Nazi hatred still haunts Norway’s war children

OSLO – One day hailed as a superior race, the next shunned as retards and carriers of evil Nazi blood – the children of Norwegian mothers and German fathers did not join the national celebrations when World War Two ended.

For 10 000 to 12 000 Norwegian children whose fathers were German soldiers in Norway during the 1940-45 Nazi occupation, the end of the war was the start of sufferings ranging from sexual abuse to denial of their identity. “Many lives are destroyed, many still struggle with the self image: ‘I’m worth nothing’,” said Rigmor Remers Hanssen, a war child whose grandparents adopted her, changed her name and let her grow up with an older sister who was really her mother.She said she was lucky compared to many war children who do not know their true identity because the authorities confiscated their passports and issued new ones stamped “unknown origin” to make them more attractive for adoption.Other perfectly healthy children were hidden away in mental hospitals — some Norwegians feared they would spread German genes and form a hostile “fifth column” in the Nordic country.Half a century later, oil-rich Norway is seeking to make amends for by paying compensation to the innocent victims of post-war nationalism, proposing a payment of up to 200 000 crowns (about N$171 000) if they can document their suffering.”Their history should see the light,” said Justice Minister Odd Einar Doerum.”There is no doubt that society has suppressed part of history.There was a special attitude in post-war Norway against anything that was German.”UNBEARABLEMany war children, now aged around 60, say it is too difficult to claim money since their stories are hard to prove – most of the discrimination was never documented, and most of the abusers or other adult offenders at the time are dead.Norwegian war children as a group generally have a lower income and less education than average and frequently struggle with health problems related to their upbringing.The ill treatment of women who had relationships with Germans was common in post-war Europe, but the hatred against children was stronger in Norway than most other places, researchers say.For some, surviving was about lying and denying.”Family life was all about hiding what actually happened,” said Remers Hanssen, who spent most of her adult life pretending her mother was her sister because it was the only practical way to hide the shame.”It’s unbearable daily to face a mother who can’t stand the sight of her child because it reminds her of her own betrayal,” she said.She told the truth and found her father in 1983.A report by a renowned psychiatrist on behalf of the Social Ministry concluded after the war that war children were retarded because their mothers were psychopaths and their fathers – stupid enough to fall for such women – feeble-minded.”There are many parallels between Nazi ideology and the reasoning that many Norwegians used just after the war, saying these children were carriers of inferior genes,” said associate professor Baard Borge at Harstad College in northern Norway.”Today, we would call it racism.”NATION BUILDINGTeachers frequently ignored war children, refusing to correct their school work or hear them in class.They often had to stand up while the rest of the class sang the national anthem to mark that they were not worthy of praising the nation.”For Norway, the war was about nation building.It unified a divided Norwegian people,” said Borge, attributing anti-German sentiment to Norway’s young history since its 1905 independence.He said Norwegians used the war as a national symbol.”It’s a paradox, because Germany’s occupation of Norway was mild compared to many other countries,” Borge said.About 10 000 Norwegians died in World War Two, a small loss of human life compared to many other occupied European countries.Still today, much of Norway’s national identity is built on the experience and mythology of the heroic resistance to Nazi occupation in a country that also gave the world its name for traitor:Quisling, the Norwegian collaborator.Many war children were at first pampered in German-run institutions in Norway, called Lebensborn homes, meant to raise children based on Adolf Hitler’s Aryan ideology.Mothers could attend “motherhood school” to make them good German housewives.Some were sent to Germany, where a few stayed.Many were returned to Norway against their will to face mothers who did not want to see them, a language they did not know and a society that despised them.- Nampa-Reuters”Many lives are destroyed, many still struggle with the self image: ‘I’m worth nothing’,” said Rigmor Remers Hanssen, a war child whose grandparents adopted her, changed her name and let her grow up with an older sister who was really her mother.She said she was lucky compared to many war children who do not know their true identity because the authorities confiscated their passports and issued new ones stamped “unknown origin” to make them more attractive for adoption.Other perfectly healthy children were hidden away in mental hospitals — some Norwegians feared they would spread German genes and form a hostile “fifth column” in the Nordic country.Half a century later, oil-rich Norway is seeking to make amends for by paying compensation to the innocent victims of post-war nationalism, proposing a payment of up to 200 000 crowns (about N$171 000) if they can document their suffering.”Their history should see the light,” said Justice Minister Odd Einar Doerum.”There is no doubt that society has suppressed part of history.There was a special attitude in post-war Norway against anything that was German.”UNBEARABLEMany war children, now aged around 60, say it is too difficult to claim money since their stories are hard to prove – most of the discrimination was never documented, and most of the abusers or other adult offenders at the time are dead.Norwegian war children as a group generally have a lower income and less education than average and frequently struggle with health problems related to their upbringing.The ill treatment of women who had relationships with Germans was common in post-war Europe, but the hatred against children was stronger in Norway than most other places, researchers say.For some, surviving was about lying and denying.”Family life was all about hiding what actually happened,” said Remers Hanssen, who spent most of her adult life pretending her mother was her sister because it was the only practical way to hide the shame.”It’s unbearable daily to face a mother who can’t stand the sight of her child because it reminds her of her own betrayal,” she said.She told the truth and found her father in 1983.A report by a renowned psychiatrist on behalf of the Social Ministry concluded after the war that war children were retarded because their mothers were psychopaths and their fathers – stupid enough to fall for such women – feeble-minded.”There are many parallels between Nazi ideology and the reasoning that many Norwegians used just after the war, saying these children were carriers of inferior genes,” said associate professor Baard Borge at Harstad College in northern Norway.”Today, we would call it racism.”NATION BUILDINGTeachers frequently ignored war children, refusing to correct their school work or hear them in class.They often had to stand up while the rest of the class sang the national anthem to mark that they were not worthy of praising the nation.”For Norway, the war was about nation building.It unified a divided Norwegian people,” said Borge, attributing anti-German sentiment to Norway’s young history since its 1905 independence.He said Norwegians used the war as a national symbol.”It’s a paradox, because Germany’s occupation of Norway was mild compared to many other countries,” Borge said.About 10 000 Norwegians died in World War Two, a small loss of human life compared to many other occupied European countries.Still today, much of Norway’s national identity is built on the experience and mythology of the heroic resistance to Nazi occupation in a country that also gave the world its name for traitor:Quisling, the Norwegian collaborator.Many war children were at first pampered in German-run institutions in Norway, called Lebensborn homes, meant to raise children based on Adolf Hitler’s Aryan ideology.Mothers could attend “motherhood school” to make them good German housewives.Some were sent to Germany, where a few stayed.Many were returned to Norway against their will to face mothers who did not want to see them, a language they did not know and a society that despised them.- Nampa-Reuters