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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 so-called 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 children's homes they learned to speak german their identities were falsified the go trustful before i was named a load here vitesse check from that moment on i was a leith's if it can be simply. those children are now over 80

years old and many of them still know nothing about their roots. nor do by me alas armies i felt this kind of back and forth also affected my relationships few and. 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 hover in southern poland.

he was just 9 years old when they died. but our i feel i'm missing the warmth of being raised by a father and mother. we want to be brought up by strangers who are something like a family but all my life i've been missing that warmth of that embrace. his father yusef was 41. his mother french scieszka 36. when they were murdered by the nazis on the spot. their son use if is now 86 years old. but he has never forgotten his childhood home . our. barbara. starr would all be a school over there was a village house with 2 rounds it was made of wood and bricks booker's i made the job let me show you where the stables or and father's workshop and. during world

war 2 use of his family he did use and partisans in the bunker 7 people lived underground here for 2 years is out then 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 which are shared by the crowd near me if i got shows or just started going i don't yet. and the whole tragedy got it all badly on torture took place here. and show you how the. germans came going to cars soldiers into the interests not just a matter. of allah he knocked on the door and asked if they're so frustrated you called mommy that's an invalid they started smashing the windows with their rifles so maybe that's 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 mom and papa we were all practically naked undershirts it was 5 o'clock in the morning it was september so it was chilly and said and the german said where the jews where the participants but i'll tell you they went into the barn they had a pointy metal stick and they stuck it in the straw to see if they would hit a person who would scream and yell more but there was no. yes that. the germans hit them with anything they could get their hands on. with holes i'm sure pitchforks. my mother was stabbed in the stomach 3 times with a pitchfork children grow up she was pregnant flesh to show their mission under 6 their 7th month well my sense is that mama didn't make any more sense she was leaving just a notice transcona woman my father had his head bashed 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. it's not. between the workshops and the stables and. i'm not sure. how they got out that maybe 4 or 600 fell in the middle of the courtyard and at that moment the 1st jewish women came out of. there and. then they said the other side of the house on friday. after that the soldiers shot uses 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 terminated. use of

sr yanina still lives in germany. or not is there she's german german ice. all eyes just that she corresponds to the curial nordic race want blond hair and like colored i asked that was what the germans wanted to show our sister was lost to us forever. as a pearl but also sister the best one of us is in germany and that such as. it was comes god. in give me a good good image maybe good practice to do. your job or come to kind of god would be kinda fun bein and for me. just don't get what i was little baby to you don't. wish to. come on luther king has lived

in by dear i'm in southwestern germany since he retired. where he originally came from he doesn't know. you know uses think you need but everyone feels nice curiosity to know what their parents look like if you have read your breed of i don't know if i should others saw systems on nieces or os i just don't know i seems to have tried everything. i do 20 archives but i found nothing nothing at all to have an issue from god it's. 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. and 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 that. this stuff if there was a spot was hidden in my foster father's concert. areas 13 or 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 why i already knew that i wanted my real parents but i didn't know how it all hung together. and then i read this document that said. mother dead. king's 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 broken invertigo the site of one of the nazi run orphanages where the identities of the

abducted children were covered up. when the book. was the 1st place i went looking and i spoke to the can take it that he was still alive i asked him if anybody else took place like it said in the document and he said no no but ever took place here. near woodstock good food and found 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 i'm just 36 years old. they're just saying with documents from which was january the 21st. i had swung to say i know. the central polish city of wood was probably the 1st station in his life.

to mine still doesn't know who gave him up to this orphanage. but he does know that the nazis took him from here to germany. to be that you mean in the court of gold but you will be going. on the list by. boredom i am. but no one. even the scholars on it and you know what you know. what it would be. i would love. to meet once again out pig if you have it on. critical mind i am not going to be a bold but i am kind of a little further on what. story also has ties to which. she was 5 years old when she was brought to the youth

detention camp in let's munched out as would you was called during the nazi occupation. today she's meeting up with her friend bob barr a pocho kid which. the 2 women have a lot in common. and their parents in life have been very similar. but. they've 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 map. well shall we need to find it really apply to st it's over here we should turn the map around like this what i thought that means my

house must have been here. off of how well you remember everything of course have you ever heard of the children from dr vitesse checks grew up i am of. father was a resistance fighter executed by the nazis her mother was deported to auschwitz for her husband's actions and ended up in the machinery of the german occupiers oppression people and how long were you in the camp possible to. tell the people that. i was probably here for around 8 weeks. before that in the race office and poznan they had determined that i corresponded to the so-called area scheme. and the germans wanted to german eyes children of the arion race. get a one result write. 3 people.

