Kidnapping of children by Nazi Germany

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the Reich. This measure was originally proposed by the 9th Army. These youths cause considerable inconvenience in the Theatre of Operations. To the greater part these youths are without supervision of their parents since men and women in the theatres of operations have been and will be conscripted into labour battalions to be used in the construction of fortifications. Therefore Children's Villages are to be established behind the front, for the younger age groups, and under native supervision. To collect adequate experiences the 9th Army has already established such a Children's Village and has achieved good results also from the political viewpoint. Army Group further emphasizes that these youths must not be allowed! to fall into the hands of the

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failures were killed. Teams were constituted to search for the children, a particularly important point when dealing with institutions, where a single investigator could only interview a few children before all the rest were coached to provide false information. Many children had to be lured into speaking the truth; as for instance complimenting their German and asking how long they had spoken it, and only when told that a nine-year-old had spoken German for four years, pointing out that they must have spoken before then, whereupon the child could be brought to admit to having spoken Polish. Some children suffered

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zone. The Youth Bureau has already had preliminary talks with the Organization Todt and with the Junkers works. It is intended to allot these juveniles primarily to the German trades as apprentices to be used as skilled workers after 2 years' training. This is to be arranged through the Organization Todt which is especially equipped for such a task through its technical and other set-ups. This action is being… greatly welcomed by the German trade since it represents a decisive measure for the alleviation of the shortage of apprentices

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toxic dose of phenol into the chest. The children usually died in minutes. A witness described the process as deadly efficient: "As a rule not even a moan would be heard. And they did not wait until the doomed person really died. During his agony, he was taken from both sides under the armpits and thrown into a pile of corpses in another room… And the next victim took his place on the stool."

492: 179:("A Few Thoughts about the Treatment of Racial Aliens in the East"), and in another "top-secret memorandum with limited distribution, dated 25 May 1940", titled (in English translation) "The Treatment of Racial Aliens in the East", Himmler defined special directives for the kidnapping of Polish children. Himmler "also outlined the administration of incorporated Poland and the 447:

reveal problems with the child. When it was learned that Rosalie K's mother was epileptic, for instance, it was immediately concluded, despite the wishes of her German foster parents, that Germanization, education and adoption were therefore not justifiable. When adoptive parents demanded adoption certificates, such records were forged for them.

729:. While Polish estimates, for example, include children taken under different conditions, such as those taken away forcefully from women working as forced labour in Germany. Precise numbers are difficult to ascertain and depend on classification of kidnapping and if one counts children born to parents used as forced labour. 301:. These children would not be permitted to remain even with other living relatives. Some were purportedly from German soldiers and foreign mothers, and others were declared "German orphans" who had been raised by non-German families. Indeed, orphanages and children's homes, along with children living with 1831:

Translation of Document 031-PS: Chief of the Political Directing Staff, personal referee, Berlin, 12 June 1944: TOP SECRET: Copy No. 1 of 2 copies: The Army Group 'Centre' has the intention to apprehend 40–50,000 youths at the ages of 10 to 14 who are in the Army Territories, and to transport them to

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injections. The child was placed on a stool, occasionally blindfolded with a piece of a towel. The person performing the execution then placed one of his hands on the back of the child's neck and another behind the shoulder blade. As the child's chest was thrust out a long needle was used to inject a

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engaged in a remembrance project documenting history and fate of kidnapped children. Journalists visited institutions, archives and foundations, as well as victims who are still alive today. Numerous surviving victims have been interviewed presenting their attempts to trace back their origins, claim

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Heuaktion was not widely implemented, due in part perhaps to the following arguments against it: "The Minister feared that the action would have most unfavourable political consequences, that it would be regarded as abduction of children, and that the juveniles did not represent a real asset to the

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when they were removed from their adoptive German parents, often the only parents they remembered, and returned to their biological parents, when they no longer remembered Polish, only German. The older children generally remembered Poland; ones as young as ten had forgotten much, but could often be

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The authorities were reluctant to let the children be officially adopted, as the proceedings might reveal their Polish origin. Indeed, some children were maltreated when their adoptive parents learned that they were Polish. Adoption was also problematic because surveillance or more information might

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in case of a withdrawal since that would amount to reinforcing the enemy's potential war strength. This measure is to be strongly fortified by propaganda under the slogan: Care of the Reich for White-Ruthenian Children, Protection against Brigandry. The action has already started in the 5 kilometre

