22. The Nazi Child-Kidnapping Program in Action
Various measures were adopted by the Nazis to seize “racially valuable” children throughout Europe. A representative example of one of the methodologies used occurred in the town of Cilli, Yugoslavia, in today’s Slovenia, from August 3 to 7, 1942. It took place during a crackdown on resistance activities in the region. It began with the rounding up and herding into a schoolyard of about 1,300 people of all ages. Many of them were relatives of people executed by Yugoslavia’s German occupiers for partisan or suspected partisan resistance activities.
After all the families were accounted for, the Germans divided them in into three groups: men, women, and children. Crying children, including toddlers and infants, were separated from their families and placed in pens, where they were examined. Working with clipboards and charts, Nazi officials noted down each child’s physical and facial characteristics to assess his or her “racial value”. Based on their findings, the unfortunate children were divided into four categories. As seen below, the category a child was assigned to could spell the difference between life and death.
