Transcripts For DW Stolen Children 20240712

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 right strayer s. S. 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 learned to speak german their identities were falsified the got trust from before i was named a load here 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. Who would you go mia last are nice i felt this kind of back and forth also affected my relationships few people here. Much of what happened to them is still a mystery. Use of some of our travels as often as he can to the place where his parents are buried. It lies outside chance to hava in southern poland. He was just 9 years old when they died. Through iraq i feel im missing the warmth of her being raised by a father and mother. We want to be brought up by strangers who were Something Like her very much but all my life ive been missing that warmth of that embrace that. His father use it was 41. His mother french scieszka 36. When they were murdered by the nazis on the 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 arms but it was made of wood and bricks book which i made the job of my show you were the stables or and fathers workshop a younger. During world war 2 use of his family he did use in 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 for the year came in or not and the jews and the polish protestants got their air through this pipe of course my parents also gave them food water should be an economy upon god shows there are just so you are not yet. And the whole tragedy and torture took place here. And show you how. The germans came to Congress Soldiers in the interest. Of allah the knock on the door. And asked if the so frustrated here called mommy actually involve they started smashing the windows with their rifles thats how it all the planes were broke up just my mother was crying and took us children out to the very beginning we children ran behind our mama and papa we were all practically naked undershirts it was 5 oclock in the morning it was september so it was chileans and i and the germans were the jews were the partisans but also they 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 they got angry yes we had. Our youngsters the germans hit them with anything they could get their hands on. With holes and show pitchforks. My mother was stabbed in the stomach 3 times with a pitchfork show number while she was pregnant flesh to show their mission under 6 their 7th month well my sense is that mama didnt make any more sense she was beaten just a no no styles kind of my father had. He been hit with a rifle the whole court yard was full of blood they dragged my mother here my father there are kids there. And you still found nothing but i sure this is not leisure not no. Its not. Just between the workshop stables and. Im not sure. How to get outta here before 6 and going to fell in the middle of the courtyard and in that moment the 1st jewish women came out of it. And then they said the others started 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 german i just. Use if sister yanina still lives in germany. Or not is there shes german germanized. All eyes just that she corresponds to the period nordic response blond hair and like colored i asked that was what the germans wanted to show our sister was lost to us forever. As a whole it was a sister the best one of us is in germany lined up so theres. A bus comes god. Is good in it we give him a view maybe get back to ship you do. Your job or come to. Begin the 14 and 20. Just dont get what i was doing but if you did you know how to. Push the. Come on luther king has lived in bad durham in southwestern germany since he retired. Where he originally came from he doesnt know whose you know arguably she can even do everyone feels a security also teach and i want that parents look i think you have read of bridges i dont know if i should rather saw systems on the seas or os i just dont know i switched over i tried everything. He had a letter 20 archives but i found nothing nothing at all to have an issue for the guy 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 man luther king but he sensed that they were keeping something from him. This stuff out of the way spot was hidden in my foster fathers concert. Teen a 14 year old i looked to see what was in it. 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 father ted mother dead. Kings birth certificate issued by nazi officials there are dashes where the names of his father and mother should. Be. His place of birth is listed as broker invertigo the site of one of the nazi run orphanages where the identities of the of ducted children were covered up. When the. Car was the 1st place i went to look at it and i spoke to they can take it he was still alive i asked him if anybody else took place like it said in the document and he said it was no. Ever took place here. In this pond since then harriman 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 standard documents from was january the 21st for the notes i had swung to 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. To be that youve been in the School Diploma but you have been going. On all of this by a. Lot of money out of. That nor do. You believe this guy was on it and you know what you call him on it even though. I do not. Want i didnt know if you have it on. Critical mind. Not going to be a whole that im kind of all done 31. 00. Story also has ties to wards. She was 5 years old when she was brought to the youth Detention Camp in leeds munched out as woods was called during the nazi occupation. Today shes meeting up with her friend barbaro cave each. The 2 women have a lot in common. And their paths in life have been very similar. But. Theyve come to a school located on the site of the camp. The School Director is showing them a room that commemorates the thousands of children who were interned here. Like who was brought here in 1943. I know you have a great mouth. Well shall we need to find me have plotted street its over here we should turn the map around like this what i thought that means my house must have been here. The way you remember everything of course have you ever heard of the children from dr v. Tash x. Group i am of you tell. Us. Father was a resistance fighter executed by the nazi s. S. Her mother was deported to auschwitz for her husbands actions and ended up in the machinery of the german occupiers a persian people and how long were you in the camp possible to. Tell the people that. I was probably here for around a toy. Before that in the race office in poznan and they had determined that i corresponded to the socalled area. Jets and the germans wanted to german allies children of the area and race. Get the result right. 