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The extent of the program became clear to Allied forces over the course of months, as they found groups of "Germanized" children and became aware that many more were in the German population. Locating these children turned up their stories of forcible instruction in the German language and how the

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Once selected, the children between six and twelve were sent to special homes. Their names were altered to similar-sounding German ones. They were compelled to learn German and beaten if they persisted in speaking Polish. They were informed their parents were dead even if they were not. Children

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The conditions of transfer were very harsh, as the children did not receive food or water for many days. Many children died as a result of suffocation in the summer and cold in the winter. Polish railway workers, often risking their lives, tried to feed the imprisoned children or to give them warm

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we should exclude from deportations racially valuable children and raise them in old Reich in proper educational facilities or in German family care. The children must not be older than eight or ten years, because only till this age we can truly change their national identification, that is "final

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was sent a 40-page document titled (in English translation) "The issue of the treatment of population in former Polish territories from a racial-political view." The last chapter of the document concerns "racially valuable" Polish children and plans to forcefully acquire them for German plans and

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To trick the soon-to-be murdered children into obedience Germans promised them that they would work at a brickyard. However another group of children, young boys by the age of 8 to 12, managed to warn their fellow child inmates by calling for help when they were being killed by the Nazis: "Mamo!

202:

and police for a special permit. The permit would be awarded to children deemed "racially valuable". Those children would be taken to Germany to be Germanised. Even then, the fate of each child would be determined by the loyalty and obedience to the German state of his or her parents. A child

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Allied forces made efforts to repatriate them. However, many children, particularly Polish and Yugoslavian who were among the first taken, declared on being found that they were German. Russian and Ukrainian children, while not gotten to this stage, still had been taught to hate their native

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These racial exams determined the fate of children: whether they would be killed, or sent to concentration camps, or experience other consequences. For example, after forcibly taking a child away from his or her parents, "medical exams" could be performed in secret and in disguise.

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Annual selection would be made every year among children from six to ten years of age according to German racial standards. Children deemed adequately German would be taken to Germany, given new names and further Germanised. The aim of the plan was to destroy

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countries and did not want to return. While many foster parents voluntarily brought forth well-cared-for children, other children proved to be abused or used for labour, and still other adoptive parents went to great efforts to hide the children.

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summoned up such views when he declared, "When we see a blue-eyed child we are surprised that he is speaking Polish." Among those children thought to be genuinely German were children whose parents had been executed for resisting Germanization.

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in German-occupied territories in Central Europe, and to the governor of General Government, and commanding that the operation of kidnapping Polish children in order to seek Aryan descendants for Germanisation be a priority in those territories.

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he crime of genocide… was taken by the prosecution and the Tribunal as a general concept defining the background of the total range of specific offences committed by the accused, which in themselves constitute crimes against humanity and/or war

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or doctors from Gesundheitsamt (health department). A child's "racial value" would determine to which of 11 racial types it was assigned, including 62 points assessing body proportions, eye colour, hair colour, and the shape of the skull.

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would remain, in which education would be strictly limited. Children would be taught to count only to 500, to write their own names, and that God commanded Poles to serve Germans. Writing was determined to be unnecessary for the Polish

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compensation or present their story. Together, as part of this series, over 40 articles and 23 video documentaries were produced, culminating in a book and a movie documentary which was presented by German state broadcaster ARD.

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Only 10 to 15 percent of those abducted returned to their homes. When Allied effort to identify such children ceased, 13,517 inquiries were still open, and it was clear that German authorities would not be returning them.

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and non-German children was another factor that led to inflated estimates. The modern association "Stolen children. Forgotten victims" representing victims of this operation presented the following estimates as of 2018:

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enemy's military strength anyhow.... The Minister would like to see the action confined to the 15–17 year olds." Between March and October 1944, however, 28,000 children between the ages of 10 and 18 were deported from

443:

who would not learn German or remembered their Polish origin were sent back to youth camps in Poland. In some cases, the efforts were so successful that the children lived and died believing themselves to be Germans.

366:("children's education camps"). Afterwards they went through special "quality selection" or "racial selection" – a detailed racial examination, combined with psychological tests and medical exams made by experts from 673:, the number of children taken from their parents includes 40,000 to 50,000 children taken as part of Heuaktion for forced labour from Belarus, 28,000 Soviet youth "under the age of eighteen" taken for labour by the 2200:

Zbrodnia bez kary… : eksterminacja i cierpienie polskich dzieci pod okupacją niemiecką 1939–1945 (Crime without penalty... : extermination and suffering of Polish children during the German occupation of

2080: 316:), which, in reality, were selection camps where their "racial values" were tested, their original metrics of birth destroyed, and their Polish names changed to German names, as part of 41:

family of Herr Müller in Germany informing that two perfect boys have been found for them to choose one they like. The boys' names have already been Germanized, 18 December 1943.

