Transcripts For DW Stolen Children 20240713

D w. September 19th 39. 00 nazi germany invaded poland and for more than 5 years brought terror to much of europe with its ideology of a master race. A central figure in that campaign was rice fair and says Heinrich Himmler. The leading nazi was obsessed with racial purity and came up with a plan to bolster the socalled arion race between 19411945 children were kidnapped from all over Eastern Europe and forcibly germanized. Historians estimate that 20000 of those children came from poland alone. In nazi run Childrens Homes they learn to speak german their identities were falsified the go trustful beautiful i was named l. O. Dia vitesse check from that moment on i was a leaf civet cat simply. Those children are now over 80 years old and many of them still know nothing about their roots. Nor would you. Sunnys i felt this kind of back and forth also affected my relationships few people here and that. Much of what happened to them is still a mystery. Use if some of our travels as often as he can to the place where his parents are buried. It lies outside changed to hava in southern poland. He was just 9 years old when they died. For you im dark i feel im missing the warmth of being raised by a father and mother. Were brought up by strangers who were something larger forever but all my life ive been missing that warmth that embrace all that. His father usurped was 41. His mother french scieszka 36. When they were murdered by the nazis on this spot. Their son user is now 86 years old. But he has never forgotten his childhood home. Our. Barbara. Starr would all be a school over there was a Village House with 2 rounds but it was made of wood and bricks bookers i made a good job let me show you where the stable store and fathers workshop and i bunker. During world war 2 years of his family here did use and partisans in the bunker. 7 people lived underground here for 2 years is out then wont get them there are all of the above this bunker was a pipe was the air came in or not and the jews and the polish protestants got their air through this part of course my parents also gave them food water should be a condominium found out shows there are just so you are not alone yet. And the whole tragedy and torture took place here. And show you how your Summer Holiday the germans came into cars soldiers and the injuries im so many. Value knock on the door and ask if theyre so frustrated here. In violets they started smashing the windows with their rifles. All the planes were broke up shit just my mother was crying and took us children out to the very beginning we children ran behind our mom and papa we were all practically naked undershirts it was 5 oclock in the morning it was september so it was chilly and the germans where the jews were the partisans but also i only went into the barn and they had a pointy metal stick and they stuck it into the straw to see if they would hit a person who would scream and yell more but there was nothing. Yes that. Announcement to the germans hit them with anything they could get their hands on. With both of them should pitch forks. My mother was stabbed in the stomach 3 times with the pitchfork children while she was pregnant tries to show their mission under 6 their 7th month while my sons know that mama didnt make any more sense she was pleadings or so noticed i was gone awol that my father had. He been hit with a rifle the whole court yard was full of blood for her trying to drag my mother here my father there are kids there. And you still found nothing but i sure miss the leisure not. Its not. Just between the workshops and the stables and. Im not sure. How to get im outta here before 600 fell in the middle of the courtyard and at that moment the 1st jewish women came out of. There and. Then they said the other side of the house on fire. After that the soldiers shot use of parents dead and threw their bodies into a pit at the spot where their graves is now. The children survived after witnessing the events then they were taken to germany like thousands of other children from 1941 on words who were deemed to be worthy of being germanized. Use of sr yanina still lives in germany. All night as shes german to german ice. All eyes just that she corresponds to the carry on nordic response blonde hair and like color that was what the germans wanted to show our sister was lost to us forever. As a pearl little sister the best one of us was in germany my next of theirs. It was just comes god. Is good in me give me a good good game of you got a Good Practice to do. Your job or come to. Be kinda funny and mean. Just they were given the altitude they needed you dont. Wish. Harm on luther king has lived in by dear im in southwestern germany since he retired. Where he originally came from he doesnt know who is you know usually seeking me even though everyone feels the security also sees and i want that parents look nothing. Like dont know if i have others saw systems on nieces or os i just dont know i seems to have tried everything. I do 20 archives but i found nothing nothing at all happened before god thinks. This for decades herman has been trying to find out who his parents were and where he was born. He always has the support of his partner. Even as a child he felt that there was some mystery. He was 6 years old when he was placed with maria and her money luther king but he sensed that they were keeping something from him. This stuff that they spotted was hidden in my foster fathers concert. And as various 13 or 14 year old i looked to see what was in. This yes i was always curious. And when i saw this i realized more or less what it was about. This is my that i already knew that i wanted my real parents but i didnt know how it all hung together. And then i read this