War fate: How many illegitimate children the Germans left to France during World War II German illegitimate children

The evil fate of war: How many illegitimate children the German army left to France during World War II

Originally, the birth of all children in the world should be praised, but the birth of these German and French illegitimate children during World War II was accompanied by Cursed because they are evidence of the shame of the family and the country. Whether in Germany or France, almost all illegitimate children of World War II experienced a childhood of loneliness and isolation.

Daniel Rouxel is an ordinary old man over sixty years old living in Paris. Like other elderly people living alone in Paris, his daily life consists of walking his dog, drinking coffee, and chatting. The only difference is that every night, those childhood memories will grip him like a nightmare - being publicly humiliated by relatives, classmates and neighbors during the day, being locked in a chicken coop by his grandmother to sleep at night... all this just because of his His father was a German soldier and his mother was a Parisian woman.

At the same time, Aveline Pilitvi, who is far away in Berlin, always remembers her childhood experience - being laughed at by her classmates as a "French bastard" because she was a French laborer and a German A child born to a woman.

Whether they are the children of German soldiers and French women, or the children of French workers and German women, in people's eyes, they are all children born with a stigma, and their childhoods are all without exception. Children who have experienced being humiliated, discriminated against, abused and even beaten because they were treated as enemies.

During World War II, the Nazi German army occupied all of France in a very short period of time. In the more than four years from the occupation of France to the surrender of the German Nazis, a large number of German soldiers were sent to the French front. Due to the lack of labor in the German rear, a large number of prisoners of war and laborers from France and Poland were transported to Germany, and the compulsory labor.

What is very dramatic is that in France under the German occupation, a French woman fell in love with a German soldier and gave birth to a child. This even caused the birth rate in France to skyrocket during that period, and only the elderly remained. , children and women in the German rear, the love story of French workers and German women is also unfolding, which also brings about the fruits of love one after another. According to statistics from relevant agencies, there are approximately more than 200,000 such German-French illegitimate children, but their births have long been an officially avoided topic in both countries.

More than sixty years after the end of World War II, this taboo was gradually broken. The German government issued a decree recognizing the dual nationality of these German-French "illegitimate children". Some books and film and television works related to this were published in Germany. The emergence of France has also made the hidden stories behind these German and French "illegitimate children" gradually emerge in front of the public.

■ Guilty Love

For most people, the memories of war should be of hunger, resistance and fear. But Patrick Bisson, the author of "The Pornographic Years 1940-1945," said that "Paris under Nazi control was a 'big hybrid party.'" In 1942, two million men were imprisoned in concentration camps in France, but French women were here Active, they slept with German soldiers stationed there and with any man who could help them survive their financial difficulties. War stimulates lust like an aphrodisiac. Even the founder of the feminist movement and famous writer Simone Beauvoir once said that she had an "unconscious friendship" for the invaders; the Germans' "worship of the body" made She felt swooning.

There was a legend that during the fall of Paris, French prostitutes were the first to rise up in revolution and refused to provide sexual services to the invaders. However, the book "The Pornographic Years 1940-1945" testified that the high-end brothels in Paris welcomed the German troops, and 1/3 of the brothels in the city were reserved for their exclusive use; another 100,000 Parisian women became "temporary prostitutes."

Accompanying the pursuit of pleasure was a surge in the birth rate in France. Many German and French illegitimate children were born in this short period of four years. Of course, not all German-French illegitimate children are the result of pleasure-seeking and trading. Most of them firmly believe that their father and mother had a great love, which transcended the barriers of war.

Jie An lives in Amiens, a small town in France. He is a native of Amiens. He has never left Amiens, just like he has never doubted the love of his parents. Ji'an's father was a German officer stationed in Amiens, and Ji'an's French mother was sent to take care of his father's food and daily life. While getting along day and night, the young German officer and the French girl fell in love and gave birth to Jane in 1943.

Jean recalled that his father loved him and his mother very much, and when he evacuated France, he promised to come back to live with them as soon as possible, although he never came back.

In that special era, transnational romance was not worthy of praise, and falling in love with an enemy was even more of a dangerous crime. After World War II, French women who had romances with German soldiers suffered varying degrees of punishment. According to estimates made by researchers in recent years, about 100,000 people were punished at that time, 1 million people were suspected and questioned, and 50,000 women had their heads shaved.

In Germany, in 1940, the Gestapo issued a decree-"All Frenchmen, including Poles, who have had sexual relations with German women shall be sentenced to death." However, this decree did not It failed to stop the sprouting of love between French workers and German women.

Since 1942, due to the needs of the war, almost all young and middle-aged German men were sent to the war front. At the same time, in order to supply battlefield materials, German factories needed a large number of young and middle-aged labor forces. As a result, Germany had to transport a large number of foreign prisoners of war and workers, including French, Poles and Russians, to Germany to engage in forced production labor. As of 1945, France alone had provided a total of three million workers and prisoners of war to Germany, and these French workers also left thousands of German-French illegitimate children in Germany.

Jean-Louis Gauland, who is nearly ninety years old, is still so excited when he recalls his labor experience in Germany. Unlike prisoners of war, as a laborer, Jean-Louis Gauland could walk on the streets of Berlin. He even had a small salary that allowed him to sit in a cafe and drink coffee, so he had the opportunity to contact and talk with German women. Of course, it is not completely without restrictions, but this restriction makes young people's love more interesting. Jean-Louis Gauland fell in love with a German woman in Berlin when he was only twenty years old. Shortly after their child was born, Germany was defeated and World War II ended. He and other laborers were deported back to France and never returned to Germany.