1512: 552:, dealt with the kidnapping of children by the Nazis. Many children testified, although many of their parents were afraid to let them return to Germany. From 1947 to 1948, the 235:

problem" would be best solved by yearly extractions of a number of racially healthy children, chosen from "France's Germanic population". He preferred they be placed in German

211:" as an ethnic group, and leave within Poland a considerable slave population to be used up over the next 10 years. Within 15 to 20 years, Poles would be completely eradicated. 2664: 767: 282:

clothes. Sometimes the German guards could be bribed with jewelry or gold to allow the supplies to go through, and in other cases they sold some of the children to Poles. In

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Many Nazis were astounded at the number of Polish children found to exhibit "Nordic" traits, but assumed that all such children were genuinely German children, who had been

1930:. Deutsche Kriegsführung und Besatzungspolitik als Kontext des sowjetischen Partisanenkrieges (1941–44). Vol. 3. Reihe: Zeitgeschichte – Zeitverständnis. p. 106. 1998: 686: 264: 171:

Germanization". A condition for this is complete separation from any Polish relatives. Children will be given German names, their ancestry will be led by special office.

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The children were kidnapped by force, often after their parents had been murdered in concentration camps or shot as "partisans", including a handful of the children of

669:

states that 200,000 Polish children were kidnapped out of which only 15 to 20% were reclaimed by either parents or the Polish government after the war. According to

2732: 224: 154:, would be responsible for policy regarding the population of occupied territories. The plan to kidnap Polish children most likely was created in a document titled 483:

drugs, chemicals and other substances for medical tests, although it was generally known that the true purpose of those procedures was their mass extermination.

77:, around 200,000 ethnic Polish children as well as an unknown number of children of other ethnicities were abducted from their homes and forcibly transported to 239:, in order to separate them from their "incidental" French nationality, and to make them aware of their "Germanic blood". Hitler responded that the "religious 406:

The failures that could result in a child, otherwise fitting all racial criteria, into the second group included such traits as "round-headed" referring to

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camps, unspecified number of children taken by force from women working as forced labour in Germany, and 20,000–50,000 "deliberately kidnapped" in

455:

Those children who did not pass harsh Nazi exams and criteria and who were therefore selected during the operation, were sent as test subjects for

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Bullivant, Keith; Giles, Geoffrey J; Pape, Walter (1999). "Germany and Eastern Europe: Cultural Identities and Cultural Differences". Rodopi: 32.

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Mamo!" ('Mama! Mama!'), the dying screams of the children, were heard by several inmates and made an indelible haunting impression on them.'"

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stated that her research team identified 20,000 Polish children kidnapped who passed the Germanization criteria and were integrated into the

677:, "tens of thousands" of Polish, Czech, Slovenian and Silesian children taken during evacuations after which they ended up in orphanages and 2609: 2176: (archived June 12, 2007) D. Kidnapping of Children of Foreign Nationality: 3. Polish Children" (Internet Archive URL). 993–1028 in 2066: 2012: 2742: 2737: 2483: 2461: 1805: 1756: 143:

on 22 August 1939, Adolf Hitler condoned the killing without pity or mercy of all men, women, and children of Polish race or language.

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characteristics". A girl who was later identified by a small birthmark would have been rejected had the birthmark been much larger.

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Germanizacja polskich dzieci. Film i książka mają przybliżyć Niemcom ich wstrząsające losy. Sabine Paschel. Deutsche Welle. 13.03.20

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Between 1940 and 1945, according to official Polish estimates, approximately 200,000 Polish children were abducted by the Nazis.

2594: 2389: 2235: 136: 604:– Chief of the Political Directing Staff (head of the SS main leadership office in Berlin), a co-author of Himmler's pamphlet 2747: 2489: 2477: 1986: 1935: 1884: 1790: 1721: 1701: 1681: 1661: 1641: 1621: 1597: 1576: 1556: 1499: 1406: 1378: 1343: 1284: 1264: 1191: 1147: 917: 1524: 312:

Later the children were sent to special centres and institutions or to, as Germans called them, "children education camps" (

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Forgotten victims: Polish children abducted during World War II still seeking truth.Monika Sieradzka. 2017.Deutsche Welle.