document that said. Mother dead. Kings birth certificate issued by nazi officials and there are dashes with the names of his father and mother should. His place of birth is listed as broke in vertigo the site of one of the nazi run orphanages where the identities of the abducted children were covered up. When the. Car was the 1st place i went looking and i spoke to the can take it that he was still alive i asked him if anybody else took place like it said in the document and he said no no but ever took place he. Would step good food and this one since then herman has discovered that he was probably called roman russia tough skinned before he was placed with his foster parents was he really born on january 20th 1036 he has his doubts. I might be a year older or younger maybe im just 36 years old. Theyre just staying with documents from woods was january the 21st. I did Scientists Say i know. The central polish city of wood was probably the 1st station in his life. Come on still doesnt know who gave him up to this orphanage. But he does know that the nazis took him from here to germany. Be that youve been in the political but you have been going. On all of this by. What i am. But nor do. You very much but i was on it and you know what you got on board it would be. About gridlock. To me when i did not speak if you have it on. Critical i am not going to be a hold back i am kind of all the voting on. The. Lodhi of the time shake story also has ties to war which. She was 5 years old when she was brought to the youth Detention Camp in lets munched out as would you was called during the nazi occupation. Today shes meeting up with her friend barbaro patrick even each of the 2 women have a lot in common. And their parents in life have been very similar. Theyve come to a school located on the site of the camp. The School Directory showing them a room that commemorates the thousands of children who were interned here. Like who was brought here in 1943. Starting. Off already have a great map. Well shallow we need to find him really have plotted street its over here we should turn the map around like this what our thought that means my house must have been here. How well you remember everything of course have you ever heard of the children from dr b. Tasha screwed up i am a veto. Father was a resistance fighter executed by the nazis her mother was deported to auschwitz for her husbands actions and ended up in the machinery of the german occupiers oppression people and how long were you in the camp possible. I was probably here for around 8 weeks. Before that in the race office in poznan and they had determined that i corresponded to the socalled area race. Jets and the germans wanted to german eyes children of the area and race are said to one yourself write. 3 people. 3 life stories. With fierce in common. All 3 are victims of Heinrich Himmler is racist many of. The race fear s. S. Visited occupied poland in 1941 and traveled through the bar to guard history. In 1939 poland had been carved up between the soviets and the germans. Sections of the western part of the country including the socalled racecar to lie and were incorporated into the german reich. By the regions were placed under german civil administration. Himmlers vision was to make germany the mightiest nation in the world by bolstering the population with new progeny from abroad mainly. From Eastern Europe. In the one discussions in berlin are hundreds of documents that show the gradual development of humor strategy for the organized abduction of children. After his trip through far to go himmler wrote to the go lighter after chrysler. I believe it is right that small children of especially good raise from polish families because elected and brought up by us and special not to large childrens nurseries and orphanages. I would advise starting with 2 or 3 such institutions so as to gather experience. Is about hina mine is a professor of contemporary history at the university of minister. She has studied the subject of the stolen children for a number of years. She set up a europe Wide Research project and with colleagues analyzed 17000 files of foreign children found by the allies in germany after the war. And historians want to reconstruct the roots taken by the stolen children and with them. But the fact that the nazis deliberately conceal their identities makes that a formidable task on it. Is rude enough did that i with the count collations lie down based on the records of how many children were transported and how many were found after the war and i would estimate the number to be around 20000 polish children behind each one of those numbers is an individual story of my life thrown into turmoil and set on a completely different course and then fall off the norm. There are many myths about the fore. German ization of foreign children one account is that they were ethnic germans that is children of german ancestry who lived outside the german reich and that only very few children were brought to germany at all. But him or his plan did have a system as the rights commissioner for the consolidation of german nationhood he helps to issue directives 671. Its stated. First of all children and formerly polish orphanages are to be taken and placed in accommodations after that operation is concluded children living with polish foster parents will be examined. The directive was signed by all risk rife and himmlers direct subordinate. Later at the nuremberg trials he claimed that there had never been a concrete plan. The directive 6071. 