3 people. 3 life stories. With fierce in common. All 3 are victims of Heinrich Himmler was racist many of. The right sphere s. S. Visited occupied poland in 1941 and traveled through the bar to our district. 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. Other regions were placed under german civil administration. Kamal is 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 underside of 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 girl later after chrysler. I believe it is right that small children of especially good raise from polish families become lectern 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. On 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 and nothing but i did the calculations like 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 a life thrown into turmoil and set on a completely different course and then fall off the norm. There are many myths about the forced 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 all children informally 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 rich private himmlers direct subordinate. Later at the nuremburg 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 ization policy that was imposed mainly on occupied poland but also one other occupied and next to each ends of europe. Possible. 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 faily and 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 and then in the autumn of 1943 she was brought to the youth Detention Camp and its meant to be germanized. This memorial recalls the thousands of children who lived here and were forced to do hard labor. Need it. The memories come flooding back when i load your stance here. She was brought to the camp together with her little sister daria. Nirvana bought some a copper told 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 our apologise. 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. By layouts of the pedal. I think say and they work a School Roll Call the counters off in germany which was hard for us we didnt know the numbers. And thats why the roll call used to take a very long time wash near some of our time. I missed that they are better it had to keep going until our supervisor had counted the entire group of children. And often when they went through the barracks where we slept. Us they would find their children in the beds. Oh yes they are. Not. Then called was the 1st place where all of you were sent more followed. Brooke oh. Bud protein. Thousands of children were funneled through these nazi run homes. Each station represented a further step to conceal the childs real identity. Dates of birth were changed names were made more german sounding. Follow the of itar 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 la mer cut off for days of their letters from germany from my sister. That 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. Wars you love and kisses. Yes. All her letters are signed with her polish and her german name or no youre stuck. And so german iced that she even writes in her letters that i shouldnt talk about politics or our history because shes embarrassed. You can still get on a ship that 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 4 years richer. After the murder of their parents the 5 or so of our children were brought to court now grown cool. You know nino was taken from there by a woman from hanover who adopted her her name was changed to anita oh 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. How theyre all out o. Good and dark my good day my dear sister. Are you would home or out for a walk. 2. Here is thought i had lunch and youre probably tired just for sure im looking forward so much to seeing you soon as the were for the jets. Tell you what ill be living a chance to hope for tomorrow or 12 but no one of us that. Check or ok good bye my dear sister. Thanks. You know shut it parsley so i know 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. And in his abduction was an act of pure despotism. In the southwestern german city of fribourg hermeneutic king is paying a visit to crystal this isnt. Schwartz is a teacher but for years he has been helping him on the 2 want the German Government to recognise 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. This is this is nice is the letter i received this. Just processing it. And now i have to wait for a day. You know how money shortfall just certain id suggest that we write another letter to the Constitutional Court saying they should speed things up a little in consideration of your visibility and zone of. Those initial toilette i think its great that at his age hes still prepared to fight for justice because even though its only about the symbolic sums of 2500 euros from not 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 nudie can 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 and he used that strategy is to wait until nature takes care of it or by 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. For 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 buying a not only on school this is actually several hours but this letter says you will get at least 212. 00 swatches the last year or so weve been able to help here we are clear say sharon just made by a new poll long delayed by about a buyout dark. In the early 1990 s. Germany paid 500000000. 