas. Many thousands of inventions, developments and patents were “liberated” by the victorious Allies and made out to be inventions of the Americans, Japanese, English etc. at a later date.
The well run Lebensborn homes were the forerunners of developments that are happening in other countries right at this moment. But they are not under the condemnation that has been heaped on Lebensborn, as everything German is regarded as suspect and damnable. Other nations transgress every boundary of nature and morality with impunity. But it still stands: Know the laws of nature and live by them. One day soon, nature will fight back.
Dagmar Brenne: [email protected]
Postscript
The Allies’ = All–lies = confiscated no less than 346,000 German patents as booty, amongst them were 200,000 German foreign patents. In addition there were 20,870 German trademarks as well as 50,000 new color formulas that had been developed … read more at:
Allied Robber Convoys - Grabbing German Achievements by Dr. Claus Nordbruch –
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