Figure 1.--We are not yet sure what a Kinderheim was. The name means Children's Home. Here the nurse-teachers are trying to attract children to their Kinderheim. The sign reads, "Kinderheim Aufgang für Alle die Kinder bringen und abholen". That means 'Kinderheim stairways for all who bring and collect children.' That suggests that it was not a boarding facility. This appears to be a very modest home. There were also more substantial boarding facilities. The women look to belong to a Protestant nursing order.

A Kinderheim translates as "children's home" in English. This would convey the meaning of an orphanage, but this is apparently not the case. A Kinderheim is a child care facility, a kind of child care facility which included both day and residential operations. We are not sure when Kinderheim first appeared, but it was before World War I. They appear to have been for children that still had parents or at least a parent. Kinderheim were at frst established by churches, charitable groups, communities, and corporations. They had a major role to play after World War I with so many widowed mothers having trouble caring for their children. The concept of Kinderheim has changed somewhat over time. They functioned in the inter-War and World War II era. During the War they were used for thec KLV evaucuation orogram. After the War, the DDR opened quite a number of Kinderheim, but there are repoers of abuses at these faciklities. They still function in Germany today, but the government now has a much expanded role.

Origins

We are not sure when Kinderheim first appeared. We know that some existed before World War I.

Inter-War Kinderheim (1920s-30s)

The photograph here looks to have been taken in the early 1920s. The facilities were extremely helpful for children whose widowed mothers had trouble supporting them. They differened from orpanages in that they supported the mother/parents rather than entirely replaceing them. The sign indicated that this was not a boarding facility. It was more designed to care for children while parents were at work. This would mean that it cared for working-class families whose mothers had to work or widows who also had to work. There would have been a lot of widows in Germany following World War I. Kinderheim was for children from infants up to about 14 years of age. The children are given their lunch at the facility. The children are cared for the whole day or after school. The facility supports mothers/parents who are working during the day and cannot take care of the kids. Commonly, the children will go or will be brought home at night. But there may also be the situation to stay the week except on weekends. Kinderheims were also established for vacations, convalescence (often tuberculosis), school excursions, ect. Children stay there for some days or even longer, may be far from where parents are living. Vacation Kinderheim were sometimes called Erholungsheim. These were not facilities like schools maintained by the government. They were at first maintained by private groups such as churches, charitable groups, hospitals, community groups and corporations with large manufacturing plants. As a result there were great differences among Kinderheim. After the NAZI takeover (1933), the NAZIs began to gain control of charitable fund raising. As a result, many chsrities (especially thecchurches) could no longer fufill their traditionl role in supporting facilities for children. The NAZI welfare organization was the Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt (People's Welfare Organization--NSV). Control of welfare operations allowed the NAZIs to channel available funds to their supporters and to makec sure no welfare assistance reached Jews, in thisd case Jewish children. There were also Kinderheims that were boarding facilities. These were not orphanages. The German word for orphanage is Waisenhaus. The difference appears to be that the Kinderheim were for children that still had parents or at least a parent that was responsible for them. These residential facilities apparently were primarily for convalence or vacations.

World War II (1939-45)

We are not entirely sure how the Kinderheim were used during World War II. We have some limited information. At the time of World War II, there were Kinderheim located both in cities and in small towns and more rural areas. We believe that many were operated by the NAZI NSV, but at least some continued to be operated by church or other welfare organization as well as corportations. At first they continued to operate as before the War. German civilians because of the huge successes were not at first adversely affected because of the War. We do not know if any of the Kinderheim operated as convalence facilities were involved in the T-4 Program. Some of the Kinderheim may have been used for children brought into the Reich as part of the SS Lebensborn program. The vacation Kinderheim were less useful during the War as the German transportation system was stressed. Thus transporting children aroundcthe country was not a high priority, especially as the War began go bgo fainst Germany. The British RAF had begun bombing early in the War, but only began to conduct significant raids when the Avro Lancaster reached Bomber Command (1942). This only increased when the American 8th Sir Force began raiding targets in the Reich (1943). The Allied targets were cities where German industry was located. As a result, the Germans began evacuating chikldren from the cities as part of the KLV Program. Some of these were the facilities set up for vacations or convalences away from the major industrial cities. These Kinderheim facilities outside the cities were used when the Allied strategic bombing campaign increased in intensity (1942-43). They could not handle the huge number of children evacuated, but were among the many different failities used for the evacuated children. All kinds of facilities were used for the evacuees. The German children appeated to have been well cared for, at least until conditions deteriorated at the end of the War. There were also some Kinderheim for non-Aryan children. Some Kinderheim wre set up for Jewish children, especially after they were expelled from schools. There were also Kinderheim for Polish nd Russian children born to Polish and Soviet workers brought into the Reich for war work. Some of the women involved had babies. The infants at a Volkswagen Kinderheim were essentially starved to death.

Modern Kinderheim (1950s-to date)

Kindertagesstaette (KITA) has taken over the former Kinderheime. The government now has a larger role. There are strong political demands for these facilities. Many mothers now have careers and work outside the home. Mostly are established by local communities. In the former German Democratic Republic (DDR) were very common, more common than in West Germany. This was in part because of the social welfare component of a Communist government and because private and church organisations were supressed. Communist Governments like to control such activities, especially anything which touches on the care and education of children. Communist states want to monopolize education to ensure that Communist ideology is firmly planted without competition from other ideological concepts. There are reports of abuses at the DDR Kinderheim. There are still a variety of different facilities, including vacation Kinderheim.

Waisenhaus

A Waisenhaus is an orphanage. It is for children without parents or whose parents are unable to care for them. A Waisenhaus is a full boarding facility. They are established by private groups, churches, charitable organisations, often from a community (staedtisches Waisenhaus). We have very little information about German orphanages at this time.

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Created: 12:28 AM 7/30/2006
Last updated: 4:37 PM 10/4/2011