Child Euthanasia, also known as Kinder-Euthanasie, was the systematic killing of severely mentally and physically disabled children and young people up to 16 years old during the Nazi era in over 30 special children’s wards. At least 5,000 children were victims of this program, which became the model for the mass murder of Jews, Roma (Gypsies), and others between 1940 and 1945. The T-4 program became the model for the mass murder of Jews, Roma (Gypsies), and others in Germany.
In 1938, the parents of a severely disabled infant petitioned Hitler for the right to kill their child, who granted the petition. This story of the Holocaust has been highlighted by many, including the author, who first discovered that people with disabilities were sterilized and killed by the Nazis when he was a teenager. The children were seen by the Nazis as a particular biological threat to the German ‘Aryan’ race due to their mixed heritage. To prevent the children having children of their own, 385 children were secretly killed.
The first state-sanctioned euthanasia was carried out after Hitler received a petition from a child’s parents, asking for the life of their severely disabled infant to be taken. It is estimated that around 5000-8000 children with physical and intellectual disabilities were killed in Nazi Germany under a program called “Aktion T4”. Parents were not made aware that their children had been murdered.
The Nazis were a dictatorship, and Adolf Hitler was responsible for the killing of disabled people during the German euthanasia program. This forgotten story of the Holocaust has been highlighted by doctors and historians, highlighting the importance of understanding the history and practices of the Holocaust.
📹 The kidnapping campaign of Nazi Germany | DW Documentary
On orders from Heinrich Himmler, the Nazis abducted children from Poland for forced Germanization. Hermann Lüdeking, Jozef …
📹 Hitler vs the Disabled (Aktion T4)
This is the fully-sourced and backed-up history of Hitler’s “Aktion T4” program, which targeted disabled adults and children …
I can’t help but cry when the man at the beginning told his story. perusal that would destroy a child. His parents were so brave and should be honored as heroes. She was 6 or 7 months pregnant being stabbed over and over with a pitchfork, in front of her small children. And yet she still refused to give up the location of the people hiding. How horrible it must have been to see them still be killed in front of her once the nazi soldiers found them. And his father perusal all of this as well as his head is bashed in??? And also not give up the hiding location ?!? Amazing heroes. They deserve utmost respect.
My father was loaded into a truck bound for a concentration camp. The driver suddenly refused to drive & he told all of the children to jump off the truck & run home. As children growing up, we heard all the horrific stories of war in Poland. From being shot at by Nazis to having to watch a 4th grade student being beaten to death by a German teacher. My Mom has stories that are just as horrible. History always repeats itself, this is no exception. We will destroy ourselves. I can understand everything he said in Polish. A little gets lost in translation. The poor man. These are similar memories that my parents hold & now I do too.
My grandma was 12 when they took her from family home in Poland. She saw her family beaten to death and separated. She was enslaved and forced to work in German Guesthouse, for German family. She was not paid for her hard daily work, she however received food and shelter. She considered herself lucky. Lucky… and given all the stories we learned in polish school, many witnesses heard over years, I can also consider her lucky… in all that tragedies. After the war she was kicked into the train and came back to Poland alone…
i just can’t imagine how much pain and grief in Josef’s heart. if he’s still alive today, he’s probably on his 90s yet still crying and missing the warmth of his mother and father’s care like how it shows in this article. the atrocity far beyond evil. heart wrenching to hear such horrific testimony. may the souls of these innocent victims now rest in peace, blessed the hearts of those who are left in mourn and grief.
I’m a Canadian age 65 and grew up in Toronto going first to school in 1960 with first generation children from WWII refugees from Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. I grew up with these children and visited their homes. As I got older I tried to get the parents to tell me their stories from the war years. Most would not but some stories leaked out to me from my friends. I wanted to know what really happened as I didn’t trust what our schools were teaching us. There were 3 German families on our street. No one socialized with them. I was forbidden to play with those children because they were German and the parents remembered the war. I argued that these children did nothing wrong so I snuck around to still play with them. I was only 5 or 6. This was a fantastic documentary and I did not know about this topic. My heart has always been heavy for my childhood friends parents who suffered but survived despite the war. Thank you!
Poland was ruined, Warsaw put down to a ground, millions of Polish citizens lost their life’s and Germany didn’t pay for it at all. My grandpa was a prisoner in working camp in Germany. He was 13years old when he was kidnapped but was too old for being Germanised and adopted by some German family. He worked at the factory which produced ammunition, then he worked on a farm. On the end of the war he was placed at the factory where all Poles had a close contact with asbestos. I never met him. He died in age of 43 because of a cancer. Red Cross contact to my grandmother in early 80s. My family was offered 50german marks as a competition…
She was pregnant. When he said that.. can’t stop crying. Killing innocence like that. So horribly wrong, I hope history never repeats this. I pray their souls remained untouched; despite their body being so wrongly battered. It makes you wonder if you were in their position, would you try and protect Jewish people? Risk everything? I hope I would.
