Dear Judya,
After a rather long research, I could not any evidences that would
support this claim.
First, a site that deals with the history of Schloß Kranzbach tells,
that during the Third Reich period, the place continue to serve as
youth centre of the Protestant Church and since 1939 served as a
shelter for Protestant youth who had to flee bombed cities. In 1944
the Schloß turned into a "research institute" (German original:
"Während des Dritten Reichs konnte die Ev. Jugendarbeit im Schloß
Kranzbach nur unter großen Schwierigkeiten durchgeführt werden. Nach
1939 kamen Jugendliche aus bombengefährdeten Städten in Kranzbach
unter, 1944 war das Schloß für kurze Zeit ein Forschungsinstitut."
http://www.schlosshotel-kranzbach.de/seite02.htm).
Second, although it is very diffcult to gather information on the
Lebensborn programme and its facilities, no list of such facilities
includes Schloß Kranzbach.
The first "Lebensborn" facility was established in Steinhöring, under
the name Heim Hochland (1936), in Bavaria, near Munich and not far
away from the Dachau Camp, whose prisoners were used as forced labour
in Heim Hochland. Children born there were marked, in their birth
certificate, as born in Steinhöring II (Sonja Jülich "Eine sächsische
Kleinstadt feiert ihre Geschichte: Was trübt die Festtagsstimmung?"
Junge Welt, 31.05.2003 , http://www.jungewelt.de/2003/05-31/015.php)
You could read about one child who was born there in the article
"Hitler's Children" (by Joshua Hammer,
http://www.rickross.com/reference/hate_groups/hategroups164.html
originally published in the Newsweek, 2000).
"Heim Hochland" was also the last "Lebensborn" facility: "As the
Allies swept across Germany in the spring of 1945, the SS hurriedly
shut down one Lebensborn home after another, collecting hundreds of
remaining babies and their secret files and taking them to the
original home in Steinhöring. In early May, American troops marched
into Steinhöring. According to one account, Nazi Storm Troops burned
all the records in a huge bonfire before they fled. In another version
of the story, U.S. forces stopped the Nazis as they tried to escape to
the mountains. During the confrontation, the files were dumped into
the Isar River and washed away. Either way, the true identities of
many children were lost forever." (ibid). This explains the difficulty
in verifying details regarding this issue.
Of the fate of the children who misfitted the Nazi vision, you could
learn from a paragraph on Heim Taunus in Wiesbaden (Hessen) - "The
children of the home "Taunus" near Wiesbaden, established in 1939,
were given to adoptive parents through the channels of the adoption
office of the Nassau district agency, under the custodianship of
Landesrat Fritz Bernotat. Some of the mothers came from the
concentration camp Ravensbrück, since 1943 under the field office
control of the home. If children in the "Lebensborn" homes were born
sick or disabled, they were immediately "selected" and killed,with
others, in the Brandenburg-Görden "Children's Specialty Department"."
(Source: "Hadamar: Committed to Hadamar Hospital - Background: Racism"
http://www.chgs.umn.edu/Histories__Narratives__Documen/Hadamar/Backgrounds/Racism_-_page_2/racism_-_page_2.html).
"Heim Hochland" and other Lebensborn facilities did not only abused
labour from concentration camps, but also got their property (partly)
from confiscated property of Jews. Nordrach, for example, was founded
in a confiscated manor that belonged to the Rothchild family in Baden;
"The first document, exhibit T/745, is a communication from the
Director of the Lebensborn (Source of Life) society to Eichmann dated
30 September 1942. The beginning of the letter reads: "The Higher SS
and Police Leader South West SS Gruppenfuehrer Kaul has drawn the
attention of Lebensborn to the Sanatorium of the Rothschild Foundation
in Nordrach in Baden, and in accordance with the wishes of the
Reichsfuehrer-SS would wish for this institute to be opened as a
Lebensborn home for this district." It continues: "The owners are the
Reich Association of Jews." (Source: The Trial of Adolf Eichmann
Session 80, Nizkor Project,
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/e/eichmann-adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-080-03.html).
1936 - Heim Hochland - Steinhöring (Bavaria)
1937 - Heim Frisland - Hohenhorst (Bremen)
- Klosterheide (Berlin/Brandenburg)
- Wienerwald - Pernitz/Muggendorf [Austria]
1939 - Taunus - Wiesbaden (Hessen)
1939 - Pommern - Bad Polzin [Hinterpommern, today part of Poland].
1941 - Sonnenwiese - Kohren-Sahlis (near Leipzig, Saxony)
1942 - Nordrach - Baden (Bavaria)
- Harz - Wernigerode/Harz (Sachsen Anhalt, Saxony-Anhalt)
1943 - Alpenland - Gmünden / Traunsee [Austria]
Two other institutions mentioned are: Bofferding bei Luxemburg
Schalkhausen/Krs. Ansbach
FRANZ W. SEIDLER, "LEBENSBORN E.V. DER SS: Vom Geruecht zur Legende"
at
http://www.vho.org/D/dsdv/Seidler.html - This is a right-wing
"historian" writing (in German) about the issue (in a site associated
with Holocaust Revisionism).
Associated Press (AP), "Hitler Race Project Records Revealed"
http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-german&month=9911&week=d&msg=qT1r5PytybDhc3FQ%2bOzeFA&user=&pw=
Lists of Lebensbornheime (Lebensborn facilities):
http://www.skalman.nu/third-reich/ss-lebensborn-homes.htm - English
http://www.chronicus.com/sgm/docsgm/reich/lebensborn.htm - French
The fact that this information is absolute led me to post this as a
comment. However, if this was the information you were after, I'd
appreciate it if you let me post this as an answer. |
