The influence of the Lebensborn organization on demographic processes in Nazi Germany

Срібняк, Ігор Володимирович (2023) The influence of the Lebensborn organization on demographic processes in Nazi Germany Вісник науки і освіти (9(15)). pp. 908-921. ISSN 2786-6165

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Abstract

The article comprehensively examines the activities of the Lebensborn organization in Nazi Germany and Nazi-occupied countries, indicating the ideological and demographic factors of the organization's emergence and social trends that originate from the moment the organization was founded. It was revealed that the beginning of the 1930s was the peak of the demographic crisis for the Nazis, which lasted more than a single decade in Germany. The solution of this problem, in the understanding of the Nazis, required the implementation of both positive and negative eugenics measures. It has been observed that these measures were accompanied by changes in family policy, when childless marriages began to be condemned and large families received Nazi approval. The Lebensborn organization, which had just been formed in 1935 and was headed by Heinrich Himmler, provided support for large families, mothers and children at the official level. Unofficially, it was supposed to provide support for unwed mothers and their illegitimate children, who conformed to the Nazis' notions of racial purity. In order to obtain public support and approval of Lebensborn's actions, attempts were made to change public morality. The duty of women to give birth to racially pure children was widely propagated. The Nazis tried to focus society's attention on the very fact of the birth of a child, and not on the manner in which this child was born. Due to the mission that the Nazis placed on men, quite often they were unable to fulfill their parental duties. Therefore, the Nazis envisioned a «social parentage» where the fulfillment of the necessary duties rested on members of the «national community». Summarizing the successes of Lebensborn, it was found that the Germans themselves were reluctant to accept the ideas of the organization. Despite Himmler's attempts to make it the duty of every member of the SS to participate in the program, the statistics of children born say otherwise. The Nazis achieved greater success in the occupied territories, namely in Norway. A separate aspect of Lebensborn's operation was the removal or abduction of racially suitable children from the occupied territories. This appalling act of inhumane behavior has consequences to this day. Most of the organization's activity documents were destroyed at the end of the Second World War. And the activity of the organization involved the concealment of many facts, including the identities of the child's mother and father. Therefore, the search for their true origin is a life goal for some victims of the organization to this day.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	propaganda; Lebensborn; upbringing; gender; the Third Reich
Subjects:	Це архівна тематика Київського університету імені Бориса Грінченка > Статті у журналах > Фахові (входять до переліку фахових, затверджений МОН)
Divisions:	Це архівні підрозділи Київського університету імені Бориса Грінченка > Факультет суспільно-гуманітарних наук > Кафедра всесвітньої історії
Depositing User:	професор Ігор Володимирович Срібняк
Date Deposited:	30 Oct 2023 08:23
Last Modified:	30 Oct 2023 08:23
URI:	https://elibrary.kubg.edu.ua/id/eprint/46443

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