My great grandparents were 100% polish. Idk when they came to America.. My gpa did rather well for his family. Worked hard. And same goes for my father. I’m an “American mut”- Norwegian,Danish, German and Polish. growing up I felt such a connection to our people. My home away from home. Always felt an honor to be Polish. History shows their strength and ripples through in to the strong men I saw in my life. I wish I could go visit and learn more if my family’s past. Did we have anyone go thru any of this horror? Or was the family line spared when coming here. I love ancestory and history. I respect these folks who are searching and speaking out. God bless
I am an Indian, I never really acknowledged this before but I live in paradise. I used to be critical of my country but not anymore. I am privileged to be raised by two beautiful parents, wonderful grand mother. I am sorry that Europe had to see this kind of suffering. I know my country is not perfect that we have suffered a lot but. This changes my life’s perspective.
Im from Slovenia and here Natzis used to steal kids to “make them german”. In middle school we were made to read absolutely wonderfully written book “Boy with two names” (Deček z dvema imenoma) by Anton Ingolić. It is about a boy and his family passing through Slovenian country side on their way to vaccation. He sees all the people working in the fields and he gets some strange memories of his family doing that. He slowly get from his family (really nice people) that he was abducted. He is lucky enough to meet his real family. It is written very well and was a great way to start the talk with us about ww2. I highly recoman it if you want to learn more
my oma was one of these people, She was taken from a village in holland when she was 7 and was put into a centre with 12 other girls, She tells me that there were fences all around and many soldiers she said she was kept there for two years before being ‘adopted’ by a a family that treated her as her own she stayed with the family until one year after the war when she found everything out she then came to Canada
My father was taken from his family as well. This happened during the gulf war, when Iraq invaded Kuwait. My father, a Kuwaiti, was like 20 years old at that time. He was working at a government bakery to provide for all the people with no food. The Iraqi soldiers found out and took my father and placed him in jail. He was meant to be executed. My grandfather, his father, found out his son had been taken and came to the place where he was being held. He was crying. He was begging a general to let my dad go. For some reason, by chance, the general agreed and let my dad go. It’s so scary how close my dad was from being killed!!!!
Maybe it’s time to show Poland history during 2WW – as the only country in Europe that did not collaborate politically or ideologically with the Nazis. Maybe it’s time to show that Poland had a unique resistance fighting movement in all Europe. Show a country that fought against several enemies at the same time. Against the Nazis and Communists. Show a country that, despite losing, never collapsed and fought to the end…for our freedom.
Through all the suffering and pain, his parents were so strong and surely full of love for other people. They didn’t give up, they wouldn’t tell the location. He can be proud to have such parents. It is so painfull, what his family had to go through, the suffering, his parents killed, his unborn sibling. May they be rewarded in the eternity for their good deeds.
As the number of surviving victims of WW2 dwindles, the importance of these personal stories is more important than ever… so that we remember and learn from the atrocities brought on by war and the remarkable strength & kindness of those willing to risk their lives to harbor & help the innocent (quite often, losing that battle).. we owe it to each & every victim to honor them and NEVER FORGET.
I would love to understand the point of view of the sister of Yozef (and I mean this in a non-judgmental kind of way, because we never know how we would react in situations like those). Why won’t she accept the Polish side of her? Does it not matter because she doesn’t remember the way her parents were killed because she was small? If she does remember, is it her way of coping and blocking herself from it? Psychologically, it would be nice to understand what’s going through her mind.
My stepmom doesn’t know who she is either. All she can remember is at around six years old after the war she was brought into Germany on a train by a man who dropped her at an orphanage. She was adopted by people who said they were her parents but she knew it wasn’t true. She finally took them to court when she was 39 and had DNA test. They were not her parents. So we did another test here in the US and it says she is of Polish and Chec Republic descent. We could find no other information. She cry’s a lot because she says she hates to die not knowing who she is. She is also blond and green eyed.
Thank you for the documentary. My grandfather and his younger brother grew up in a orphanage since they were 8 and 4y.o. in poland, grandpa turnerd 18 in ‘40 so he had to leave his brother there alone and joined the AK (polish home army). Eventually the younger brother was taken by a german family and died in the bombings of dresden in ‘45.
So very tragic what happened to these families, but hearing that some of the children thought dead did survive. So many lost to starvation, disease, cold-blooded murder. I just will never be able to wrap my head around how so many Germans, and Nazi cronies, actively participated in the Holocaust. It’s unimaginable thinking that so many were capable of having such stone cold hearts.
