Medical experimentation
In conjunction with the claim brought before the courts by the war children in 1999, a motion was filed in September 2000 to national headlines alleging 10 war children had unknowingly and involuntarily been subjected to medical experiments with LSD during the 1950s and 1960s. It was further claimed that these experiments were approved by the government and financed by CIA, the American intelligence agency.
The motion didn't cite evidence for the allegation, rather the attorney referred to four sources whom she at the time refused to identify. It was already known that certain hallucinogenic drugs, including LSD, had been considered possibly valuable in psychotherapeutic treatment (see Psychedelic psychotherapy) in the 1960s, so the Norwegian government appointed an independent commission to investigate the allegation in October 2001. Following two years of work the Commission concluded in a final report that the allegations all originated from a single source who neither mentioned the war children specifically nor LSD experiments on humans, but rather animals. The Commission also concluded that they were unable to find any other evidence in local, national and international archives which could support the allegation.
The Norwegian Defence Research Establishment conducted their own investigation into the allegation in 2001 and found it unsupported by evidence, though the complete report remains classified. Later the Ministry of Defence vacated the obligation of professional secrecy for current and previous employees in regard to information about the matter. This move did not yield any new information.
It should be noted that medical staff in several European countries as well as the US conducted clinical trials or experimental treatment involving LSD, most of them at some point between 1950 and 1970. In Norway trials involved volunteer patients where traditional medical treatments had proved unsuccessful.
Acknowledgment and apology
Since the mid-80s the fate of the war children has become well known and the government has admitted neglect. The Prime Minister of Norway apologized publicly in his New Year's Eve speech in 2000. Currently, as adults, the 150 former Lebensborn Children are suing for reparations and damages from the Norwegian government for failing to protect them and discriminating against them.
The most famous of Norway's war children is former ABBA singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad, now Princess Anni-Frid Reuss of Plauen.
Norway
German forces invaded Norway in 1940 and occupied the country until 1945. At the end of the war the German presence stood at 372,000. It is estimated that between 10,000 and 12,000 children were born to German fathers and Norwegian mothers during the occupation.
Nazi ideology considered Norwegians to be pure Aryans and German authorities didn't prohibit soldiers from pursuing relationships with Norwegian women. In other occupied territories like Eastern Europe, such relationships were forbidden because of Nazi views that Slavs were an inferior race.
After the war these women especially, but also their children, were mistreated in Norway.
Denmark
German forces occupied Denmark between 1940 and 1945. German soldiers were allowed to have contact with Danish women. It is estimated that between 6,000 and 8,000 children were born to German fathers and Danish mothers during the occupation or just after the occupation. The Danish government has 5,579 such children in their files.
In 1999 the Danish government allowed this group access to parenthood archives, exempting them from the country's normal secrecy period of 80 years for such records.
Post-war children
By Soldiers of Allied Forces:
The Allied forces maintained a presence in Germany for several years after World War II. The book GIs and Fräuleins, by Maria Hohn, lists 66,000 children as born to soldiers of Allied forces in the period 1945-55:
* American parent: 36,334
* French parent: 10,188
* British parent: 8,397
* Soviet parent: 3,105
* Belgian parent: 1,767
* Other/unknown: 6,829
American:
According to Perry Biddiscombe more than 37,000 illegitimate children were born to American fathers in the 10 years following the German surrender. Relations between the occupation forces and German and Austrian women were seen with suspicion by the locals, who feared that the Americans would impregnate their women and then leave the children to be cared for by the local communities. Those fears were borne out in at least in part, as a majority of the 37,000 illegitimate children ended up as wards of the social services for at least some time. Many of the children remained wards of the state for a long time, especially children with African-American fathers who were never adopted.
The food situation in occupied Germany was initially very dire. By the spring of 1946 the official ration in the U.S. zone was no more than 1275 calories per day (much less than the minimum required to maintain health), with some areas probably receiving as little as 700. Some U.S. soldiers used this desperate situation to their advantage, exploiting their ample supply of food and cigarettes (the currency of the black market) as what became known as "frau bait"(The New York Times, 25 June 1945). Some Americans still felt the girls were the enemy, but used them for sex nevertheless.
The often destitute mothers of the resulting children usually received no alimony.
Between 1950 and 1955 the Allied High Commission for Germany prohibited "proceedings to establish paternity or liability for maintenance of children."Even after the lifting of the ban West German courts had little power over American soldiers.
The children of black American soldiers, commonly called "Negermischlinge" ("Negro half-breeds"), were particularly disadvantaged, since even in the cases where the soldier was willing to take responsibility he was prohibited from doing so by the U.S. Army which until 1948 prohibited interracial marriages.
In the earliest stages of the occupation, U.S. soldiers were not allowed to pay maintenance for a child they admitted having fathered, since to do so was considered as "aiding the enemy". Marriages between white U.S. soldiers and Austrian women were not permitted until January 1946, and with German women until December 1946.
The official U.S. policy on war children was summed up in the Stars and Stripes in 8 April 1946, in the article "Pregnant Frauleins Are Warned!":
Girls who are expecting a child fathered by an American soldier will be provided with no assistance by the American Army... If the soldier denies paternity, no further action will be undertaken other than to merely inform the woman of this fact. She is to be advised to seek help from a German or Austrian welfare organization. If the soldier is already in the United States, his address is not to be communicated to the woman in question, the soldier may be honorably discharged from the army and his demobilization will in no way be delayed. Claims for child support from unmarried German and Austrian mothers will not be recognized. If the soldier voluntarily acknowledges paternity, he is to provide for the woman in an appropriate manner.
Canadian:
Canada declared war on Germany in 1939, following Britain's war declaration the week before. During the war Canadian forces participated in the allied invasions of both Italy and Normandy. Prior to the invasion of continental Europe significant Canadian forces were stationed in Britain.
An estimated 22,000 children were born of Canadian soldiers and British mothers stationed in Britain. In continental Europe it has been estimated that 6,000 were born in the Netherlands, with smaller numbers born in Belgium and other places where Canadian forces were stationed during and after the war.
A famous example of this is Eric Clapton.
Austria:
In Austria Russian war children („Russenkind“) were discriminated as well as their mothers.
Common unfavourable expressions for those women who were on friendly terms with allied soldiers were American girl (»Amischickse« oder »Dollarflitscherl«) and in the case of relations with coloured soldiers chocolate girl (»Schokoladenmädchen«).
In April 1946 the Stars and Stripes newspaper echoed, that there was no hope for assistance by military authorities for "pregnant Fräuleins". A "Kraft-durch-Freude" ("Strength Through Joy", a Nazi organization) girl who ate from the forbidden fruit should come clear alone with the consequences. The United States seem to be following this proposition to the present day.
Coloured babies from Austria were sent in the age of 4 to 7 years by Austrian youth welfare offices to the USA by air flight. Black families adopted them there.
PG 1 | PG 2 | PG 3
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