1734:"Trial of Ulrich Greifelt and Others, United States Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 10 October 1947 – 10 March 1948, Part IV" 183:, where Poles were to be assigned to compulsory labor, and racially selected children were to be abducted and Germanized." 2379: 2287: 2159: 2027:

Displaced Children in Russia and Eastern Europe, 1915–1953: Ideologies, Identities, Experiences. Nick Baron, p. 197. 2017

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tendencies of the French people" would make it almost impossible to "salvage the Germanic elements from the claws of the

2634: 2507: 690: 503: 2114:. Trans. Bogdan Buczkowski and Lech Petrowicz. Rada Ochrony Pomników Walki i Męczeństwa. Warsaw: Interpress, 1981. 651:' estimate, 20,000 children were abducted for such purposes from Poland, 20,000 from the Soviet Union, and 10,000 from 2434: 2429: 2282: 1979:

Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918–1947

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Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918–1947

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in addition 20,000–50,000 East European children had been deliberately kidnapped for Germanization during the war

1876:

Späte Heimkehr Als Kriegsverbrecher verurteilte österreichische Kriegsgefangene in der Sowjetunion 1944 bis 1953

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On 20 June 1940, Hitler approved Himmler's directives, ordering copies to be sent to chief organs of the SS, to

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Post-war estimates on kidnapped children vary depending on criteria used; Isabell Heinemann in the documentary

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in special centres. Children sent there ranged from eight months to 18 years. Two such centres were located in

104:

traits because Nazi officials believed that they were the descendants of German settlers who had emigrated to

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Dzieci porwane przez III Rzeszę bez prawa do odszkodowań. "Wielka niesprawiedliwość".Monika Sieradzka. 2018.

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reminded by such things as Polish nursery rhymes; the youngest had no memories that could be recalled.

290:, Poles bought children for 40 Reichsmarks. In some places the German price for a Polish child was 25 2541: 2456: 2414: 2409: 2185: 1425:

Hitlerowski rabunek dzieci polskich: Uprowadzanie i germanizowanie dzieci polskich w latach 1939–1945

1357:

Hitlerowski rabunek dzieci polskich: Uprowadzanie i germanizowanie dzieci polskich w latach 1939–1945

1092:

Hitlerowski rabunek dzieci polskich: Uprowadzanie i germanizowanie dzieci polskich w latach 1939–1945

1077:

Hitlerowski rabunek dzieci polskich: Uprowadzanie i germanizowanie dzieci polskich w latach 1939–1945

1045: 957:

Hitlerowski rabunek dzieci polskich: Uprowadzanie i germanizowanie dzieci polskich w latach 1939–1945

620: 596: 529: 341: 1300:

Genocide and Settler Society: Frontier Violence and Stolen Indigenous Children in Australian History

973:

Genocide and Settler Society: Frontier Violence and Stolen Indigenous Children in Australian History

863:

Genocide and Settler Society: Frontier Violence and Stolen Indigenous Children in Australian History

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believed it to be an ingenious policy, noting it in the document record as a "sinister theory!".

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Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10

1898: 1843: 1811: 1465: 777: 644: 321: 180: 374:

During this testing process, children were divided into three groups (in English translation):

305:, were among the first groups targeted, in the belief that Poles deliberately and systemically 2692: 2501: 2419: 2277: 2204: 2115: 1982: 1958: 1931: 1880: 1870: 1786: 1762: 1717: 1697: 1677: 1657: 1637: 1617: 1593: 1572: 1552: 1495: 1374: 1339: 1304: 1280: 1260: 1226: 1187: 1143: 977: 913: 867: 816: 624: 583: 495: 1952: 2654: 2374: 2180:. © Mazal Library, n.d. NMT04-C001. Nuernberg Military Tribunal, Vol. IV, pp. vii–viii: " 1819: 1520: 1252: 1222: 1163: 656: 586: 553: 549: 162: 147: 2168:

D. Kidnapping of Children of Foreign Nationality: 3. Polish Children" (inactive URL). Cf.

1807:

Memorandum: Re: Evacuation of youths from the territory of Army Group "Center" (Heu-Aktion)

1079:(in Polish). Śląski Instytut Naukowy w Katowicach, Katowice: Wydawnictwo Śląsk. p. 28. 959:(in Polish). Śląski Instytut Naukowy w Katowicach, Katowice: Wydawnictwo Śląsk. p. 93. 689:

along with German civilians, while tens of thousands of foreign children were recruited as

336: 2629: 2384: 2084: 1910: 1855: 1815: 1477: 1123: 541: 240: 236: 117: 291: 2670: 2614: 2221: 2015: 2001: 750: 682: 652: 601: 407: 248: 191: 37: 2165: 2014:

Zrabowane dzieci. W ARD premiera filmu nt. germanizacji polskich dzieci Bartosz Dudek

1427:. Śląski Instytut Naukowy w Katowicach, Katowice: Wydawnictwo Śląsk, 1960. p. 44. 1359:. Śląski Instytut Naukowy w Katowicach, Katowice: Wydawnictwo Śląsk, 1960. p. 43. 741:

dedicated to railway workers who tried to save Polish children from German captivity.

