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Master Race: the Lebensborn Experiment in Nazi Germany
During World War II, many Polish children were stolen from their families by the Nazis as part of "Lebensborn" - the programme to create racially pure Aryans. This book investigates the history and ideology of racial hygiene and interviews some of the children whose lives were ruined by the war.
211 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
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266 people want to read
About the author
Catrine Clay
16 books18 followersCatrine Clay has worked for the BBC for over twenty years, directing and producing award-winning television documentaries. She won the International Documentary Award and the Golden Spire for Best History Documentary, and was nominated for a BAFTA. She is the author of King, Kaiser, Tsar and Trautmann’s Journey, which won a British Sports Book Award for Biography of the Year and was runner-up for the William Hill Sports Book Award. She is married with three children and lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 12, 2015
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 16, 2024
The Lebensborn homes and experiments were likely among the most valuable undertakings by the Third Reich, yet, because the entire program was shrouded in secrecy (with most documentation, of course, being destroyed by the Nazis prior to Allied liberation) it is also incredibly unknown to most people, even those with decent knowledge of Nazi Germany.
It’s always a difficult question to ask yourself how to rate a book in which the author undoubtedly did their best with the research available, but just as in, say, the example of North Korean affairs, the evidence and documentation is so scant that to flesh out any real compelling story is unfortunately almost (if not entirely) impossible.
What’s so remarkable about this insane program is that it was one of Heinrich Himmler’s most beloved and well-funded projects: one in which was of marked contrast to the Nazi death camps in which so much material exists.
While the goal of the extermination camps and “The Final Solution” was to eliminate any category of persons deemed “subhuman” by the Nazi Party (Jews, Poles, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, Communists, Roma (or the better known - yet offensive - Gypsy, etc.) - the idea behind Lebensborn was to create the most “desirable racial stock” - largely from SS members who would father children by any woman who passed the Reich’s rigorous racial standards (to no one’s surprise, I’m sure, many of these unwed mothers were Norwegian, considered superior even to the German race (although I’m not sure Hitler ever said this out loud).
It was estimated that as many of 200,000 of these children were kidnapped from their biological parents (especially throughout Poland) and sent to live with adoptive families in Germany, to be stripped of any of their former identities as Poles or whatever nationality they’d identified with, and instead raised as good little future Nazi soldiers.
The ones that weren’t kidnapped were the ones in which often single women gave birth to SS officer’s babies inside these hidden homes, which paid and fed them well, and provided them with accommodations in beautiful countryside settings as a “morale” booster and supposedly to help keep the future child healthy. The women could then (for the most part) decide if they wanted to keep their infants, or give them away to an SS family which readily adopted them as part of an oath to the SS itself.
Again, I was hoping for more information than I already knew, but there is little in the way of that. Furthermore, I’d hoped they’d been able to conduct more personal interviews with the now adult children meant to be raised as “the master class”, but again, too many were either unable to be tracked down, had experienced too much shame thanks to the sins of their mothers and fathers, or just didn’t know or remember enough about the experience to really make it an interesting read.
It took me a week to finish apparently, which says something when the book is only 211 pages. If you know absolutely nothing about this subject, honestly, what I’ve written in this review pretty much sums it up. It’s not something I’d recommend (I’m sure there are YouTube documentaries out there or Internet articles which are more interesting and less time consuming). But if you’re really intent on reading it, go for it.
I respect the authors for trying, I really do. It’s just not enough material, as said just a moment ago, to really warrant an entire book.
It’s always a difficult question to ask yourself how to rate a book in which the author undoubtedly did their best with the research available, but just as in, say, the example of North Korean affairs, the evidence and documentation is so scant that to flesh out any real compelling story is unfortunately almost (if not entirely) impossible.
What’s so remarkable about this insane program is that it was one of Heinrich Himmler’s most beloved and well-funded projects: one in which was of marked contrast to the Nazi death camps in which so much material exists.
While the goal of the extermination camps and “The Final Solution” was to eliminate any category of persons deemed “subhuman” by the Nazi Party (Jews, Poles, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, Communists, Roma (or the better known - yet offensive - Gypsy, etc.) - the idea behind Lebensborn was to create the most “desirable racial stock” - largely from SS members who would father children by any woman who passed the Reich’s rigorous racial standards (to no one’s surprise, I’m sure, many of these unwed mothers were Norwegian, considered superior even to the German race (although I’m not sure Hitler ever said this out loud).
It was estimated that as many of 200,000 of these children were kidnapped from their biological parents (especially throughout Poland) and sent to live with adoptive families in Germany, to be stripped of any of their former identities as Poles or whatever nationality they’d identified with, and instead raised as good little future Nazi soldiers.
The ones that weren’t kidnapped were the ones in which often single women gave birth to SS officer’s babies inside these hidden homes, which paid and fed them well, and provided them with accommodations in beautiful countryside settings as a “morale” booster and supposedly to help keep the future child healthy. The women could then (for the most part) decide if they wanted to keep their infants, or give them away to an SS family which readily adopted them as part of an oath to the SS itself.
Again, I was hoping for more information than I already knew, but there is little in the way of that. Furthermore, I’d hoped they’d been able to conduct more personal interviews with the now adult children meant to be raised as “the master class”, but again, too many were either unable to be tracked down, had experienced too much shame thanks to the sins of their mothers and fathers, or just didn’t know or remember enough about the experience to really make it an interesting read.
It took me a week to finish apparently, which says something when the book is only 211 pages. If you know absolutely nothing about this subject, honestly, what I’ve written in this review pretty much sums it up. It’s not something I’d recommend (I’m sure there are YouTube documentaries out there or Internet articles which are more interesting and less time consuming). But if you’re really intent on reading it, go for it.
I respect the authors for trying, I really do. It’s just not enough material, as said just a moment ago, to really warrant an entire book.
May 8, 2023
I first heard of Lebensborn while watching a History channel program back In The 90s.
This book provided an excellent backdrop for the program and it’s history.
A good place to begin learning about the repugnant idea.
This book provided an excellent backdrop for the program and it’s history.
A good place to begin learning about the repugnant idea.
September 12, 2023
A good overview for those who are unfamiliar with the history behind this section of the Final Solution. Truly sad, how many lives, were impacted and heartbroken during this time period of world history. Disgusting what human beings do to eachother.....
June 19, 2021
Very well researched for something so difficult to find concrete information on. Sometimes there was a strange shift in focus or unnecessary excerpts, but overall well done.
May 14, 2024
It was hard to find a book written just on how the the plan mapped out and revealed great facts which make Hitler stupid again. For him to have the master race they were not all German women used.
May 20, 2025
Decent overview of Lebensborn that contextualizes it within the history of eugenics.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews