Transcripts For DW Stolen Children 20240712

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 sphere 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 german artist. 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 ghattas formidable i was named l. O. Dia vitesse check from that moment on i was the elites of that care. Those children are now over 80 years old and many of them still know nothing about their roots. Nor do i mean the last armies i felt this kind of back and forth also affected my relationships feel. Much of what happened to them is still a mystery. The use of so of our travels as often as he can to the place where his parents are buried. It lies outside chance to hover in southern poland. Or. He was just 9 years old when they died. Truly im the dark i feel im missing the warmth of being raised by a father and mother. And we were brought up by strangers who were Something Like her very much but all my life ive been missing that warmth of that embrace. His father yusef was 41. His mother francesca 36. When they were murdered by the nazis on the spot. Their son use it is now 86 years old. But he has never forgotten his childhood home. Our. Barbara. Starr would all be in school over there was a Village House with 2 rounds but it was made of wood and bricks because i made the job you let me show you where the stables or and fathers workshop in the bunker. During world war 2 use of his family here did use an partisans in the bunker 7 people lived underground here for 2 years is out them both of them there are all of the above this bunker was a pipe for the air came in and out and the jews and the polish partisans got their air through this pipe of course my parents also gave them food water shelter in economy a product as they were just sort of going i dont yet. And the whole tragedy got it all batty on torture took place here. And show you how. The germans came going to carve this soldiers house in the jerusalem so many. Of the knock on the door. And ask if theyre so frustrated you called mommy thats really involved its sort of smashing the windows with their rifles. All the planes were broke up just my mother was crying and it took us children out of the you know. You know 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 chilly and and the germans were the jews were the partisans but also i only went into the ground and they had a pointy metal stick and they stuck it in the straw to see if they would hit a person i would scream and yell more but there was nothing. Yes that. The germans hit them with anything they could get their hands on a. Whole bunch of pitchforks. My mother was stabbed in the stomach 3 times with a pitchfork joe number while she was pregnant flesh to show their mission under 6 their 7th month. The mama didnt make any more sense she was beaten just i noticed i was kind of my father had. He been hit with a rifle the whole court yard was full of blood they dragged my mother here and my father there are kids there. And they still found nothing but i said mrs my leisure not. Needs nothing new is just between the workshop at the stables and. Im not sure but i dont have that im not that maybe 4 or 6 saturdays fell in the middle of the courtyard and at that moment the 1st jewish women came out of the poker. And then they said the other side of the house on funny little guys thrown. After that the soldiers shot the 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. Or not as there she is german german artist. All i stress that she corresponds to the carry on nordic response blonde hair and like colored i asked that was what the germans wanted to show our sister was lost to us forever. As a pole but also a sister the best one of us is in germany. With his guns god. Is good in anything give me a good good game of you got a good doctor she wanted to be. Your daughter come to god and be kinda funny and so we. Just dont get what i dont think it is if you dont. Wish to. Come on luther king has lived in by dear im in southwestern germany since he retired. Where he originally came from he doesnt know this you know using speaking me even to everyone feels the security also cheats and i want that parents look i think you have read or bridget like to know if i have others saw sisters and nieces or asked so i just dont know but i seems to have tried everything. To 20 archives but i found nothing nothing at all happened before god thinks. This for decades herrmann 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 it was pot was hidden in my foster fathers closet. Teen a 14 year old i looked to see what was interesting. And yes i was always curious. And when i saw this i realized more or less what it was about. This is my dad 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. Airman luther kings birth certificate issued by nazi officials there are dashes where the names of his father and mother should. His place of birth is listed as broker invertigo 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 any of this took place here like it said in the document and he said no no but ever took place he. Would step through food and this point since then harriman has discovered that he was probably called roman russia tough ski 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 ward was january the 21st. I did see one to say i know. The central polish city of wood was probably the 1st station in his life. Mine 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 us would have gone but you are going. On all this by. What i am. About nor do. You believe this guy was on the lead and you know what you can also order people because. I do not. Want i did not have it on. Critical mind. That couldnt be a poll that i am not credible on. The. Story also has ties to which. She was 5 years old when she was brought to the youth Detention Camp inlets munched as woods was called during the nazi occupation. Today shes meeting up with her friend bob barr a pocho kid which. 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. By this. I already have a great map. Well shall we need to find him really 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. How well you remember everything of course have you ever heard of the children from dr v. Tash x. Group i am a. 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 a toy. Before that in the race office in poznan and they had determined that i corresponded to the so called area. Jets and the germans wanted to german eyes children of the arion race. Get a one yourself write. 3 people. 3 life stories. With fierce in common. All 3 are victims of heinrich humors racist mania. The right spirit s. S. Visited occupied poland in 1941 and traveled through the vatican 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. Himmlers vision was to make sure many of the nation in the world by bolstering the population with new progeny from abroad mainly. From Eastern Europe. In the bundesliga sheaf 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 dr gleiser. I believe it is right that small children have especially good race 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. 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. As it would and nothing but i with the calculations lie down based on the records of how many children were transported and how many were found after the war i would estimate the number to be around 20000 polish children behind each one of those numbers is an individual story of a life threatening to 10 while 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 humors plan did have a system as the rights commissioner for the consolidation of german nation hood he helps to issue directives 6071. 00. It 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 risk rife and himmlers direct subordinate. Later at the nuremberg trials he claimed that there had never been a concrete plan. Directive 6071. 00 went to 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 we. 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 family 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 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 all over your stands here. She was brought to the camp together with her little sister daria. Nirvana brought some 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 that when i 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. By layouts of a pair of. Sixes am they work a 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 off. To dish. And off and when they went through the barracks where we slept. They would find dead children in the beds. So. No. Then called was the 1st place where all of you were sent. More followed caliche burkle. 