00 went to only high ranking leaders of the s. S. And the police and the corresponding s. S. Leaders concerned with race and settlement policy so that the s. S. Operators would be aware of how it worked it was a part of a supposedly rational occupation and gemini zation policy that was imposed mainly on occupied poland but also one other occupied and next to each and so if you think you will possibly go. Today experts believe that our own 50000 children were abducted from across europe. Cases are known from todays ukraine the Czech Republic and slovenia. But the Largest Group was from poland because the machinery of the abduction started in the bar to go district. First orphanages were searched then Child Welfare officials summoned all children living with foster parents for inspection. There were precise guidelines on how a racially suitable child was supposed to look. 21 characteristics were examined including growth patterns the back of the head the bridge of the nose and body hair the officials were looking for socalled arion types classified as pure nordic purif alien or nordic failure than what the nazis couldnt use were unbalanced hybrid types. And finally children were also taken away from their biological parents like. She was taken for racial examination after her mother was deported then in the autumn of 1943 she was brought to the youth Detention Camp in litzmannstadt to be germanized. This memorial recalls the thousands of children who lived here and were forced to do hard labor. I knew it. Was a book the memories come flooding back when ill odio stands here. She was brought to the camp together with her little sister daria. Nirvana brought some ago part all of course straight away we werent allowed to speak polish. Wed whisper to each other in polish but of course we couldnt make it obvious that we were speaking. Of the i want to pop out of school i knew we were punished for every infraction. Each couple had a club and they shouted at us very loudly. We were scared of the yelling and of course the severe beating. Body out of the pedal. I think say and they work on School Roll Call that counters off in germany which was hard for us we didnt know the numbers. Thats why the roll call used to take a very long time wash with some of our time. I missed that but it had to keep going until our supervisor had counted the entire group of children the how often. And often when they went through the barracks where they slept. They would find dead children in the beds. So. Then called was the 1st place where all of you were sent more followed. Bercow. Bud protein. Thousands of children were funneled through these nazi run homes. Each station representative further step to conceal the childs real identity. Dates of birth were changed names were made more german sounding. Became elite civic. Her friend barbara became bearable. They were forced to forget their origins finally both were placed in german families where paradoxically they experienced the happiest years of their childhood. Use of salva lives in the center of chance to hold. Even know he cant accept that his sister yanina loves the nation that caused his family so much suffering my macros for the things of their letters from germany from my sister. Ship she did not want to appear in person in this film or engage with the familys history thats apparent in her letters theres a line vendor by your society so that when you come to see us please please dont talk about politics or about the war. Was your love and kisses. Yosh a meta with. All her letters are signed with her polish and her german name on a stock. Has been so germanized that she even writes in her letters that i shouldnt talk about politics or our history show you because shes embarrassed. You know you can stop that she doesnt want to know anything about poland or the memory of her family. Or when you know she lives her life there in germany she is for you richard. After the murder of their parents the 5 silva children were brought to go with cattle now grown cold insulates you. Know was taken from there by a woman from hanover who adopted her her name was changed to anita no official records about this were preserved which is why you know it was not found after the war but her siblings never stopped looking it was 20 years before use of saw her again since then theyve met up regularly. Out o. The dark my good day my dear sister visits are you would home or out for a walk. Here is thought i had lunch and youre probably tired just not sure im looking forward so much to seeing you soon as its no worse for the jets. Tell you what ill be living a chance to hold her tomorrow at 12 noon to stay. By my dear sister. Banks. You know shot at bars for so long youve heard her voice. Use of sr was carried off to germany shortly before the end of the war she didnt undergo a racial examination the longer the war went on the less attention the german officials paid to rules and guidelines. Yanni knows abduction was an act of pure despotism. In the southwestern german city of fribourg hermeneutic king is paying a visit to crystal this is the. Charts as a teacher but for years he has been helping him on the 21 the German Government to recognize the kidnapped children as victims of the nazi regime so that they can receive compensation. She wants founded an association representing the childrens interests and he and harman have filed lawsuits together so far with no success. As a last resort theyve approached germanys highest court the Constitutional Court. Because this is this nice is the letter i received and the feel of. This processing it. Now i have to wait for a day. You know how money shortfall just time and id suggest that we write another letter to the Constitutional Court saying they should speed things up a little in consideration of your ancient invisibile as one of the us who are not. Those friends of toil i think its great that at his age he still is prepared to fight for justice even though its only about the symbolic sums of 2500 euros from really its a joke