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cites the figure of up to 200,000 Polish children kidnapped by Nazis. According to

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Parents who desired better education for their children would have to apply to the

140: 78: 74: 900:, Robert D. Cherry, Annamaria Orla-Bukowska.Rowman & Littlefield, 2007 p. 100 507: 274: 203:

determined to be "of little racial value" would not receive any further education.

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Polen: Geraubte Kinder – vergessene Opfer. Deutsche Welle. 2017. Monika Sieradzka

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Did the Children Cry?: Hitler's War Against Jewish and Polish Children, 1939-1945

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The children were placed in special temporary camps of the health department, or

2702: 2369: 2248: 1094:. Śląski Instytut Naukowy w Katowicach, Katowice: Wydawnictwo Śląsk. p. 29. 607: 545: 353: 101: 273:

Kidnapping of Polish children during the Nazi-German resettlement operation in

96:

An aim of the project was to acquire and "Germanize" children believed to have

782: 754: 726: 670: 491: 472: 430: 359: 97: 32: 2644: 2567: 2364: 1833: 1409:). Accessed September 15, 2008. (Reprinted by permission of the author from 674: 579: 573: 464: 349: 325: 283: 216: 2213: 1004:"Forgotten victims: Polish children abducted during WWII – DW – 12/30/2017" 623:"evacuate" 40,000–50,000 children between 10 and 14 from the "territory of 2045:(in Polish). Roztocze Online (P. Rogalski & R. Moteka). Archived from 1449:. Warsaw: Polonia Publishing House. pp. 7–33, 164–178. Archived from 705:

Heuaktion in Poland, Ukraine and Belarus: 40,000–50,000 kidnapped children

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Genocide: A History. William D. Rubinstein. Pearson Longman, 2004, p. 184

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ruled that the abductions, exterminations, and Germanization constituted

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If they met racial guidelines, they were taken; one girl got back home.

632: 476: 320:. Those children who were classified as "of little value" were sent to 2142:

Did the Children Cry? Hitler's War against Jewish and Polish Children

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editor Kostkiewicz Janina, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, 2020,

127:), is active in Germany, representing victims of German kidnapping. 490: 268: 693:

or born to female forced labourers in Germany. Confusion between

1879:. Munich and Wien: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag. p. 177. 619:) for the recruitment of non-Germans – proposed that the German 498:, one of many Polish children murdered at Auschwitz by the Nazis 177:

Einige Gedanken ueber die Behandlung der Fremdenvoelker im Osten

2217: 1873:; Stefan Karner; Barbara Stelzl-Marx; Edith Petschnigg (eds.). 1513:"Stolen: The Story of a Polish Child 'Germanized' by the Nazis" 939:(in Polish). Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. p. 49. 344:

map signed with number 15; where Polish children were selected.

582:", described in a "top secret" memorandum submitted to German 2158:– Nuremberg Trials Project: A Digital Document Collection at 1761:. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. p. 22. 1954:

Teaching about the Holocaust: A Resource Book for Educators

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Hitler's table talk, 1941–1944: his private conversations

898:

Rethinking Poles and Jews: Troubled Past, Brighter Future

839: 837: 835: 1592:. Toruń: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek. pp. 285–289. 1038:

Multimedia Learning Center Online (Annual 5, Chapter 2)

471:– in this centre children were also subject to forced " 2110:

Hrabar, Roman Z., Zofia Tokarz, and Jacek E. Wilczur.

463:. One of them, Medizinische Kinderheilanstalt, was in 123:

An association, "Stolen Children: Forgotten Victims" (

2196:. Accessed September 15, 2008. (Trial documents.) 1303:. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books. p. 248. 976:. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books. p. 255. 866:. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books. p. 247. 152:

Reichskomissar für die Festigung deutschen Volkstums

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Child abductions in the Russian invasion of Ukraine

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