Interesting Question... to Nazi or not to Nazi

So ...  my ex-husband, my soon to be ex husband, my children and I all have German blood coursing through our veins.... all varies amounts. 

My soon to be ex            husband has - for sure - confirmed the rumors of Jewish ancestors ... and although his specific line had already come to America by the time Hitler started to pound his way through the Jewish populations in Europe.  Even KNOWING that there were kin - at the time - most likely still living there .. cousins and such ... it's sobering.  Even for me, and I've found now factual Jewish lines.  It's still heartbreaking and brings this sense of loss and anger.  Huge loss and so much anger.  

I also admit I am fascinated with that time period.  All those Nazi bunkers buried under the Earth with miles of tunnels and hidden rooms.  

The controversy/conspiracy  of  did Hitler die, or did he escape.  It's interesting.  

I watch Jewish documentaries and cry, my heart breaks and my soul is shatterd.  I can't understand how someone can do that to another living soul.  

And I watch stuff on them discovering this or that underground tunnel system or the above ground stuff too.  I love architecture but mostly it's the abandoned for over 50 years and finding it now....  and I find the mad brilliance fascinating.  

It's part of history and no one can fix the absolute devastation that was caused on human life and feelings of being safe in not only your own community but your own skin.  Also, I can't help but be fascinated with other aspects.  

I recently read this article about a woman who was basically hired to have "Hitler's Babies" ... not actually Hitler's but .... babies with the proper blood lines.  I had no idea this even went on.  

The woman who gave birth for Hitler   <---- the article I had read. 

I guess girls were found, with the appropriate looks and pedigree, I guess...  and they were taken to these places where they would .... well....  procreate with S.S. Soldiers,   They would get pregnant.  Have their babies, and then the babies would be taken and raised in some institution so that they could be properly brainwashed to believe and live the Nazi ideals.  

It blew my mind.  

And all I can think is - what happened to all those babies???   

Well - first off....  it wasn't Hitler's Babies.  It was Himmlers.  Heinrich Himmler created the program for a few reasons.  During World War I there was a catastrophic loss of life for German soldiers.  The birth rate post-war plummeted because so there was a shortage of German men to marry and have children with the "nice German women." And his precious Aryan race was depleting.  There were not proper families being formed, which lead to the second problem. German women were choosing to have abortions rather than give birth if they were not meeting society standards of marriage and then children .....  it is estimated that 800,000 abortions were happening every year.  Himmler, being the nice guy he was (that was sarcasm) wanted to give these women a place to go to have their babies.  

Then - after that kind hearted gesture (ha ha) he realized that he could control who had babies and the type of people having babies.  He could stack numbers of babies that meet the Aryan race criteria and create a wind fall of exactly what he wanted.  

So - women started applying to be part of the LEBENSBORN PROGRAM.  Some people also refer to it as Fountain of Life that was created by RFSS Himmler.

"Lebensborn" means various things I guess.... I have seen a couple ... most often I see that it means; "Spring of Life," or “Fount of Life.”  It was a way for the Germans a way to rebuild their population of racially acceptable citizens. Because no ordinary citizen would do. 

Himmler realized this was also the opportunity to control who was breeding and being born, and the Lebensborn program became a way for Nazis to lend a helping hand to "racially and genetically valuable families with many children." 

A series of Nazi-sponsored children's homes were set up throughout the Reich.  The very first one opened up in 1937 in a Munich suburb.

In order to be accepted into the program, you had to do the following.

.* Parents needed to prove German ancestry, documented, several generations back.

 * rigorous testing proving no genetic diseases or disabilities. 

 * DEFINITELY NOT JEWISH (assholes) 

 * Dedicated to the Nazi cause

 

Failing ANY of that criteria would get the mother turned away.  It was said only about 40% of women were accepted.  I am sure looks took a part in it also.  But that's just my opinion. cuz they were assholes and it seems like an asshole thing to do.  

Fathers, by the way, had to meet the same criteria - and they did all this in secret from their wives and children, if they had them already.  Men were encouraged to take as many women as they could and have as many babies as they could father to improve the population. So men - spread your seed far and wide - but only with the right women.  

Himmler expected every SS officer to have at least four children. Legitimate or illegitimate.

I think that - unwed mothers - who were already pregnant - would be accepted into the program if they met the criteria.  I don't know this for a fact but Himmler's thought was to provide a place for the unwed mothers to go and have their child away from the judging eyes.  So I believe that happened. 

I also read an interview with one of the women who applied for the program to get pregnant and to have a baby for the greater cause.  (Ugh) 

During their initiation, they were told they would have to sign documents stating they had no rights to their babies, that the babies would be taken to a special place to be raised as loyal Nazi citizens. 

