Five Brothers and a War

Wim van Rossum

Wim van Rossum was Jan’s best friend. The two were together during the bar fight on New Year’s Eve, 1940/41. They were together during their legal troubles as a result of that fight. They were both forced to go to Germany in mid-1943 to be slave labor. But then there were differences. Wim was made a garbage collector, or as the van Pelts later mocked him, he was a stront-führer (“shit-leader”—also mocking the German’s proclivity of making many people some level of führer ). But he was also viewed by the Germans as a wonderful Aryan young man. He was tall, had relatively blond hair, and blue eyes. The Germans viewed the Dutch as being a far superior race to Eastern Europeans. With so many Germans involved in the military, there was a need for more Aryan babies. And Wim was to them a stud. So they sent him to stud from time to time. He would be sent to a house, and provided with a woman whom he was expected to impregnate. This was a Nazi program that took several forms. It was generally called the Lebensborn (“Fount of Life”) and was fully intended to create an Aryan super race. It was intended to stem the tide of German abortions, beginning in 1935, and on one level was a baby factory that was intended to replace those lost in the war with a better race. On the softer side, it was also meant to care for Aryan orphans, to place Aryan children into adoptive homes.

the war

In many instances, the fathers of the babies produced were Nazi Party members. Remember that it was not simple to “join” the actual Nazi Party, and it was considered a real honor to be allowed in. High ranking Nazis, and Nazis in general, were afforded the “benefit” of being allowed, indeed expected, to spread the Aryan genes as far as possible. Himmler not only encouraged this behavior, but demanded it. What of course is interesting is that Hitler, Goebbels, Göring and Himmler were the antithesis of Aryan.

Five Brothers and a War

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