Man kidnapped by SS discovers true identity

Kyt · Jan 7, 2009

Man kidnapped by SS discovers true identity - Telegraph

A man kidnapped by SS soldiers as a child to be brought up as part of the Aryan 'master race' in Nazi Germany has discovered his true identity.

It was only with the opening of the world's biggest Holocaust archive at Bad Arolsen two years ago that Folker Hinecke was finally able to sift through the paper pieces of the jigsaw of his life

Folker Heinecke, 68, spent 34 years researching his past before discovering that two soldiers came to his village in the Russian Crimea and kidnapped him under the German Lebensborn – Fount of Life – programme.

The programme was masterminded by Heinrich Himmler, the SS leader, as the Nazis sought to populate the Third Reich with people they considered to be racially pure.

One element of the scheme involved members of the SS "mating" with suitable German women. Another involved stealing children who fitted the Nazi racial stereotype of blue-eyed, blonde, Nordic super-beings who could be "Germanised" within Nazi families.

This was the fate of Mr Heinecke, one of thousands kidnapped by the Nazis in wartime.

He launched his bid to discover his origins after the death of his Nazi foster parents in 1975. "For years the files were closed or I got fragments of information," he said. "After 20 years I found out that I was in the Lebensborn programme but had no idea where I came from."

It was only with the opening of the world's biggest Holocaust archive at Bad Arolsen two years ago that he was finally able to sift through the remaining paper pieces of the jigsaw of his life.

He discovered that he was born Alexander Litau in Alnowa in the Crimea, now in Ukraine, before being snatched by German soldiers in the onslaught on Soviet Russia in 1942.

The files showed that he was first taken to Lodz in Poland – the Nazis called it Littmannstadt – where SS "doctors" examined him to find out if he was "worthy" of Aryanisation.

"The files show I was measured everywhere – head size, body size, whether I had 'Jewish Aspects' or not," he recalled.

"Then I was declared to be capable of being Germanised and was shipped back to the Fatherland."

The former shipping agent, who lives in Hamburg, now has one quest left in life: to discover the grave of his real mother and lay flowers on it.

"That is all I want to do," he said. "I have had a good life and I loved my adoptive parents, even though they were Nazis. I was just without roots and it was these roots that caused me to spend over 30 years of my life looking for the secrets of the past."

Mr Heinecke has vivid memories of growing up in a home where he said that Himmler and Hitler's secretary Martin Bormann were visitors.

"I had a good upbringing after the war," he said. "My parents gave me a good education, spells in London, Paris and Ireland. They believed in Nazism at the time but they weren't war criminals and always did right by me.

"But of course they could not answer the question of who I was. They didn't know."

Many Lebensborn children have suffered psychological damage because of their past, with a higher suicide rate than the German average and their marriages more likely to break up.

Mr Heinecke, whose book The Quest is being made into a documentary, is adamant that this will not be his fate. "I do not want to die unhappily like so many Lebensborn children," he said. "Just to stand at the grave of my real mother – that will be enough."
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liverpool annie · Jan 7, 2009

Kyt said: ↑

Man kidnapped by SS discovers true identity - Telegraph
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How incredibly sad that program was ... I hope Folker is able to find out about his roots ... he sounds like a nice man who loved his adoptive parents also ... I wish him all the luck in the world ... I hope we hear an update !!

Heres a little more information ... that maybe of interest !

The “Lebensborn” Program (1935-1945)

Annie

Gage · Jan 7, 2009

Wow, what a story. I hope he manages to find his real parentage.

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