Thanks for the upload. I had my Granfather as a rear rail gunner straight over Germany . He did tell us before he died . The sadness of it all. My great uncle was beheaded by the japan as he was the highest ranking. His last breath taken by a samurai as that was a sign of respect. His head returning to his mother, father, and all those that loved him. My other grandfather? I didn’t even think that he was in the war until he died. He was a Japanese prisoner of war. My grandmother told me after he died. He’d said to her that he’d been dragged through hell and back again. The children? Their mind cannot deal with thinking of them . It’s been heartbreaking finding out . I can understand their anxiety. As for my uncle ( my mum’s bother) was in the Vietnam and he has nothing to say.. it’s heartbreaking
As a Jewish American Holocaust survivor descendant, I am currently learning the German language on Duolingo and I would love to consider moving to Germany one day where I made some really really genuine kind non-Jewish online friends from Hamburg. The part about every country has really good people and really bad people is so deeply true it tears me. I love my German friends group so much. I adore them. They allowed me to speak to their group about my grandparents story and they listened with such human respect, the head of the group translated it into German so the others could understand. They also help me with ideas and understand mental health stress. In our group (I call it our group but it’s me + one girl from the Balkans and most the rest from Hamburg in Germany) on article gatherings everyone holds onto their favorite comfort object … a quilt, favorite stuffed animal, a loved possession, then we all go live article together and vent anyone to anyone about anything.
Now I have doubts about my neighbor, he was born in 1935, he said his ethnicity is Polish. But his name and surname are German. I hope I’m wrong, anyways… may he rest in peace. He was such a wonderful person. I always called him « dede » (« grandfather » in turkish). He really was like a member of my family, I will never forget him. His family and friends didn’t understood why his turkish neighbors cried for him at his funeral 😅
I’m 55 years old and I’ve never heard of this happening this is so tragic. I’ve watched many many many documentaries and although it is horrible and tragic I’m glad those children’s lives were spared because I bet the parents were all murdered 😭 I still can’t believe that all of this happened before my mother was born. It’s just disgusting
Sending a message to the children (whom are obviously adults now) that have lived through this heartbreaking story… I send you my support and hope I can do something to support you, from a kind hearted offer (I have no other way to send this type of message). I have been adopted as a young child and so I experienced a sense of the myriad of questions and loneliness you experience without your true parents. So I must know! please.. what can I do now for you? Is there petition, fundraise effort.. etc… to get your case “seen” and moved forward. Sending you all my best wishes! Bless
My Norwegian grandma was a mixed family. Olsen’s and Conrad, (Konrad). She married a German: all her children were blond and blue eyed except the two girls- all of her grandchildren were blond and blue eyed except one. He is dark . So It makes sense they would out looking for children like my family. Criminal
I live in Florida and very little history is taught in the schools. So supplement his knowledge by reading to him every night and expelining the parts of history that I learned about during shcool. I remember trying to teach my son about Elizabeth the first and how she changed the world. I tried to tell him about her good and bad qualities. He didn’t seem to care at all. Then I told him how the queen allowed kids to be kidnapped. Kids were needed for plays and if the acting company needed a kid they just took them. Then they would leave town. The queen did not charge the kidnappers or even look for them. Then my son got interested. If it involves kids its interesting to him. I have started to teach him about world war II. He is interested in how all the kids were treated and what happened them them if they were separated from their parents. Now I can tell him this story as well.
This documentary states that 20,000 came from Poland and 50,000 in total from all of Europe. Well, I don’t know how accurate these numbers are. I have read many different reports that point to 200,000 Polish children that were abducted and that @50, 000 were from Ukraine. Both countries had and have a sizeable population of blonde-haired and blue-eyed children only behind a country like Norway.
Thank you for this heartfelt article. Dziekuje. I am a fourth generation American Pole. My great grand parents left occupied Poland for the USA, in the 1880s/1890s. I am so grateful that my sur name has almost no change in it. And, I am proud of my Polish heritage. Sincerely, Bruce F. Raykiewicz(Rajkiewicz)
My grandfather’s youngest brother, a teenager then, dissapeared in January/February of 1945 when the Wermacht was in retreat along northern Vistula river. The family signed Völksliste in 1940 to keep their farmland and avoid persecution, and like many my grandfather was enlisted and served in Wermacht. He was lucky to survive and returned home in 1946. Untill today no one knows what happened to the youngest of the brothers.
My grandfather was kidnapped as well. It happened while he was heading home from school. The germans drove him and bunch of other kids to Germany. They forced them to work in german mines. The conditions there were inhuman and most of kids died working there. My grandfather managed to escape. He returned to his home in Poland only to find out that all of his family were murdered by germans.
This is an excellent doc. The last part when the gentleman remembers his friend playing at a recital for the Nazis is so moving. And it really serves to sum up the story, to humanize the inhumanity of the social position of these people. I only want to add that it is a mistake to think the stupid pseudo-scientific racism of the Nazis was specific to the Nazis. Yes Nazi policy was incredibly thorough, but such ideas circulated in Europe and the US, as is shown at the beginning. The Nazis looked to Brits and Americans for legitimation of their racist BS, and they found it. Very thought provoking doc. Thanks DW.