These women would go through all the testing and documentation and then they would move into these compounds.  Their cycles would be monitored and then at the right time, there would be a "date" night with S.S. Soldiers - to see if they connected with any - and if they did - they would basically have a one night stand { wink, wink, smooch } ....  and hope to get pregnant. 

If they did, they would move to a different part of the compound, or move to another compound, and wait out the pregnancy.  Once they went into labor, they would deliver, without aid.  Apparently any "good German woman" wouldn't aid her birth by dulling the pain, that was frowned upon.  

They would "ween" their children for two weeks and then the child would be taken.

 

Everyone in the "program" would have aliases.  No one went by their own given name.  Anonymity was key to the program. Because of this, and the fact that the Nazis' that be destroyed the birth certificates and paperwork for this program, thousands and thousands of children were left not knowing who their parents were ..... and what happened to them at  the end of the war? 

So....  we have unwed mothers, we have woman who signed up for the cause, and then we come to all the children who were kidnapped.  Yes, kidnapped.  

Another part of this program was kidnapping children that physically meet the criteria of an Aryan.  Blond(e) hair, blue eyes... measurements would be taken, height, weight, teeth, head, distance between their eyes and who knows what else.  Some children were just taken based on their looks. Later tested and examined.  Some were tested and examined - accepted or rejected on site.  

Children were taken right out of their classrooms.  Children were taken off the streets.  Children were taken from the Jewish Concertation Camps. Yes, you read that right.  JEWISH children were taken,, tests, accepted or rejected to be part of the Aryan society - and then were told they were no longer Polish or whatever they may have been and only allowed to speak German and raised to be part of the Nazi Cause.  They were put in foster homes at first and later adopted into acceptable German families.  

So we have unwed pregnant women coming in - so they could have their babies and not have abortions.

There were the women who decided to sacrifice their bodies for the cause

And then there were the kidnapped children.  

{ sigh } Can you imagine what those parents went through that were kidnapped?  Taken right out of school and didn't show up home when expected.  Taken off the streets from their parents, I am sure if the parents objected they would be threatened and or shot.  Ugh it breaks my heart.  

So what happened to the children who were born or kidnapped that were deemed unacceptable to the Aryan standard?  

Well ... they were put in orphanages, euthanized, or systematically executed (murdering assholes!).... 

Yep, you read that right.  I read it and it made me absolutely sick.  

There was estimated 20,000 babies born into the program though the TRUE number will never be known.  It was estimated between 100,000 and 200,000 children were kidnapped. 

These are children who really have no idea who their biological parents are. What their history is.  How did their life start?  Were they the product of a war?  Or were they the product of love with a tragic ending?  

The singer, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, from ABBA, was one of these children.  Her mother - Norwegian - and her father a Nazi sergeant .... born in 1945 out of wedlock and branded a Tyskerbarnas (a German Child) ... 

These children are questioning and hurting .... some struggling, some declaring that they grew up happily and that's all that mattered. But the ones who want answers deserve them.  And there aren't any.  Most of them can't do a family tree because they don't know the name of their birth parents.  

There was an article I read - with a comment that touched me so much.  I'm going to quote it.  Linking the article first. 

Hitler’s Lebensborn Children: Kidnappings in German-Occupied Poland

Rena Shepherd December 16, 2020

I am 80 years old now, have wondered all my life about who my real parents were. After reading this article, about the Brown Sisters, I recalled all my life that the woman who talked to me had a red cross on a white bunnet. I recall Lebensborn, remembering a lot of little kids laying outside on a little blanket sleeping and beside each child was a little white potty with a handle on it. I walked from child to child picking up the potties and trying to stack them on top of each other. This memory was first, the one with the red cross lady was after. I remember a ride in the train, laying alone in the top bunk looking out the window at the full moon. This is how I got to Germany. I was in 3 different foster homes in Germany and remember my last one well in Solingen. I was only 5 or so then. I have tried once to find out who the Foster parents in Solingen were, through the Solingen newspaper ad, but never heard back. I can very well understand that it takes us a lifetime to get over this and want to find out possibly who my real parents were. I thought all my life that the lady with the red cross hat, was an angel send to take care of me, until I read your article. I have tried Ancestry.com and Heritage, but I dont have names of my parents so every door was shut for me. I was lucky enough to have been adopted when I was 6 or so by a lovely woman, who may or may have not been my real mother, she passed on in 1981. I never asked many questions because it hurt her to speak about this, she only said that I was her real daughter. I never resembled her by looks. But until now have never opened up about my past. Do I really want to know or keep believing the beautiful story regarding my real father she told me? He never got to see me, was killed before I was born. Perhaps?? I dont know why I am writing this, it will most likely go into your trash, but it felt good talking about it. Thank you .