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 a veto became a lead civic and 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 america has 5 days of their letters from germany from my sister. She did not want to appear in person in this film or engage with the familys history thats apparent in her letters. It was a line vendor by your society so 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 on a stock. And so german iced that she even writes in her letters that i shouldnt talk about politics or our history show you because shes embarrassed. You can still get on a sugar rush 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 4 years rich on top of the. After the murder of their parents the 5 or so of our children were brought to court you know grown cold. You know nino 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 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 regular only. How theyre all out oh good in the dark my good day my dear sister. Are you would home or out for a walk. Heres a thought i had lunch and youre probably tired just im looking forward so much to seeing you soon as the war for the jets. Tell you it all but ill be living a chance to hold her tomorrow at 12 noon. Check or by my dear sister. Banks. You know for sure the buyers so now 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 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. The charts founded an association representing the childrens interests and he and herrmann have filed lawsuits together so far with no success. As a last resort theyve approached germanys highest court the Constitutional Court. This is this nice is the letter i received in the field. 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. Own zone of. Those initial toilette i think its great that his age hes still prepared to fight for justice even though its only about the symbolic sums of 2500 euros not really its a joke gets. According to germanys act regulating compensation for National Socialist injustice that is the sum to which non jewish victims are entitled. To come on new day king 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 with 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 on 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 silva 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 stuff 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 not dearly this is actually until several hours this letter says youll get at least 212 swatches the last show so weve been able to help here we are here saying sharon just made by new probably by me 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 his consent. Not that much sister and sorrow no no no i will not steal money from the german people because i am dramatically. 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. 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. 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 lawyer she had to return to poland after the war. She was 10 at the time. Oh yeah thats the movie room 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 he was shunted around here and there you couldnt speak polish and write 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 jackie. After the war you me 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 station that said give our children back to your thirtys found themselves and a complicated legal model in terms of international law. Listen 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. Knocked him out of here in the album is the 1st aircraft taken with my new german moti picked me out. And this is louisa down. 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. Luisa 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 us polish mother. Had survived our schwarz. And with this photograph searched the world for her 2 daughters. And found them. There when the news came that i was a stolen polish child and had to go back to my home country. And there my moves he began to tell me about my siblings who i had forgotten in the course of the 4 years. October 3rd of the water on the ocean so for that reason i was not so reluctant to return to poland. But i had. A spot of i wasnt afraid of a tall skinny a boy. But going back was hard. Had forgotten her native polish. But she could communicate with her mother helena who spoke excellent german. Was lucky that she maintained contact to her german morty. And the 2 women also became friends. Was now daughter to both of them. I had 2 moments. And these 2 mamas loved each other very much. But they understood each other and we all. Believe the dolls when they said they had not known who elites are really was the result wrote to the polish red cross. Was born in poznan and after she became ill in a Childrens Home in college was then brought to bad policy and. That is where i picked up a little an 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. Cameron 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 corins 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 arion population. Zone and visa also served as an institution for children like airman who were abducted from poland yugoslavia and the soviet union to be taken to germany. Kerman 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 or log books and with it together 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 was sitting with 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 nurse said all right. You can pick one of the 2 children. And she said right away ill take little hammer. Hammer you are fattening amount. And the head nurse said so just sign here and then you can take the child with. You. And she took my hand and we went out and took the train to lend going to fall and let her. Go thats how it went. So one of these other 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 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 acquitting the defendant of that crime and describing the livin sporn organization as a welfare institution. In this respect the nuremberg trials could be seen to have made a tragic legal mistake to classify levins 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 the latent judicial era class a feel that a 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 help and that is why they gave us new 1st and last names. Until then i had been allowed to have a tasha. And now i was early to sit. With. 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. I meant to say in fact i said 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. It yes i think thats true it is that for me i love to come back here 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. But im doris about the journey that i didnt sleep for a last night yes but see i respond well. To. The Family History is likely to be a topic of the gathering. Use of cant forgive yanina for denying that shes polish but he says she is and will always be his sister. Saw jean are probably the young everyone in the family loves her yes shes warm and empathetic. About the recall or the princess because shes so sensitive so nice and warm article are stuck on your pocket very cut by tucker said thats not. Fair man luther king has received a letter from the german Constitutional Court and. 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. I dont think ill find out anything but ill keep looking. Who knows maybe ill find a nugget so i can feel a few no one caught on. Even in his mid eighties not knowing who his parents were is a source of uneasiness that hammond says will never leave him willingly. Healthy eating. Is it making the environment ill. Superfood think global hype about eating. But what happens where super foods are grown. Since the exploding demand for them threatening and tire ecosystems. 30 minutes on d w. Board or. Did beethoven in the justice dept to do did dont want to do. That is it does and out of 60 more like hell be the true genius of roger. Many rubber bands of stolen beethoven. In the end of course the subconscious always one thing is clear. Mandate. Hes wildly popular. I see assured. Will sell the biggest composer of time i cant even begin to imagine a world class one player several years on a musical journey of discovery. Without a master september 16th on g. W. This is fatal to news line from the early bela versus opposition turns out for a show of strength in numbers against president alexander lukashenko. Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of minsk for a mass protest to wait after an election they say was stolen because shanksville has vowed to put a name to the on breast beefed up security. Hundreds of masked volunteer