Thank you for sharing your stories. I had no idea this has happened, and I pray this never happens again! So heartbreaking and horrifying. I’m so thankful that my German Jewish great great grandfather and his brother left Germany before WW2 and came to America. I pray to God for peace and healing for all of you in Jesus name.
God, this is so sad… Not knowing your biological parents for all your life must be so hard. My heart goes with him and all the kids who lived with this reality. The story of the girl who the two moms met really warmed my heart so much. It’s really a beautiful and unique story… she is incredibly lucky in her badluck.
I loved my only son very much. When I was pregnant he was my best friend. We did everything together. I was never alone when I was pregnant. That was the time when I did not feel lonely. Some people were very unpleasant to us. We were separated one day before his 7th birthday. I will never forget his face. He was so alone and helpless. I was devastated. Now he doesn’t know me. He kind of forgot the time we spend together. I got so sick when he was taken away. Now I am asking for mercy killing. I don’t want him to see me this way. He doesn’t understand. whatever happened had a such a negative impact on me. My energy was sucked out of me. I suffered and suffer so much. I was just praying that something horrible like that did not happen to him. Each person is different. Some people are more sensitive than others.
How they managed to bury this massive cover up of kidnapping fifty thousand children is beyond mind boggling. It’s totally appalling to say the least. There are many aspects to what really went on during these years of warfare and history whitewashes a great deal of it. I am glad really glad these individuals managed to live positive lives. But why did those children die in those beds? Thank you for telling this buried truth.
This story is so sad. Germany needs to stop denying these people the information and compensation they deserve. Herman should do a DNA test to see if he can prove his ethnicity. By doing the test he may also be connected to other family members in Poland who have also done the test and could be looking for him. I was always told that I wasn’t my father’s child but four years after he passed away my DNA linked me with high probability to 294 family members in Jamaica and the UK. Since then I’ve connected with many of my paternal family. That was the sweetest vindication for me. I hope and pray Herman sees this, takes the test and wins his ongoing struggle with the German government.
I started studying the rise and fall of the Nazis about a year ago. For some reason…we were never taught about the Holocaust in school. I think that it was still too shocking at that point to even be put into words accurately. The horrors are never-ending and every new one that I learn about haunts me.
In my own research, I have come across a number of stories such as those here. I wrote some of them down. This has inspired me to publish some of them. One incident that stands out was in 1994 when I was with my then girlfriend in a shop in Bayreuth and we were speaking Polish. A lady was keen to know where we came from and spoke back to us in broken Polish before going into German. Her last words to me through her tears were Heimat ist Heimat. Of course she may not have been kidnapped or part of Lebensborn but she might have been.
I feel so sorry for these children. Being 53 years old, I am born 21 years after the end of the war (germany occupied my country, Denmark). I have travelled a lot and met many people from Germany. And ALL of them has been very nice people. I think it is important to say this. I really like germans as I know them. Cheers from Denmark.
During my early college years (1978-1980), a Technical Writing instructor told her class that she grew up in Nazi Germany. Since she was tall, blonde haired, and blue eyed, she was paraded around by the Nazis as an example of the Aryan race. She said that she was assigned to work at one of the orphanages that housed some of the kidnapped children. She played with and taught the children as a means of helping to assimilate them into the German race.
I feel very sad for these people and also these countries. I always wonder what would have happened if it didn’t happen. I’m affected personally by these stories. Makes me very emotional. My grandfather escaped Czechoslovakia and didn’t go back until he was invited or he would’ve been assassinated when it became a republic in the 90s. He was in the Resistance and a national hero. He lived till he was 92yrs old. My hero. Interesting life but he survived and he had many days of happiness nevertheless. He loved his country but had to go to a few countries to then settle in the most farthest place away from the Nazis in Australia.
Having been adopted myself, most people don’t understand that people who adopt never talked about yout life before ! It was thought best not to confuse the child. Everyone, I mean neighbors everybody knew but me !!! It felt cruel …. that’s just the way it was, 1960’s into the 70’s. That’s why these children were not told anything …. It’s a crime what they did to these families ….
30:56 It is beautiful to see how people who act as human beings first and Polish and German second can solve horrible problems created by the politicians, lawyers and bureaucrats who do not. These women had every reason to hate each other given the times but they did not. Simple human decency in our day-to-day lives and is so much more important than borders and issues of national jurisdiction. The world would be a far better place if it were run by women like this who are able to see beyond the nationalist hate of their time and decide to live according to their common humanity.