I think that says a lot.  

Here are some other articles: 

The Children of Hitler's Eugenics Experiment Are Still Alive - Here's What They Look Like Today...

THE BIZARRE TRUE STORY OF THE NAZIS' LEBENSBORN BABIES

The Nazi breeding and infanticide program you probably never knew about

What History Didn’t Tell Us about the Nazi “Super Baby” Breeding Program

The Lebensborn Program — The Nazi Monstrous Initiative to Increase German Population

This is a January 1988 interview done with Ilse, Lebensborn nurse at Steinhoring, Germany from 1936 to 1945.

I need to read a few of them more in depth, some I skimmed.  

Seven Years War (French and Indian War)

Tonight - I was watching WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ........

Let's face it, it has and always will be one of my favorite shows, it continues to make me WANT to find OUR stories.....

I am by no means a professional .... but I like to play one on TV...  just kidding...

Anyway, tonight's episode was the one with Katey Sagal ... (Married With Children among many other things) ....

She had some VERY heart tugging stories in her episode.  I thought the meet up with the elderly woman who used to travel with her mother was especially touching.   Though, I have to say - the whole story with the Seven Years War really caught my interest....

You see, Katey's great whatever grandfather was Jacob Hochstetler, a very well known Amish early settler ...  His family had a particular rough time during this war, as I am sure many many more did also...

Wikipedia:
Hochstetler massacre

The Northkill settlement was on the edge of the Blue Mountain, the legal boundary of European settlement according to agreements with Native Americans. During the French and Indian War, local tribes under the command of three French scouts attacked the Northkill settlement on September 19, 1757. The Indians attacked the Jacob Hochstetler homestead and set the house afire. The Indians stood guard around the house and torched the Hochstetler home, so the family could not escape without risking their lives. As the fire worsened, the family escaped out the cellar window, but the wounded Jacob Jr. (he had been shot during the initial attack) and Jacob Sr.'s wife, Anna (Lorentz) Hochstetler, slowed them down. She became stuck in the window during her escape, and was later stabbed in the back and scalped. Another daughter (name unknown) and Jacob Jr. were killed. Jacob Sr. and Joseph and Christian (ages app. 12–15 years) were taken captive. Jacob escaped after about 8 months, but the boys were held for several years, released after a peace treaty between the natives and the British Army was agreed upon. Altogether over 200 white people were killed in Berks County during various raids. The number of Indians killed during this time is not known.

During the episode, you first hear about Jacob from a newspaper blurb, of how the "enemy" (being Indians) burnt his house, killed his wife and a "young man" and how Jacob and his children were missing.

You learn a little more from a documented interview from the British troops who had found him.  He's called "John" in the document (anglicized version of Jacob) ... and the document is dated 5th May 1758 (the attack happened Sept. 19th 1757 - so he had been missing for a little more than seven months.

You learn he was taken by several Indians about 300 miles to their Indian castle (villiage with a stockade) and kept prisoner.  He doesn't mention his children, because he was most likely separated shortly after being taken captive.  He managed to established a trust with the Indians, they had given him a gun to go hunting.  It was upon being trusted and left alone to hunt that he escaped, he made himself a float (raft) and floated down river until he managed upon a British camp.

We learn that the Indians took over 1,600 white prisoners of war, but they were not required to turn their captives over to their allies (the French).  You learn that the captives were usually given over to an Indian family that had recently lost a family member. The Indian family then had the choice of killing the captive for retribution or adopting them as one of their own.  Young captives were prime targets for adoption because they were easily adapted to the Indian culture. So children, in that time, were very valuable.

She then travels to Burks County Pennsylvania to see if there is any oral history on what may have happened to Jacob's children, because the "paper" trail didn't reveal that.  She ends up meeting with - funny enough - a man who shares the last name of people in her tree and ends up being her 7th Cousin.  She seems very smitten, saying she doesn't have a lot of family, so the connection definitely resonates with her.

We end up learning a little more about the attack on Jacob's family.  (some of the following I wrote up from the portion they were reading from - but not all of it was read on the show)

"The Massacre it's called.  On the evening of September 18, 1757, just about the time they were sound asleep, the dog made an unusual noise. Which awakened Jacob the son who opened the door to see what was wrong.  When he received a gun shot wound to the leg.  He realized in a moment that they were being attacked by Indians and managed to close and lock the door before the Indians could enter. Joseph and Christian picked up their guns to defend the family but their father, firmly believing in the doctrine of Non-resistance, remaining faithful in the hour of sourest trial, could not give his consent.  In vain they begged him.  He told them it was not right to take the life of another even to save one's own."

