HHP Trip to Kunsthal Rotterdam: “Lebensborn: Birth Politics of the Third Reich”

By Elena Lamprou and Sophie Lammers

Dear HHP members,

On the 19th of June, we —alongside eight more HHP History students— visited the exhibition “Lebensborn: Birth Politics of the Third Reich” at Kunsthal Rotterdam. The exhibition is based on Angeniet Berkers’ homonymous book, which she compiled over a five-year period of research on archival material and testimonies relating to the Lebensborn program of the Third Reich. This program was a 1935 SS initiative aimed at increasing the “Aryan” birth rates in the Nazi Empire. The Lebensborn program was grounded on ideas of racial superiority, eugenics, secrecy and oftentimes abuse, so children “produced” through it dealt with complex issues in adulthood, deriving from their upbringing, loss of personal identity or societal stigma.

Albeit a photographer by trade, Angeniet Berkers has a background in sociotherapy and has previously helped veterans, refugees and young people struggling with psychiatric problems and PTSD. Thus, her work on the Lebensborn program constituted another project aimed at social engagement and awareness, which she handled with the appropriate degree of sensitivity, as was clear to all of us. This was particularly important, seeing as her work primarily revolved around interviewing people created via Lebensborn, who, as previously mentioned, have had troubled lives and complex trauma.

The exhibition revolved primarily around three such testimonies collected by Berkers: Michael Sturm, Ingrid von Oelhafen and Gisela Heidenreich. Through their stories, as well as an assortment of photographic material that Berkers collected from the “Lebensborn houses” these people grew up in, the photographer investigates how trauma, shadows of the past and troubled histories can hide behind presumed normalcy.

On our end, as organizers, we provided the group with the necessary historical information on Lebensborn, as well as some biographical information on Berkers, but then allowed everyone to take their time exploring the exhibition. In the end, we gathered again and discussed our impressions of it, focusing on art as a medium to convey History with a more human-centric approach. As History students and, coincidentally, mostly as History students with a specialization in political History, this human-centric approach was fascinating to all of us and we were quite moved. This sparked a lively discussion on the responsibility of not just artists, but also historians, to be socially engaged and make sure that stories like the Lebensborn testimonies do not get lost in time or repeat in the future. Moreover, we reflected on the role of archives and materiality in History, since it was a common observation we all made that Berkers did an amazing job at incorporating historical documents in her exhibition, while also using and adding nuance to otherwise everyday objects that most of us would ignore or not associate with the horrifying events relating to the Third Reich.

Naturally, this topic was heavy for all of us. So, after viewing and discussing the exhibition, we decided on an impromptu day-out in Rotterdam, which was really fun and served as a nice farewell to the day as well as the summer break. Nevertheless, this exhibition is certainly food for thought and we definitely recommend it to everyone, regardless of whether they are already familiar with the historical context of the Lebensborn program or not.