I do not know where or when I was born. I do not know my birthday, birth name, or birth parents. Until recently. I did an Ancestry DNA test. I found out so much about my background. I finally was able to locate 1st & 2nd cousins. They helped me to narrow my father down to one person. I mist likely have a sister too. Im pretty sure were siblings on how strong we match each other. Unfortunately, my father died in 2016. I admit I’d love to know my birthday, birthplace, & what my mother looks like
This is the type of crime that makes my heart 💔 break and I fill with rage. I CANNOT imagine what this man saw with his pregnant mother and father both being brutally killed. The Nazis were VILE people, not human beings, but straight up MONSTERS. I’m happy the children weren’t murdered, although abducted and Germanized, but still alive to tell their stories. I hope he gets compensation for his pain and suffering.
I don’t know if I can watch much more of this . I have not long to live but this is so horrible. My love goes out to those still alive. Not even the worst sharks or alligators are as bad as these people. I pray for your lives today and pray there is a heaven where you all meet in the greatest happiness unknown to us.
A Russian lady at my work was taken from Russia, age 20. A wonderful loving ladie, very grateful she through some miracle ended up in Holland. Aged 99 she vowed to take us to Russia to visit her mum. She has been able to go back and see them. Such a lifes experience and yet so grateful and loving. I will never forget Nadya Schkalikowa.❤
Why do they talk about 20 000 kidnapped Polish children in the film, when it is written everywhere that it could be ten times more? Between 50 000 and 200 000 children were kidnapped in Poland, of whom only 33 000 were recovered, brought back by the lawyer Roman Hrabar, coordinator of the campaign to find and revindicate Polish children. From the Soviet zone 20,000 were brought in, from West Germany 11,000 and Austria about 2,000.
This hits so hard for me. My family is from the edge of Czechia, known as sudety, a part of the land thst was taken by Nazi Germany and was basicaly given to them. My family lived in one of the poorest locations, even if we weren’t Jewish, my family would lose the entire house. The history. Their family. They would be forced to leave or possibly killed. Their only luck was being poor. And the fact that my grandmother was born after this whole thing ended. There were disabled people in my family, so even the communist ages were horrible for us. When I heard the names… Františka and Jozef, the names so traditional to Slavic countries. My family hated the nazis strongly. There are many small stories of my family, that do not seem as tragic as many stories out there. My family escaped by pure luck – by being poor, in a poor area where it required hard work to get money and food. The house where my family lived still stands. Survived near the borders, all of the hell of everything. Survived the nazis stealing food, trying to climb in and take things and all of many others. So many of the things that are a part of the house are directly connected, like the stone-built cold room used as a fridge having iron bars built into the windows. We should all strive to never let snything like this happen again. Such a historical tragedy.
Great Work Team DW!!! As an ardent reader of documentaries on YouTube, I have always been fascinated by the Un-biased and daring (many a times, life threatening moments that DW reporters put themselves in, in search of truth. That’s commendable) investigation reporting by Team DW. I’m beyond words to describe the hardwork, investigation and analysis that has gone through in presenting this heart wrenching story of separation, isolation, denial and basic human right violation especially committed during war times on children whom we call a Gift from The Almighty to human kind, across religions and beliefs. With my prayers to God to guide us all humans to the vagaries of a War and abstaining from one, I once again thank all of you at DW and look forward to perusal more such historic documentaries. All the best.
Thank you. I have never heard of this. It’s always good to know history or it can be repeated. Don’t ever think that it can not. The untold suffering that the Nazis brought upon Europe and world should NEVER be forgotten. Not to punish them, they are mostly dead now, but to educate. I can’t believe this happened only 10-15 years before I was born. But look at the Residential Schools in Canada right up into the 1990s. Not quite the same, but just as appalling. The underlying theme was the same. Children removed from their homes and families and culture against their will. Forbidden to speak their own language. Abuses galore. It just goes on and on and on….
The anchor of our life is our “home”, where we were born and grew up with our parents and siblings. Through our lives, no matter where we go, home keeps us tied to a place, a place we know better than anywhere. Imagine these people who don’t know where they came from, no home to visit or feel tied to. I can’t even imagine that kind of pain.
Prior to WWII many families had lived in the same geographic area or at least within a certain radius for generations. Although all or nearly all of the residents of the areas these children came from were killed, it’s worth doing DNA testing because there’s a chance of discovering others individuals with similar DNA. It’s even possible that individuals descended from the families that immigrated to another countries prior to WWII who have done DNA testing can provide clues to where as well as to whom these children (now adults) came from/are related to. Such descendants may have information that will be of help. It’s definitely worth trying.
I’m proud to say that we learned about all this in a course at my high school, called, “Man in Society.” That made me so curious to learn more. My oldest daughter was so intrigued that in her early twenties, actually visited Auschwitz and sat on the tracks crying. When she went in, on the tour, she couldn’t explain how she knew her way around, and felt it to be familiar some how.