"The Indians stood in consultation for a few minutes and then set the house on fire.  The family consisted of seven persons. The parents, Jacob Jr, Joseph, Christian and a daughter, name not known, also Barbra (something I can't make out) probably not at home.  As the fire progressed, they sought refuge in the cellar, while the Indians stood guard around the house.  When the fire had advanced so far as to burst through the floor, its advance was checked by spilling cider on the burning spots. 

As daylight was now nearing it was thought the enemy would not remain much longer and the family hoped to hold out until they departed.  Meanwhile the disturbance attracted the attention of John, living on the adjoining farm.  A few steps from his door he could see over to the old home, which seeing on fire, surrounded by the savages and all the family within, presented a shocking sight. The safety of wife and child appealed to him."  The neighbor hid his wife and child in some bush, and then rode south of his house on horse (I assume for help)  

She continues, "And by the time the family were all out, they were surrounded. The son Jacob and the daughter were tomahawked and scalped.  But the mother, against whom they seemed to have a particular spite was stabbed to the heart with a butcher knife and was scalped."

It is a heartbreaking account, but the impact of it is brutal.  The fact that the children, the family - had to witness the brutality.  That Father had to witness not only his wife's murder, but the murder of two of his children!  The mother probably saw the attack on her two children before suffering her own fate.

I know I would kill anyone who tried to hurt my children.  I understand the thought and belief that no one should take a life, no matter what - and it's a beautiful thought, but to sit back when there are people killing your family and at least not trying to fight back - it's heartbreaking.

They go on and find out that Joseph was adopted into a family in full fellowship.  In other words, was made "after their manner a full Indian." 

Christian was adopted by an "aged Indian who treated him as a son."  Christian was sent out hunting for game for the older Indian and himself.  Although these trips provided him with means of escape, Christian continued to hunt to feed the man who had taken him in because if he didn't, no one else would have, and his friend would parish.

It's mentioned that many of the white settlers who were taken captive and given to families often had deep and loving connections with the families they were given to.

Jacob escaped, however the boys stayed for a very long time.  Beyond the end of the war (in 1763) in the fall of 1764 there was a treaty with the Indians to release all British captives.  Around 200 were released and it's believed that Joseph and Christian were in that group.

Katey at this point asks "and they wanted to be released?"

And her cousin said that they (the British captives) didn't have a choice, they HAD to go back.  

She goes on to read, "One account of (Christian's) return, he walked to his father's hours and as he stepped into the kitchen, he found the family at dinner.  He bade the time of day, and returned to the yard, and seated himself on a stump. After his father finished his meal he went to the man in the yard who he supposed was an Indian and began a conversation with him. In broken German of which he could scarcely recall he said "My name is Christian Hochstetler."  We can easily imagine the joy and surprise of the father, who never-the-less found it not easy to get his son into the house for dinner. For some time he would not decide to forsake his Indian friends and make his home with the whites. The childhood home that he had cherished in his memory during the years of his captivity was no longer to be found."

Her cousin says, many of the white captives were reluctant to come home that many of them went back.  Some of them had to be handcuffed to keep them with their white families.

Imagine you are a parent, and your child is returned to you after years of separation, but all they want to do is return to their Indian family.  What do you say?  How do you feel?

It's crazy, but very understandable ...

The Amish today value the stories of the people who took the chosen path of being non-violent in a very difficult situation.   In the case of Jacob Hochstetler homestead today as a place of pilgrimage. The original dwellings don't stand, but they made a sort of memorial with a plaque.

 
So what about some information on the war ....  History(dot)com <- source...

New World conflict marked another chapter in the long imperial struggle between Britain and France. When France’s expansion into the Ohio River valley brought repeated conflict with the claims of the British colonies, a series of battles led to the official British declaration of war in 1756. Boosted by the financing of future Prime Minister William Pitt, the British turned the tide with victories at Louisbourg, Fort Frontenac and the French-Canadian stronghold of Quebec. At the 1763 peace conference, the British received the territories of Canada from France and Florida from Spain, opening the Mississippi Valley to westward expansion.