its. According to germanys act regulating compensation for National Socialist injustice that is the sum to which non jewish victims are entitled. Kemah new ticking considers himself a part of that group. Is good for me its not about the money but about the recognition that this was a crime its me thats what gets me mad he used that strategy is to wait until nature takes care of it then its over. The German Government argues that the kidnappings can be seen as general Collateral Damage of war and that therefore there can be no claim to compensation. And its often argued that the kidnapped children were well treated in contrast to other victims. That was true in herremans case his german foster parents were wealthy his mother was a teacher and head of the Regional Association of german girls. The father was a high ranking teacher both were nazi party members. Came and graduated from school studied at university and became a mechanical engineer. But the parents never spoke to him about his background. Back in chains to hoffa. Use of self is on duty. For the past 30 years hes been working for an organization for the victims of nazi persecution he campaigns for them to receive compensation. From poland has a number of funds from which the germanized children or the children of mothers who were forced laborers receive small payments. Like this woman from now on shell get 50 euros a month. For her by the way not all her dearly on this is excellent. But this letter says you will get at least 212 swatches the one show so weve been able to help carry out your saying shared by new probably by the about about dark. In the early 1990 s. Germany paid 500000000 do its marks to poland as a humanitarian gesture as it was called back then. Yousef wanted to apply for money for his siblings but they needed young inas consent. Not that much sister answerable no no no i will not steal money from the german people because i am dramatically i said yes. Barbara has invited a load here to her home they want to talk about the stories of their lives that wound up taking such a similar course. But they actually asked us we all kind of like sisters. For a long time we didnt know if we were german or pay less. But i feel as though we were both very lucky. But that a few missions we ended up in families that treated us like their own children and i said questioning. What. Could. Barbaro was 3 when the nazis examined her and approved her for german ization. In 1902 she was placed with a german foster family and grew up as bearable in limbo. Like a lot of years she had to return to poland after the war. She was 10 at the time. Oh yeah thats a movie or a lawyer boy actually if i always say that my war started after i went back yes i say the same. My parents were no longer alive there was nothing left. I was an unwanted child who was shunted around here and there you couldnt speak polish and write so i couldnt speak the language anymore i was this hitler girl ride german swine for us children our return was disastrous but it was understandable that poland wanted its children back jiechi. After the war you mean yes. Has extreme she think its extremely complicated and the western allied powers made the childs well being the benchmark on the one hand and on the other hand there was the justifiable demand of the polish stage that said give our children back to your thirtys found themselves and a complicated legal model in terms of international law. Violation to feel. Alone here is back home again she lives in big gosh thats 170 kilometers northwest of roads. For years shes been giving public lectures as a witness of history. In a few days shell be traveling again to germany to tell the story of her life. Left him out here in the album is the 1st graph taken with my new german moti picked me out. More. Mrs louisa down. She didnt have any children of her. Took the 6 year old to her home in stendhal in saxony on heart. The little girl started going to school there and lead a comfortable life as a much loved only child. 4 years later came the shock. Louise and her husband bill home received a letter from the polish red cross which tore the family apart. Louisa dahl wrote this in response. If the mother of the child is alive we are prepared in view of the mothers terrible suffering and uncertainty during the years of separation to return the child safe and sound to her. Of course the biological mother has the 1st right and with a heavy heart i will give up the child whom we have come to love and cherish. d followed years polish mother. Had survived our schwarz. And with this photograph searched the world for her 2 daughters. And found them. When the news came that i was a stolen polish child and had to go back to my home country. And there my mother she began to tell me about my siblings who i had forgotten in the course of the 4 years. Octodad reactionist headed out on the water on the ocean so for that reason i was not so reluctant to return to poland. But at one spot of i wasnt afraid at all skinny a boy or girl. But going back was hard. Had forgotten her native polish. But she could communicate with her mother who spoke excellent german. Was lucky that she maintained contact to her german moti. And the 2 women also became friends a low deal was now daughter to both of them. I had to mama. And these 2 mamas loved each other very much. But they understood each other and those of you will. Believe the dolls when they said they had not known who early to really was the result wrote to the polish red cross. Or was born in poznan and after she became ill in a Childrens Home in college was then brought to bad policy. That is where i picked up a little later on april 25th 1944 mediated by the former lebanese Born Association the child was placed with me as a pure german