Im from India and im very interested in these ww2 stories and events, whenever i saw these type of stories feel very pain of these people gone through all there life’s, and how ideologies change the shape of countries, family, relations, love, and of identity. I can feel there pain like my own. Hope one day people like him got to know about there past there family there roots. These untold stories has there own pain and sorrow. Peace
I feel very sorry for Jewish people for what they went through during the IIWW, but the present narrative and teaching at schools unfortunately is all about only them. I meet many people who believe that this war was with Jews. It is extremely sad how history is presented. I am Polish. My family suffered terribly and when my father tried to get some compensation, then after a long time of looking for new documents and so on, finally he got his compensation. He received a check for less than 10 zloty, which is around 3 dollars. I have this a check in my archives. Just to remember.
I am an American Woman and I have been brought up knowing about WWII the Nazis and the Holocaust. From a young age I read about Anne Frank and while I was in the 3rd grade a Holocaust survivor came to my school. I have never forgotten her or her story. Throughout my life I have read many accounts from all the major concentration camps and watched movies. Just to say I for one would never trust the German People again in this lifetime. I feel a great deal of anger for what they did and are still doing as far as denying all the responsibility they should. This documentary is just another instance where they got away with evil. The simple fact is this could very well happen again. We are seeing our freedoms being erased little by little like a frog in a pot. So we don’t noticed it. But I recognize it. My heart aches for all those who parished and suffered through that time and I am afraid for our children now because they haven’t been taught about it, and soon as the years pass this war will not be remembered.
I remember my grandma’s best friend, Ms. Niklowa. When I was a child and they wanted to have some chat about stuff that was not for children ear they always spoke in german. I did not know, why they know german so well and I have never asked. I have figured it out when I grew up that Ms. Nikowa was kidnapped by Lebensborn and her best firend (my grandma) teached her polish when she got back to Poland as a teenager. I have never find out why my grandma spoke german so well, for sure it was already during the WW, because as blue eys, blond hair girl she was considered by german soldier a german. That helped her to save a partisan and it’s commonly know n history in my city. Few months ago, my mother told me a story that I was not aware. My second grandma (my mother side) was also kidnapped by Lebensborn and sent to orphages in Germany. As a small girl, she managed to escape (it was few days after the war) and get back to Katowice by herself. Some time after, poland was occupied by Soviet Union and thy lost everything. My great great grandfather died during Intelligenzaktion, just because he was a law profesor. All male family members were sent as Zivilarbeiter to germany, and get lost. Property was looted. Even than soviet administration told them they have to much and took everything that has left. Because my grandma was considered by soviet administration “half german” and because they had not much my mother and her sisters were sent to catholic orphanage where they suffer punishment, public humalitation and hunger by 5 years – still wonder shy my mother is catholic.
In the book “Sophie’s Choice” (but not in the movie) there is a paragraph about the kindertransport – for which the Sophie character was hoping it would keep her young blonde son alive. According to the author, some of these trains full of children were found stranded after the war. I found this most cruel of all.
Thank you so much for shedding light in this topic/lives of people who were TAKEN by those terrible people who were trying to make a “perfect race.” The nazi are NOT humans, not then, not now, not in the future. What they did even if it was 70 year ago STILL has effects on many people till this day & in history.
17:41 1) children in orphanages, 2) children with foster parents, 3) other children whose parents are deported or killed 19:02 not allowed to speak Polish 26:27 Hermann’s foster family 29:18 suffering of the kidnapped children when they returned to Poland after the war 31:00 Alodia’s foster family 35:27 how Hermann was chosen by his foster mother
I get that it must be hard for that old man to deal with the fact that his sister identifies as German, but I can’t imagine it would be easy for her to confront her past either. Maybe it’s her way of coping with the trauma. Isn’t that something to consider as well? Shouldn’t we respect her choices too?
My maternal great grandmother was an orphan and never knew who her parents were. Her maiden name was Polish but was she Polish?? Her descendants from my grandmother’s sister say she was German. Neither can actually be proven. It never occurred to me until a year ago how strange it is. Her name obviously would not have been what it was had she received it from her biological mother or father. This has begun to really trouble me. She must have felt like the gentleman not getting anywhere with the identity of his parents. What happened or what were the circumstances of my great great grandparents that left their child as an orphan? If by disease, then my great grandmother would have known who they were. She was born in 1864. I have a lot of work to do.
Taking my child away from me killed me. I did not get any help with getting him back or spending time with him. I missed him every second. I cried and was screaming in my car. At the same time I feared for him. I felt like an abortion was performed on me when he was 7 year old. The emotional and physical pain that I felt was and Is unbearable. He was my only child. but as a mother i wanted my child to be happy and have a better life than you did. I did not like that he saw the way I was treated. They also did it on his eyes. He grew up without his mother. You can tell that he did not have a mom. You can tell.