The Seven Years’ War (called the French and Indian War in the colonies) lasted from 1756 to 1763, forming a chapter in the imperial struggle between Britain and France called the Second Hundred Years’ War. In the early 1750s, France’s expansion into the Ohio River valley repeatedly brought it into conflict with the claims of the British colonies, especially Virginia. During 1754 and 1755, the French defeated in quick succession the young George Washington, Gen. Edward Braddock, and Braddock’s successor, Governor William Shirley of Massachusetts. In 1755, Governor Shirley, fearing that the French settlers in Nova Scotia (Acadia) would side with France in any military confrontation, expelled hundreds of them to other British colonies; many of the exiles suffered cruelly. Throughout this period, the British military effort was hampered by lack of interest at home, rivalries among the American colonies, and France’s greater success in winning the support of the Indians. In 1756 the British formally declared war (marking the official beginning of the Seven Years’ War), but their new commander in America, Lord Loudoun, faced the same problems as his predecessors and met with little success against the French and their Indian allies.

The tide turned in 1757 because William Pitt, the new British leader, saw the colonial conflicts as the key to building a vast British empire. Borrowing heavily to finance the war, he paid Prussia to fight in Europe and reimbursed the colonies for raising troops in North America. In July 1758, the British won their first great victory at Louisbourg, near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. A month later, they took Fort Frontenac at the western end of the river. Then they closed in on Quebec, where Gen. James Wolfe won a spectacular victory on the Plains of Abraham, September 1759 (though both he and the French commander, the Marquis de Montcalm, were fatally wounded). With the fall of Montreal in September 1760, the French lost their last foothold in Canada. Soon, Spain joined France against England, and for the rest of the war Britain concentrated on seizing French and Spanish territories in other parts of the world.

At the peace conference in 1763, the British received Canada from France andFlorida from Spain, but permitted France to keep its West Indian sugar islands and gave Louisiana to Spain. The treaty strengthened the American colonies significantly by removing their European rivals to the north and south and opening the Mississippi Valley to westward expansion.

It's kinda weird ...  it's like reading a "clinical version" but it's so much more interesting when there is a personal aspect, something you can connect to, get invested in.  

HERE is another article on it....

The Seven Years War
1756-1763
The Seven Years War was a conflict between the major European powers with France, Austria, and Russia on one side and Great Britian and Prussia on the other.

The war coincided with the French / British colonial struggle in North America and India. As a result of the conflict Great Britain became the leader in overseas colonization and Prussia emerged as a powerful force in Europe.

Prussia began its rise to power during the Thirty Years War. Prussia became a kingdom in 1701. The Prussian king still owed allegiance to the Holy Roman emperor in Vienna, but rivalry between the two rulers was growing increasingly bitter.

Frederick the Great began his reign at the same time as the empress Maria Theresa became the monarch of Austria. When Frederick seized the province of Silesia from Austria Maria Theresa organized an alliance of France, Sweden, Russia, Saxony, Austria, and other countries. Frederick, who felt isolated, concluded a treaty with Great Britain.

Frederick struck first overrunning Saxony. Facing an opposition 20 times superior in population numbers, Prussia struggled for existence. Frederick utilized the advantage of his interior lines of communication to strike a number of decisive victories, but in 1759 the united Austrian and Russian forces nearly destroyed the Prussian army at the battle of Kunersdorf.

Frederick's salvation came with the death of the tsarina Elizabeth in 1762 which meant that Russia withdrew from the war. France and Sweden were exhausted and Austria deeply in debt. Austria had to negotiate a peace, Frederick kept Silesia, and Great Britain won North America and India.

Vanishing Names

I have to say that I think the Less Common Names....  I think there might be some good reason for some of those losing popularity ....  I mean........

Butterworth?

................  Syrup jokes for the rest of your life?

Nuttal?

............... do I really need to explain?

Lord?

...........  delusion of grander much?

Pratt?

........... well, do you KNOW what PRATT means in Britain?

I actually really like the name Dyson.  REALLY like it.   But.......

.... yep ...  vacuum jokes...........

EJ & E Railroad (part 2)

So while I was on Google looking up information on the EJ & E Railroad, I found a bunch of photos that I wanted to share, because it's a part of the history of my husband's family.

Trains and Box Cars ......

An EJ E switch engine moves cars yard Joliet's east side.

6 Brass Keys from Railroads, including the EJ & E in the top middle ....

I saw these, wish they were bigger images ...

My husband, when I told him I was going to share some history and such from the EJ&E Railroad, he said "The J" and I said "what?"  ... he says ... "It was just referred to as THE J all around the area,"

Vintage E J & E Railway oil can. The only information is regards to this railway was the ELGIN, JOLIET & EASTERN Railway of Illinois and Indiana.

The caption on this said it was a "Waiters Badge"

A hard item to find from the EJ&E rr. Tool check of some type with the number 72 on it.

10 year service pin from the EJ&E railroad, now taken over by the. Canadian National. Bottom ribbon says Elgin Joliet & Eastern Ry.

Barrington, IL Train Station

EJ&E Bridge Tower

Some Maps