18. The Nazi Group That Set Out to Breed a Master Race
Hitler and his Nazi followers believed in “good blood”, which should be sought out, preserved, and expanded. They also believed in “bad blood”, which was to be identified, and ruthlessly eradicated. The latter gave us the horrors of the Holocaust. The former led to the Lebensborn (“Spring of Life”), a Schutzstaffel (SS) association that went to bizarre and often sinister lengths in an attempt to increase the stock of “racially valuable” Germanic children.
It began in 1935, when the Lebensborn association was formed to increase the “racially pure” population by increasing the Aryan birthrate. The result was a selective breeding program, just like breeding prize cattle, whereby unmarried “pure” Aryan women were matched up with pure SS members. Upon impregnation, they were usually housed in SS-run maternity homes until they gave birth. The offspring were often adopted by pure Aryan families, particularly from the SS. The human breeding program was supplemented by a massive child kidnapping policy, to create yet another dark chapter in Nazi history.