I hate how when the people talk, instead of using subtitles, they just have someone voice over the person. Not only that but they didn’t bother decreasing the volume of their voices or anything. Just 2 people talking at the same volume. At least with Nintendo Direct you can’t even hear anybody, but they do the same thing. But they make it work
My great grandmother was kidnapped by the Germans and sent to Austria when she was no older than 14 to work as a slave labour cleaner in Austrian palaces. She returned after the war and eventually adopted my biological grandmother who was left as an orphan due to the war. It took me years to get this information out of them as no one wants to talk about it. Worst thing is that Germany paid Poland at total of $0 for this but paid America and the UK billions.
She’s right about that. Every country has good people and bad people. Although most people can be turned to bad and very few can’t. But there are those who are easily turned to bad. You cannot characterize any individual in a group as like that group because everyone is an individual. Humans are humans everywhere. And it’s always a struggle of good versus evil.
Poor man, had his family and life ripped away. Heartbreaking and unfortunately like so many stories throughout history and still going on today. War destruction and evil. I hope he finds some peace. How can his sister deny her roots that must break his spirit. I can see she may he experienced lobe from her adoptive mother but to then see things in such a twisted way is denial of everything. Her brother must be so hurt✌
my grandma (she is now 89 and doing well) fled from berlin via train at 12 years old or so during the war. she’s german and was raised christian (tho we’re all atheistic), our whole family is, and she told me that she remembers the back of the train being shot at by enemies and her mother jumping on top of her to protect her with her own life. a few months later, right after her 13th birthday, she received a letter from her father, who was buried in a bunker shortly after. she never heard from him again. he was a teacher in berlin at the time and an amazing landscape and portrait artist. i know where i have my artist blood from, my great grandfather, then my uncle who passed away in 2014. i like telling this story, because to me it shows that some germans throughout this cruel and horrible war were fleeing from the nazis despite being forced to be on their side for so long.
This makes me question how people erroneously in this day in age frame innocent people for the states to remove children from good homes and place them up for adoption. States receive funding when children are placed for adoption. I was abducted, abused and experimented on during my traumatic childhood.
I remember in class when we were first introduced to Hitler and his actions. I felt nauseous and sick to my stomach. I couldnt sleep for days. The pictures of the skeleton looking jews are forever in my memories. I cannot wrap my mind around how this could happen. So many people died, and even worse are living with scars and memories. They people that died got away from the torture. They people that live, relive everything every single day.
in the mid-nineties I met the father of my friend and saw for myself that he hated Croats a few years later I asked why.this is his answer. 1942 Croats killed his parents and took his sister and two brothers to Jasenovac two brothers did not survive and he and his sister were given to Croatian families,4 years later he was found by his uncle who survived the war and he was looking for his sister for 60 years when he found him with the help of a Catholic priest who found him documents about his sister.came in contact with her introduced himself, she drove him away with the curses of his and ‘her’ Serbian mother,she is now a “Croat”
My Grandma was 3 years old when germans came. When they retrated they wanted to take her with them but my great-grandfather killed the nazi officer and hid the boddy in our backyard. Luckly he was never caught on the act and nobody knew what happend to the nazi officer. My grandmother stayed and she still lives in the same village this incident happend. Just imagine if she was taken…i wouldnt be here today – or other me would be here. Amazing how can a little act of courage can chage the course of someone life.
I’m in Canada, the similarities to our euthanasia laws are pretty frightening. From the three doctors that are supposed to evaluate the situation (there was a report a few months ago where it was reported that often the dr. signed after the fact), to the whole angle of “mercy killing”. Now, I used to be ok with the original stated goal of the program, people who are in a terminal state and suffer needlessly… but this is being expanded to those with mental illnesses in the vein of depression, and even worse to minors (no need for parental consent!). All in the name of, well I’m not so sure.
Hey, since I’m early, I wanted to take a moment to express my appreciation for your articles. I genuinely enjoy how you bring attention to lesser-known aspects of World War II, which I might not have discovered otherwise. It’s really fascinating, and I hope you’ll continue making more of these informative articles. Keep up the excellent work!
My dad was a surgeon in an American Army evacuation hospital in the war. They moved into a Dutch hospital in 1944. At that location there was a building about six stories high with windows overlooking the main square. When the Americans arrived there were two or three microcephalics in each window, each one smiling and waving. “They probably had no idea there was a war on,” said my dad. He thought the Germans had brought them all there to do some sort of study on them.