3 life stories. with this in common. all 3 are victims of heinrich humors racist mania. the race fear s.s. visited occupied poland in 1941 and traveled through the watergate district. in 1939 poland had been carved up between the soviets and the germans. sections of the western part of the country including the so-called racecar to lie and were incorporated into the german reich. other regions were placed under german civil administration. himmler's vision was to make sure many of the mightiest nation in the world. bolstering the population with new progeny from abroad mainly from eastern europe. in the winter so she even berlin are hundreds of documents that show the gradual development of humor strategy for

the organized abduction of children. after his trip through a bar to go himmler wrote to the go lighter after price or. i believe it is right that small children have especially good ratings from polish families because elected and brought up by us and special not to large children's nurseries and orphanages. i would advise starting with 2 or 3 such institutions so as to gather experience. isabel hina mine is a professor of contemporary history at the university of manchester. 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 he pointed out you know historians want to reconstruct the roots taken by the stolen children and with them as it was left but the fact that the nazis deliberately conceal their identities makes that a formidable task when it. is good enough to but i did the calculations i've done 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 as a life thrown into turmoil and set on a completely different course. 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. it's stated. first all children and formerly polish orphanages are to be taken and placed in accommodations after that operation is concluded children living with polish foster parents will be examined. the directive was signed by all rich private himmler's direct subordinate. later at the nuremburg trials he claimed that there had never been a concrete plan. the 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 to each and. possibly. today experts believe that our own 50000 children were abducted from across europe . cases are known from today's 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 so-called arion types classified as pure nordic purif alien or nordic faily and what the nazis couldn't 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 i load your stance here. she was brought to the camp together with her little sister daria.

straight away we weren't allowed to speak polish. we'd whisper to each other in polish but of course we couldn't make it obvious that we were speaking. i was one of the i when i proposed school. 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 purple. i think say and they were class for roll call that counters off in germany which was hard for us. we didn't know the numbers. and that's why the roll call used to take a very long time wash with some of our time and. other illness that they are but it had to keep going until our supervisor had counted the entire group of children. and often when they went through the

barracks where they slept. they would find dead children in the beds. not. then called was the 1st place where all of you were sent. more followed. bercow. bud protein. what is. chosen is of children were funneled through these nazi run homes. each station represented a further step to conceal the child's real identity. dates of birth were changed names were made more german sounding. became elite civic.

her friend barbara became bearable. they were forced to forget their origins finally both were placed in german families where paradoxically they experienced the happiest years of their childhood. use of salva lives in the center of chance to hold. even know he can't accept that his sister yanina loves the nation that caused his family so much suffering my macros for days over letters from germany from my sister. which she did not want to appear in person in this film or engage with the family's history that's apparent in her letters. it was a line vendor by your society so when you come to see us please please don't 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 now you're stuck . and so german iced that she even writes in her letters that i shouldn't talk about politics or our history show you because she's embarrassed. you can still get on a sugar rush she doesn't want to know anything about poland or the memory of her family . or when you know she lives her life there in germany she is for you richard. after the murder of their parents the 5 soviet children were brought to court now grown cool insulates. you know nino was taken from there by a woman from hanover who adopted her her name was changed to anita hill 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 they've met up regularly. how they're all out o. good and dark my good day my dear sister. so are you would home or out for a walk. 2 here thought i had lunch and you're probably tired just not sure i'm looking forward so much to seeing you soon as the war for the jets. tell you it all but i'll be living a chance to hold her tomorrow at 12 noon. by my dear sister. you know for sure so now you've heard her voice. use of sr was carried off to germany shortly before the end of the war she didn't

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 isn't. schwartz is a teacher but for years he has been helping him on the to want the german government to recognise the kidnapped children as victims of the nazi regime so that they can receive compensation. though she was founded an association representing the children's interests and he and harman have filed lawsuits together so far with no success. as a last resort they've approached germany's highest court the constitutional court.

does this is this nice is the letter i received in this to be able. to see their processing it. now i have to wait for a day. you know how money is right for your son and i'd suggest that we write another letter to the constitutional court saying they should speed things up a little in consideration of your ancient invisibile as one of those who are not. those initial toilette i think it's great that at his age he still is prepared to fight for justice even though it's only about the symbolic sums of 2500 euros for not really it's a joke. according to germany's act regulating compensation for national socialist injustice that is the sum to which non jewish victims are entitled. kemah nudie king considers himself a part of that group. is good for me it's not about the money but about the

recognition that this was a crime it's me that's what gets me mad he used the strategy is to wait until nature takes care of it why then it's 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 it's 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 he's been working for an organization for the victims of nazi persecution he campaigns for them to receive compensation but. poland has a number of funds from which the germanized children or the children of mothers who are forced laborers receive small payments. like this woman from now on she'll get 50 euros a month. for her by the naacp dearly on this is actually until several hours this letter says you will get at least 212 swatches the one so we've been able to help carry our care say shares or buy a new poll long delayed by about a buyout dark. in the early 1990 s. germany paid 500000000 mark stupid as

a humanitarian gesture as it was called back then. use if wanted to apply for money for his siblings but they needed to his consent. not that much sister answerable no no no i will not steal money from the german people because i am dramatically i said. 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 are still we are kind of like sisters. for a long time we didn't know if we were german or thai less. but i feel as though we were both very lucky to change stations but that a fusion we ended up in families that treated us like their own children.