00 each 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 ninas consent. Not that much sister answerable no no no i will not steal money from the german people because i am german boy 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 we all kind of like sisters. Always for a long time we didnt know if we were german or pay less. But i feel as though we were both very lucky. That a few 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. Yeah thats the movie room lawyer boy and actually if i always say that my war started after i went back yes i said the same. My parents were no longer alive there was nothing left. I was an unwanted child he was shunted around here and there you couldnt speak polish and write so i couldnt speak the language anymore i was this hitler ride german swine for us children our return was disastrous but it was understandable that poland wanted its children back jakey. After the war you mean yes. Has extreme hsieh its extremely complicated 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 states that said give our children back to your thirties found themselves and a complicated legal model in terms of international law. Violation the feeling. 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. Knocked him out of here mammoth earlier in the album is the 1st aircraft taken with my new german motif picked me out. More. And this is louise that. She didnt have any children of her. Dar 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 vilhelm 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 auschwitz. 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 muti began to tell me about my siblings who i had forgotten in the course of the 4 years. Ochterlony abscessed there were left on the water on the ocean so for that reason i was not so reluctant to return to poland. That i had. Spotted of i wasnt afraid of a tall 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. L o do you was lucky that she maintained contact to her german mortie. And the 2 women also became friends. Was now daughter to both of them. I had to mamma. And these 2 mamas loved each other very much. Hope they understand each other and we all. Believe the dolls when they said they had not known who early to really was the reason dar wrote to the polish red cross. Was born in post 9 and after she became ill in a Childrens Home in college was then brought to bad policy. That is where i picked up little an april 25th 1944 mediated by the former labor borne association the child was placed with me as a pure german child with a german name as an eastern german orphan for adoption. Cameron luther kings foster mother must have known that he was not a german child she got him in december 942 from zonen views or elevens born home in corins ollies a village near leipzig. His name then was roman russia toscanini. 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 beezer also served as an institution for children like airman who were abducted from poland yugoslavia and 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. The blood. I used to always play with my friend all along. And with together and this and. All and then a nurse came and said you 2 have to come along to the head not us. So we went up there and the head nurse was sitting at an elegant lady was standing there. Later i knew it was my foster mother. She wore a hat with a veil. And the head set or right. You can pick one of the 2 children with us and she said right away. Take little hammer. Hammer you are fattening him out. And the head nurse said so just sign here and then you can take the child with. d you. And she took my hand and we went out and took the train to let him go in the fall and let her. Go thats how it went. So one of the these are you know like a chicken farmer and i want down chicken that one doesnt look so good but i like that. Thats how they did it with the children too or. At the time herrmann 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 learned that up in this respect the nuremberg trials can be seen to have made a tragic legal mistake to classify live on which ran these Childrens Homes as a purely Charitable Organization and equipped those involved the challenges from todays point of view that was the latent judicial era class a field and child on. A lot 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. And now i was early to say if i leave it. Here live says her lectures have also been a form of therapy for her. A way of coming to terms with her own past. Damage to the fact that your time in germany shaped you and yet you still consider yourself polish. Would you say that germany is also your homeland in a way on. The us 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 peoples and they should. Follow the of the taj next 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. Today use of salva is setting off to the family get together with his sister yanina. Because im gorgeous about the journey that i didnt sleep or a last night you know sports despite. 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 to gin up. Everyone in the family loves her yes shes warm and empathetic bonds of arvo we call are the princess because shes so sensitive so nice and warm r. D. All our stock and we were back a dairy cup i talk us. Thats not. I am an 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 you know if you know one cor. Even in his mid eighties not knowing who his parents were is a source of unease that hammond says will never leave him. Or. Enter the conflict zone with sarah kelly swedens unique trust means to proceed tackling the coronavirus pandemic project in the strict lockdowns imposed around the world but the policy has come under increasing criticism and pressure my guest this week is swedens foreign minister and linda with a death toll much higher than its neighbors has sweden made a deadly arab conflict. In 30 minutes on t. W. Board. Instead as paul and i was 1st group to go to her now live im sure that it was are we are out. In support of whats a big whats a walk down there or whats. The degree of. She still. Lives in the german capital the russian opposition leaders from siberia and at the. Doctors will try to find out whats behind the. Fighting for his life a close friend of his. Russian authorities. In washington convene a saturday session to address. They want to shore up the u