12 minutes 5 seconds onwards. I was literally just thinking the NHS does that with Modazilam to old people. The NHS reduces the food and water intake of old people, then tell the family that the old person has stopped eating, then to stop the old person complaining to family at visit times, they’re dosed up with Morphine “for the pain”, then they’re killed off at the end with Modazilam. The NHS is a killing machine. Before that bit of the article, TK said poor families had to give up their kids to the state or loose their benefits. That’s happening right here in Britain right now. Councils and social workers and the DWP collude against vulnerable families, then put the kids into “homes” where they’re pimped out every weekend. Threatening families with losing benefits is one of the ways Councils, Police and Social Workers shut families complaining and making a fuss when their kids are being raped by Islamic gangs. The state is the state, times may change but fekin bureaucrats don’t
You’ve made it difficult to watch other history articles, as almost no-one else clearly cites sources as you do. Thanks for that. On a serious note, don’t ever stop bringing greater clarity and conversation to history. Society as a whole (or perhaps our governments which desire docile, malleable populations) seems to give little value to the importance of history, which pains me greatly.
Great article Lewis. The legal implications here were stark. For one the Hippocratic oath (First, do no harm) was circumvented, much like it was for abortion. Also the doctor’s duties and obligations were no longer to the patient. The doctor’s obligation was now to the State. This was a huge legal change with enormous implications. At this point the genius was out of the bottle.
imo the current sex changes and euthanasia for minor reason we are having in many western countries, essentially “suicide pods” for unwanted people to kill themselves is very much the same shit nazis did and certainly inspired by them… like the case of Canadian GWOT veteran that wanted a wheelchair ramp was offered a option of euthanasia for his service, sacrifice and troubles…
As a person with a Neurodevelopmental disorder, thanks for talking about this topic. Few people talk about this vile crime that the nazis did. Wich this was the only time stuff like this happend. Unfortunately even to this day many people think that people like me should just be killed off or just be driven to suicide. I have heard talk like that to my face, even from “tolerant” people.
Great article……kinda reminds me of what’s going on in Canada with the MAID program… some people who’ve had broken arms or just been a bit down have been sent for “assisted suicide” even when they didn’t want it. Now how many have actually been killed by this I don’t know and luckily I think it’s low….. ……..for now but there are some parallels here but mot complete parallels.
During the war my father was interned as a prisoner of war in the Castle of Colditz in Germany. Before the war this castle used to be a ‘lunatic asylum’, but in 1941 all the former inhabitants were ‘euthanized’ by the Nazis and there was then room for those prisoners of war (Belgians, Dutch, French, British and Poles) who had tried to escape a number of times. I myself visited Colditz castle in 1990 after the Iron Curtain had fallen and the place had again become an asylum for mentally disabled after the war.
Good thing we have the Nuremburg Code now, which stops brutal, unethical, authoritarian governments and medical establishments from forcing medical treatments on the world’s populace without their consent. “The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion, and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision. This latter element requires that before the acceptance of an affirmative decision by the experimental subject there should be made known to him the nature, duration, and purpose of the experiment; the method and means by which it is to be conducted; all inconveniences and hazards reasonably to be expected; and the effects upon his health or person which may possibly come from his participation in the experiment.” So as long as we follow that to a T, tyrannical governments won’t be able to use the medical establishment as an excuse to violate our rights or bring in some sort of near martial law for years on end.
Outstanding work TIK in pulling this one together. People really have little idea of the true scope and horror of the Third Reich, and how much of it spread into other nations. To name just one appalling example, in 2004 the CBC conducted a plebicite in which Tommy Douglas was proclaimed the greatest Canadian who ever lived. This was because he invented the system of social medicine in Canada. What was deliberately overlooked is that Douglas was a firm believer in eugenics.
As if medics would have acted differenly in other contexts. All Eastern Europe had its own practices to sterilize the undesirables well into the 1990s. And in the last few years medics were happy to embrace any decisions favoring an increase of personal power — like sepparating young children from family for health reasons, no relation with unaccountability.
This is much needed TIK, thank you for covering this dark chapter as it has never been more important to teach than now. I knew the broad stroke of this but once again you have gone into much needed details of this dark past. The actions of these so called doctors has shown me some things never change. Once again you have shed light on a part of history than needs it shone on. I believe I would have been condemned to death for my own disability, which is something similar to Cerebal Palsey. For a long time I hated that I had it through my childhood, and tried to overcome it with intelligence. If it were up to doctors like these and regimes like this, i’d never have a chance to thrive. I’m an atheist, but gotta praise the Catholic Bishop on this one, and the catholics, thanks guys for being consistent on right to life. Also I hope the NHS does not go further down the dark path, what I saw three years ago was bad enough.
Just yesterday I was thinking out loud: I could go for another Tik article, and now here we are! Awesome! Also, yes, I’m very sensitive. That’s why I listened to the Jonestown tapes. There’s a HEAP of lessons to be learned from that right there. Worse than the crying children is when the crying stopped.
Thanks Mr Barton for another well researched scholarly piece of work. As a Roman Catholic, I am fully aware that Pope Pius XII and the church received much criticism for inactivity during the Nazi atrocity. One must remember that the Vatican feared for the safety of millions of Catholics throughout Germany and conquered lands