who. could. barbaro was 3 when the nazis examined her and approved her for german ization. in 1942 she was placed with a german foster family and grew up as bearable in limbo. like a lot of years she had to return to poland after the war. she was 10 at the time. oh yeah that's a movie or a lawyer boy actually if i would say that my war started after i went back yes i say the same. my parents were no longer alive there was nothing left. i was an unwanted child who was shunted around here you couldn't speak polish and write i couldn't 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 explained she think it's extremely complicated and the western allied powers made the child's 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 thirty's found themselves and a complicated legal model in terms of international law. and the fin. a lot here is back home again she lives in big gosh. that's 170 kilometers northwest of roads. for years she's been giving public lectures as a witness of history. in a few days she'll be traveling again to germany to tell the story of her life. knock them out of here in the album is the photograph taken with my new german

motif picked me out. more. mrs luisa. she didn't have any children of her. took the 6 year old to her home in stendhal in saxony on heart. the little girl started going to school there and lead a comfortable life as a much loved only child. 4 years later came the shock. louise and her husband 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 mother's 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. our load 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 moods he began to tell me about my siblings who i had forgotten in the course of the fall here. october. so for that reason i was not so reluctant to return to poland. but at one spot of i wasn't afraid.

but going back was hard. had forgotten her native polish. but she could communicate with her mother her. 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 early to really was the result wrote to the polish red cross. was born in post 9 and after she became ill in

a children's home in college was then brought to bad cold scene. that is where i picked up 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. herrmann luther king's foster mother must have known that he was not a german child she got him in december of 1942 from zone and visa eleven's born home in corin's ollie's a village near leipzig. his name then was roman rushed off screen. living is 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 these are 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 all along. and with the together yes 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 were 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 nurse said. you can pick one of the 2 children. and she said right away take little hammer on. our family amount. and the head nurse said so just sign here and then you can take the child with. it. and she took my hand and we went out and took the train to let go and fall and let. them go that's how it went . so one of the these are you know like a chicken farmer and i want that chicken that one doesn't look so good but i like that. that's how they did it with the children too or. at the time

here man was just happy that he had someone to take care of him and he got along well with maria luther king. but once he started to try and find out about his background she broke away from him. when she died in the late 1980 s. he did not attend her funeral. at the nuremberg trials american prosecutors tried to press charges for the kidnapping of alien children for purposes of german ization. but the tribunal contested the charges according the defendants of that crime and describing the libyans born organization as a welfare institution. i don't back up what sets us all here in this respect the nuremberg trials can be seen to have made a tragic legal mistake to classify living in spawn which ran these children's homes

as a purely charitable organization and equipped those involved with the challenges from today's point of view that was that blatant judicial era no class a feel 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 she's 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 a leitz is it if i leave it. to live well odio

says her lectures have also been a form of therapy for her. a way of coming to terms with her own past but we guessed that. you meant to be excited you said that your time in germany shaky and yet you still consider yourself polish. would you say that germany is also your homeland in a way on its. yes i think that's 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 people 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 i'm going to have this about the journey that i didn't sleep or a last night you know sports and. the family history is likely to be a topic of the gathering. use of can't forgive jani no for denying that she's polish but he says she is and will always be his sister. saw jean out of the young everyone in the family loves her yes she's warm and empathetic bonzo barbeau color of the princess because she's so sensitive so nice and warm arty all our stock and we were cut by tacos. that's 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. because he was how i don't think i'll find out anything but i'll keep looking. who knows maybe i'll find a nugget somewhere to live you know one koran. even in his mid eighties not knowing who his parents were is a source of unease that hammond says will never leave him.

her. and ask me to write as many have friends that live there are just 2 of hundreds of thousands of children living in overcrowded or a few g. camps and levanon thanks to a football project they can get a few hours of respite at beirut car. back militia hands could wrap beirut for years to do my future and football. me and 30 minutes on d.w. . it's better than any thriller. new ways to bite

crime. crime scenes are preserved in virtual form break ins can be predicted in advance and autopsies conducted without a scalpel what used to be science fiction has now become reality high tech law enforcement. close up. in 90 minutes on d w. or war. z.z. rooms. are always a symbol of a long conflict in the philippines between the muslims and the christian population . lives fighters occupied the city center in 2007 team president to choose a response was. this is not the kind of freedom that we.

counted more or you become a deep way to islamist terror. an exclusive report from a destroyed city. in the sides of bias starts may 20th on g.w. . this is news and these are our top stories germany has made it compulsory for people to west face masks when using public transport and in many shops it's hoped the measure will slow the spread of the corona virus older pupils will go back to school early next month some restrictions gradually ease. the british prime minister boris johnson is back at work after recovering from cope with 19 he spent 3 days in intensive care while some european country.