child with a german name as an eastern german orphan for adoption. Emon luther kings foster mother must have known that he was not a german child she got him in december 942 from zone and visa elevens born home in koreans ollies a village near leipzig. His name then was roman russia tough ski. Levins born was a pet project of Heinrich Himmler. It provided a place for unmarried women to have their babies and leave them to be raised the goal was to boost the area and population. Zone and visa also served as an institution for children like airman who were abducted from poland yugoslavia in the soviet union to be taken to germany. Harriman was one of the 1st children here to be given away to families loyal to the nazi regime. He remembers how it came about. But. I used to always play with my friend all of your words and with it together and its and. All and then a nurse came and said you 2 have to come along to the head. So we went up there and the head was sitting with it and an elegant lady was standing there. Later i knew it was my foster mother. She wore a hat with a veil. And the head nurse said all right king you can pick one of the 2 children. And she said right away. Little ham. Are fattening him out. And the head nurse said so just sign here and then you can take the child with. It. And she took my hand and we went out and took the train to let me go in the fall and let her. Go thats how it went. So one of these are you know like a chicken farmer and i want branching that one doesnt look so good was it but i like that. Thats how they did it with the children too or. At the time here man was just happy that he had someone to take care of him and he got along well with maria luther king. But once he started to try and find out about his background she broke away from him. When she died in the late 1980 s. He did not attend her funeral. At the nuremberg trials american prosecutors tried to press charges for the kidnapping of alien children for purposes of german ization. But the tribunal contested the charges according the defendants of that crime and describing the libyans born organization as a welfare institution. That dont back up process as i hear in this respect the nuremberg trials can be seen to have made a tragic legal mistake to classify live ins born which ran these Childrens Homes as a purely Charitable Organization and equipped those involved with the challenges from todays point of view that was that related judicial era class a field and child on. A load of return is on her way to the city of fribourg. She knows germany well. She often visited her foster parents here. Today shes giving a talk to students at the Catholic University of applied sciences as a living witness. As always she tells her life story in german all that will happen soon and that is why they gave us new 1st and last names. Until then i had been a tasha. And now i was early to say if i leave the. Bishop. Says her lectures have also been a form of therapy for her. Its a way of coming to terms with her own past but the biggest. Damage to the inside you said that your time in germany shaky and yet you still consider yourself polish. Would you say that germany is also your homeland in a way on. Yes i think thats true it is that for me i love to come back here and comments over it and i always say every country has very good people and very bad people and they should. d follow the every time check story is also a positive one with lots of understanding on both sides and she hopes to keep telling it for as long as she can. To day use of salva is setting off to the family get together with his sister yanina. But im going to have this about the journey that i didnt sleep for a last night yes pretty spot on. The Family History is likely to be a topic at the gathering. Use of cant forgive yanina for denying that shes polish but he says she is and will always be his sister. Saw gene out of the young everyone in the family loves her or not yes shes warm thats not an empathetic nature bonds about the color of the princess because shes so sensitive its so nice and warm article our stock of your pocket cost. Thats not. I their money luther king has received a letter from the german Constitutional Court another defeat he has lost his fight for compensation. But he will continue to search for his roots for the parts of his life that the nazis hid from him. Does he feel as how i dont think ill find out anything but ill keep looking. Who knows maybe ill find a nugget somewhere to live you know mom kwan. Even in his mid eighties not knowing who his parents were is a source of unease that hammond says will never leave him. Or. Meet the artist today we see. She came to canada as a refugee when she was just a child today shes a lawyer author and show host successful and full of bright do ideas she talks about how canada and the game are from someone pick me up and how game now is everybody has been. Getting to know if youre into a marks 21. And 30 minutes on d w. How do you like to. Discover your concept discovered with the boss. A school a legend after 100 years is the ideals of the boss and more relevant today than they were a. 100 years ago visionaries reshapes things to come. The people understood designs were shipping to sorry. About how often does cost her her. With ideas that are part of our future looks on how a part of our. Small to sleep part documentary stories may be told or no. Such. Place. To. Play. This is the news live from then on World Press Freedom day torch of elenas journalists around the globe with our annual freedom of speech ward to highlight the courage and determination of reporters persecuted for exposing the truth about the coronavirus pandemic also coming out syrians Mount Ramadan the in the last rebel stronghold it bought off to