'I never imagined my father was a Nazi': Born in a German-run 'baby factory'
Summary
Édith Pagot learned in 2026 that she was born in 1944 at a Nazi-run Lebensborn maternity home in France under the name Édith de Vicar. After being taken to Germany, she was placed with an adoptive couple in northeastern France in 1948; her daughter’s research uncovered her origins.Key Facts
- Édith Pagot was born on April 11, 1944, at a Lebensborn home in France’s Oise department.
- She was registered at birth as Édith de Vicar.
- A photograph shows her at the Indersdorf children’s centre in Germany in 1945, where staff photographed children with name signs to help find their families.
- Two trainloads of children, including some born in Lebensborn homes, were brought from Germany to Commercy in eastern France in 1946.
- Édith was placed with a couple in France’s Lorraine region in 1948.
- Her adoptive parents told her she had been adopted but did not tell her about her birth or wartime history.
- Édith’s daughter, Émilie Ruffra, began researching her mother’s origins and uncovered her connection to a Lebensborn home.
- The Lebensborn project began in 1935 under Heinrich Himmler and aimed to produce children considered racially desirable by the Nazi regime.
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