■ Cursed Child

Originally, the birth of all children in the world should be praised, but the birth of these German and French illegitimate children during World War II was accompanied by a curse, because they were members of the family. and evidence of national disgrace. Whether in Germany or France, almost all illegitimate children of World War II experienced a childhood of loneliness and isolation.

Josean Kruy, the author of "Born of Forbidden Love", described in the book that when she was seven years old, she first realized that she was a "Kraut bastard" because her classmates called her a "Kraut bastard". understand the differences between themselves and other children. Her entire childhood was filled with eye-rolls, insults and rejections. No child was willing to accept her as their friend. During her long lonely childhood, she could only comfort herself by imagining that her father was a hero or a god.

Klaus Peter Nicholl never knew he was half-French until he was fifty years old, when he received a letter from a stranger who was his blood relative. aunt. His aunt told him in the letter that he was the son of a French laborer and a German woman. His mother gave him up for adoption in order to escape rumors. From then on, all the alienation and harshness he experienced during his childhood were rationalized, and he set out to find his father, but it was not an easy task. Because even after so many years, the elders around him still think that his existence is a shame.

The founder of the National Mutual Aid Association for War Children (ANEG), Ginain Nivova, understood many things when she was thirteen years old, why her birth certificate said "father unknown", and why she My grandfather doesn’t like me, why do my classmates and neighbors look down on me. This is not only because her mother was a single mother, but more importantly because her father was a German soldier.

After the end of World War II, thousands of French women who "directly collaborated with the enemy" had their heads shaved and were paraded through the streets. Some of their children were abandoned, some were given up for adoption, and some were raised by themselves. Being treated roughly. Gérard Périaux’s mother was lucky enough to escape being paraded in the streets and humiliated, but she could never get rid of the shame caused by her love affair with the German army. As a result, the child became the target of her anger. Perry Oaks, now 63, recalled that his mother beat him almost every day, made him sleep in a small storage room, and his mother and stepfather even forced him to eat the fleas on his body.

His mother never told him who his biological father was. When Periaux asked the question, his mother yelled at him, "It's none of your business!"

Jean-Paul Picape, author of "The Cursed Child" said: "After the war, these children became the embodiment of the German army, which was revenge on the innocent."

■ My father is a good man

In 2002, French Television 3 produced a documentary "Children of Shame", telling the public for the first time the stories of these illegitimate children of World War II. This made many such illegitimate children of World War II feel for the first time that they were not unknown bastards and that they were not a lonely individual phenomenon. So, when they were nearly sixty years old, they began to tell their stories, hoping to find their biological fathers or blood relatives through this method. Many writers and media workers from Germany and France also participated and created many works on this theme. Among them, the most famous are two books by the French writer Jean-Paul Picape: "The Cursed Child", which reflects the story of the illegitimate child of a German officer and a French woman; and "Guilty Love - France", which reflects the story of French laborers and German women. "Children of Labor". Jean-Paul Picape said that he wrote these two books to prove that even war cannot deprive people of their right to love each other.

In order to help these illegitimate children of World War II find their roots, Jeanne Nivoir, the child of a German soldier and a French woman, founded the National Mutual Aid Association for War Children (ANEG) in 2005. On their official website, written in both German and French, are the memories and memories of these illegitimate children of World War II for their foreign fathers.

“Do we have the same forehead, same eyes, and same breathing as you?

Are you gentle and kind, or irritable and vicious?

Is there anyone who can tell us everything about you?

Throughout the years of your disappearance and our long suffering,

In the depths of our hearts,

Oh, Father,

Our lost father, our searching father, our German father,

We love you”

Despite the memory of my father. They are so small that most of these German and French illegitimate children have never met their biological fathers, but they hope to use this method to commemorate and find the man who brought them life, because no matter how history is written, they believe The foreign man who brought them to life was an ordinary good man and a kind father.

As Ginain Nivoir said: "My father was a good man."

■ Not just dual citizenship

What is the difference between these illegitimate children of World War II? The active pursuit of one's own identity is different from the digging of the truth by folk historians. For a long time, German and French officials have kept the issue of illegitimate children between Germany and France secretive. Jean-Paul Picape also admitted that it was difficult to find relevant historical materials when writing his two books on German-French illegitimate children. Especially in France, this history is obscured.

Many people believe that the reason why French officials avoid talking about this is that the French are only used to celebrating glorious moments in history. They would rather chew on the glory of the Napoleonic era than admit that they are in Germany. Weakness and failure during the occupation. When World War II ended, de Gaulle mentioned in his victory speech that "this victory is a victory for all French people to unite and fight together." The French seem to have forgotten the singing and dancing in the occupied areas during the German occupation and those "French traitors" The pain of the ages. In addition, French officials are also worried that too high-profile recognition of the identity of these German-French illegitimate children will also irritate those elderly World War II veterans and members of the resistance movement against the Nazis.

After the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings, as the shadow of the war gradually faded away, things gradually turned around thanks to the efforts of a large number of civilians and historians. In 2009, the German government announced its willingness to grant dual citizenship to the children of German soldiers living in France. When the French Foreign Minister talked about this issue, he also said: "They are just innocent victims." He also expressed that the government was willing to grant these German and French children dual citizenship. Bastard to help.

When the slogan "ML, not war" became a world-famous anti-war slogan, although the official recognition of the identity of these "children of the enemy" has been belated, it can at least comfort these "Children of the World War II" a little. Bastard's traumatized mind.