23. Over 400,000 Children Were Kidnapped by the Nazis to Germanize and Raise in Germany
A portion of Himmler’s plan to eradicate Poland called for depriving unfortunate Polish children of all but the most basic of education. Writing was deemed unnecessary for Poles, so children were to be taught only how to scribble their names, and count up to 500. Polish parents who wanted more education for their children were to apply to the SS for special permits, which were to be granted only if the children were deemed “racially valuable”. If so, they were to be taken to Germany and Germanized under the aegis of the Lebensborn program. Additionally, an annual selection was to be made of Polish children between ages six and ten, to identify any who met German racial criterion.
Those who met the criterion were to be taken from their families, shipped to Germany, given German names, and placed in the Lebensborn program. Once sufficiently Germanized, they were to be put up for adoption. Those who did not meet the racial criterion were sent to labor camps. Hitler approved of Himmler’s child abduction directives on June 20, 1940. Orders to implement the Polish plan, and variations thereof in other conquered territories, were issued to the SS and German governors and occupation officials throughout Nazi-occupied Europe. By 1945, over 200,000 children had been abducted in Poland, plus another 200,000 from the rest of Europe.
