Origin of the Lebensborn children

Most of the children in the Lebensborn children's homes came from Lebensborn maternity wards, which were located within the German Reich but also in the occupied territories. However, the birth in a Lebensborn maternity hospital was not a prerequisite for the accommodation. The offer of the anonymous birth and subsequent care of the children was basically addressed to all German women who fit into the Nazi "race profil". Often these were illegitimate children of German Wehrmacht soldiers and SS members. Furthermore, it was also proven that individual children from concentration camps were selected or removed from occupied areas and housed in Lebensborn children's homes.

Altogether there were probably 32 Lebensborn homes throughout Europe, 9 of them in the area of today's Germany.

The exact lists of children for the home Sonnenwiese are lost for the years 1942 to 1943. Only from the transport and catering data conclusions can be made.

In 1944/45, most of the children from the Lebensborn homes of Klosterheide, Steinhöring, Oslo (Norway) and Klekken (Norway) came to Kohren-Sahlis.  However, the exact origin of the children in Kohren-Sahlis can hardly be reliably proven, as numerous documents were falsified or destroyed. This is especially the case with children who were abducted by the National Socialists from Eastern Europe.

Note: The figures are taken from the administrative files. Due to the numerical significance, Austria and Norway are listed in the upper diagram. Austria was attached to the "Greater German Reich" from 1938. In the point "German Reich" the rest of former state territory is summarized. It is possible that some abducted children are subsumed here, as individual case reviews in the literature have shown that the children from Eastern Europe were provided with alleged birthplaces in Germany. The administrative files mainly mention Lebensborn homes (Lebensborn maternity hospitals) as the birthplaces. To what extent this was really the respective place of birth of the children, is no longer to be proven.

Approximately 84% of the children who were housed in the Lebensborn home Sonnenwiese in 1945 were brought here from another Lebensborn facility. The exact distribution for homes / places is shown in the lower pie chart for the year 1945.