Tyskerbarn

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As Tyskerbarna ( "German Children") or Krigsbarna ( "war children"), even Tyskerunger in are Norway during the German occupation of the country in World War II begotten with Norwegian women between 1940 and 1945 by Germans and Austrians occupying children referred. Their mothers were referred to in Norway with the swear word Tyskertøs ("German slut ").

It is estimated that up to 12,000 children were conceived, of which around 8,000 were later cared for as part of the Lebensborn program. The National Socialists had specially set up eight Lebensborn homes in Norway (a ninth was no longer in operation), more than in any other country outside of the so-called German old empire , because they were given Norwegian women for “unraveling” their “Germanic blood” Racial ideology seemed most appropriate and for which children from Fraternation care facilities were needed. One of the most famous German children is the singer of the pop group ABBA Anni-Frid Lyngstad, who was born in Norway and grew up in Sweden .

post war period

In 1945 a "War Children Commission" considered sending all "War Children" to Australia. A medical commission came to the conclusion that this group of people had "inferior genes" that could pose a permanent threat to Norwegian society.

After the war, especially in Norway, a large number of these children were abused , sexually abused, psychiatricized and forcibly adopted, which drove not a few to suicide . In Norway, a senior physician certified all “German children” from the Lebensborn homes after the occupation had ended with the diagnosis “weak-minded and deviant behavior”. The reason: women who have fraternized with Germans are generally "weakly gifted and anti-social psychopaths , some of whom are extremely feeble-minded". It can be assumed that their children have inherited this. "Father is German" was enough for instruction. Sometimes they were also exposed to medical tests with LSD and other drugs. Their identity papers were destroyed, forged or withheld as "secret material" until 1986.

In 1959 the Federal Republic of Germany paid 50 million marks to Norway as part of the reparation policy for these children . None of it reached those affected; the whereabouts of the funds is still unclear.

Coming up and fighting for compensation

After the topic was largely taboo in the Norwegian public for decades , more and more books and reports on the treatment of war children have been published since the mid-1980s. The novel Det stumme rommet ("The silent room") by the Norwegian writer Herbjørg Wassmo , which appeared for the first time in 1983 and deals with the fate of a "tyskerbarn", was groundbreaking.

In 1998, a majority in the Norwegian Parliament rejected the establishment of a commission of inquiry as "unnecessary". Although victims of lobotomy attempts were compensated in 1996 and Jewish property expropriated by Norway was replaced in 1999, compensation for the “German children” was refused.

In 1998 the then Minister of State Kjell Magne Bondevik apologized for the discrimination against the "tyskerbarn" and their mothers in Norway. On January 1, 2000, Bondevik apologized in his address at the turn of the millennium “in the name of the Norwegian state” to those affected for the discrimination.

In 2001, seven “war children” sued the Norwegian government. However, they failed because the limitation period had expired in the 1980s. However, in 2002 parliament instructed the government to come to an agreement with those affected. In fact, more than 59 years after the end of the Second World War, Norway first announced compensation payments to so-called war children. The up to 12,000 children of Norwegian mothers and German occupation soldiers should each receive 20,000 to 200,000  kroner (the equivalent of up to 23,600  euros ), suggested the Norwegian Minister of Justice Odd Einar Dørum in Oslo. They are to be compensated for the discrimination they suffered after the end of the war. "War children" who can present documents about particularly serious abuse are to receive the maximum amount of 200,000 kroner. Those who cannot produce papers of this type should receive the minimum amount.

In 2004 two extensive studies appeared in Norway for the first time on the fate of the Wehrmacht children and the responsibility of the Norwegian state.

After the complaints of those affected for redress before the highest Norwegian courts were dismissed in the final instance because of “statute of limitations” or “for lack of overriding legal interest”, 159 German children filed a complaint against Norway with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2007 . The ECHR also held the plaintiffs' claims to be time barred.

literature

  • Herbjørg Wassmo : The silent room. Novel. Translated from the Norwegian by Ingrid Sack . German first edition, 1st edition. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-426-08037-0 (Norwegian Det stumme rommet. Gyldendal, Oslo 1983).
  • Veslemøy Kjendsli: Children of Shame. A “Lebensborn girl” in search of her past (=  Luchterhand Collection , Volume 1072). Translated from the Norwegian by Gabriele Haefs . Luchterhand Literaturverlag, Hamburg 1992, ISBN 3-630-71072-7 (Norwegian Skammen barn. Metope, Oslo 1986).
  • Ebba D. Drolshagen : Didn't get away with it. The lovers of the Wehrmacht soldiers in occupied Europe (=  Propylaea paperback , volume 26709). Econ-Ullstein-List-Verlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-612-26709-4 .
  • Kåre Olsen: Father: German. The fate of the Norwegian Lebensborn children and their mothers from 1940 until today. Translated from the Norwegian by Ebba D. Drolshagen. Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2002, ISBN 3-593-37002-6 (Norwegian Krigens barn. De norske krigsbarna og deres mødre. Forum Aschehoug, Oslo 1998);
    as a complete paperback edition under the title: Destiny Lebensborn. The children of shame and their mothers. Knaur-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-426-77724-X .
  • Ebba D. Drolshagen: Wehrmacht children. In search of the never-before-known father. Full paperback edition. Knaur-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-426-77881-4 .

media

  • Erika Fehse: My father, the enemy: German children in Norway . Series WDR-doc. VHS video (TV recording), 45 min., 2006
  • Georg Maas (director): Two lives . German-Norwegian feature film, 97 min., 2012 (theatrical release in Germany: September 19, 2013).

Web links

Media reports

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reiner Gatermann: We don't take German Blagen . In Welt Online on June 24, 2002, accessed April 18, 2012
  2. ↑ Reinhard Wolff: Late commitment to responsibility . In taz.de of July 5, 2004, accessed on April 18, 2012
  3. ^ Judges reject compensation for Lebensborn children . In Spiegel Online on July 13, 2007, accessed on April 18, 2012