1936, Nazi supporter Hildegard Trutz was recruited for her “racial purity” to have an intimate relationship with a Schutzstaffel (SS) officer. The ultimate goal was to conceive an Aryan child. Hildegard Trutz was a loyal supporter of the Nazi regime from the moment Hitler took power, History notes. The woman joined the Bund Deutscher Madel (BDM) in 1933 and loved weekly meetings.

Trutz quickly became a prominent figure in the local organization, largely due to her blond hair and blue eyes. “I was often presented as an example of the perfect Nordic. Apart from my legs and my elongated torso, the structure of my hips was perfect for conceiving children, ”she said.

Lebensborn program

Hildegard Trutz (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

At the age of eighteen, after finishing school, one of the BDM leaders made a suggestion to the young woman that would change her life: “If you don’t know what to do, why not give the Fuhrer a child? Germany is in dire need of descendants of a valuable race.” Trutz did not know that a state-sponsored program was being developed at the time to increase the number of births of Aryan children with blond hair and blue eyes. Under the Lebensborn program, racially “pure” women were chosen to have intimate relations with SS officers in order to become pregnant.

The BDM leader explained to the young woman exactly how the program worked. Trutz was undergoing a series of medical tests as well as investigations into her past. An essential thing was that it had no traces of Jewish blood. After the results were positive, the woman selected a partner from the SS officers. Trutz listened enthusiastically to the leader. “Sounds great,” immediately enlisting in the program.

Trutz was escorted to an old castle in Bavaria. There were fourteen other girls here, all with false names. “To be accepted into the program, you only needed a certificate of Aryan authenticity,” she said.

The castle was the pinnacle of luxury. There were common rooms for sports and games, a bookstore, and even a cinema. According to the young woman, “the food was among the best I tasted. We also didn’t have to work, there were a lot of servants in the castle.” As soon as she arrived on the premises, an SS teacher examined her. “We had to declare that there was no case of hereditary disease or dipsomania in our family.”

In the look for the “perfect” Aryan

The young women were also warned that they would have to sign a document waiving all their rights over the children they would give birth to. After the initiation, Trutz and the other girls were introduced to SS officers. Trutz was impressed by them: “They were all tall and strong with blue eyes and blond hair.” Before choosing their partner, the women followed a meeting session with the men. They watched movies together, played games, or participated in castle events. “We had about a week to make a decision,” Trutz said. Women did not know the men’s names, anonymity being one of the principles of the Lebensborn program.

“When we chose our partner, we had to wait until the 10th day from the beginning of the last menstruation.” Each young woman underwent another medical examination after which the chosen SS officer was sent to the girl’s room. In the first week, Trutz was visited by the officer for three evenings. She immediately became pregnant and was moved to a nursing home. After birth, for two weeks, she breastfed her baby, then she was separated from him and moved to a special home. Trutz never saw her child or his father again.

In the following years, although she wanted to conceive more children for the regime, she fell in love with a young officer whom she married. When she told her husband about her involvement in the Lebensborn program, she was “surprised that he wasn’t as excited.”

Trutz never found out what happened to her child. It is estimated that about 20,000 children were born during the twelve years of the Third Reich, mainly in Germany and Norway.