War children are those born to a local parent and a parent belonging to a foreign military force. Having a child by a member of a belligerent force, throughout history and across cultures, is often considered a grave betrayal of social values. Commonly, the native parent is disowned by family, friends, and society at large. The term "war child" is most commonly used for children born during World War II and its aftermath, particularly in relation to children born to fathers in German occupying forces in northern Europe. In Norway, there were also Lebensborn children. The discrimination suffered by the local parent and child in the postwar period did not take into account widespread rapes by occupying forces, or the relationships women had to form in order to survive the war years.
A Lebensborn birth house
Lebensborn e.V. was a secret, SS-initiated, state-registered association in Nazi Germany with the stated goal of increasing the number of children born who met the Nazi standards of "racially pure" and "healthy" Aryans, based on Nazi eugenics. Lebensborn was established by Heinrich Himmler, and provided welfare to its mostly unmarried mothers, encouraged anonymous births by unmarried women at their maternity homes, and mediated adoption of children by likewise "racially pure" and "healthy" parents, particularly SS members and their families. The Cross of Honour of the German Mother was given to the women who bore the most Aryan children. Abortion was legalized by the Nazis for disabled and non-Germanic children, but strictly punished otherwise.
A Lebensborn birth house
Christening of a Lebensborn child, c. 1935–1936, Rhenish Hesse region
Kidnapping of Polish children during the Nazi-German resettlement operation in Zamość county
Polish children in Nazi-German labour camp in Dzierżązna near Zgierz