In 1935, Germany launched a programme to provide the Third Reich with a new generation of leaders and a future elite: Lebensborn (‘Fountain of Life’). The architect behind this plan, Heinrich Himmler, intended to use the children born under this programme to improve the ‘racial quality’ of the population of the Nazi Reich. Due to falling birth rates, abortion and contraceptive methods were banned, whilst families with children received financial incentives. Before they left for the front, SS officers were encouraged to father as many children as possible, even outside marriage.
In Lebensborn homes across Europe, both married and unmarried women who met the characteristics of the ‘Aryan race’ could give birth. When it became clear that the programme was not yielding the desired results,the Nazis also abducted children with blond hair and blue eyes fromPoland and the former Yugoslavia, whom they then ‘Germanized.’ After the war, these children and their families were often stigmatized and sometimes mistreated or abused. Many grew up surrounded by secrets.
Berkers documented the experiences of nine individuals now in their eighties. She came across objects and documents that revealed how National Socialist ideology permeated every aspect of the Lebensborn homes. The project includes measuring devices used to determine ‘Aryan’ ancestry. Berkers also visited former homes, photographing the buildings, interiors, and surrounding landscape.
Artist Bios
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Angeniet Berkers
Angeniet Berkers (1985, Rotterdam) is a Dutch documentary photographer who has a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and studied photography at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (KABK). Before fully turning to photography, she worked as a sociotherapist within mental health care, working with veterans and refugees, among others, dealing with complex PTSD caused by war and violence. This experience continues to influence the themes she engages with and the way she approaches her subjects.
Her long-term projects explore the intersections of history, trauma, and family, examining how personal and collective memories shape the present. Working through extensive research, she combines photography with archival material, text and sound. Her approach is grounded in close, careful collaboration with the people she portrays, with a strong focus on trust and ethical representation.
The photobook about Lebensborn was shortlisted for the Aperture Paris Photo First Book Award and the Historical Book Award at Les Rencontres d’Arles. The project has been exhibited at Kunsthal Rotterdam, PhEST and Encontros da Imagem. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Frankfurter Allgemeine, GEO.de, and de Volkskrant. Alongside her autonomous projects, she works on commission and teaches workshops and masterclasses in photography at Art Academies.
Organizations
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Melkweg Expo
Melkweg Expo is an exhibition space for contemporary photography and a platform for emerging artists, located in the heart of Amsterdam. With a focus on photography that explores identity, society and pop culture. Characterized by a distinctly playful and accessible approach, Melkweg Expo seeks to unveil high quality art – art that is innovative, engaging and inclusive.
Melkweg Expo’s main goal is to nurture and promote emerging talent and present them to a broad audience – from admirers of art, photography addicts, art students and self-taught artists, to the casual passers-by of the venue’s central location and music lovers surfacing from the crowd of a Melkweg concert. Melkweg Expo is part of Melkweg.
Melkweg stands for pop culture in the most broad of senses. Each year, hundreds of concerts, club nights, films and music films, theatre performances, expositions and multidisciplinary events together attract almost 540,000 visitors.
The venue is located in the only surviving factory building on the Amsterdam canal ring, a former sugar and, later, milk factory.
In the Melkweg, established names can be seen alongside new talent and emerging styles get the chance to reach a broader audience. The diversity of its programming and visitors have for years made the Melkweg a unique place.
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Photoville
Founded in 2011 in Brooklyn, NY, Photoville was built on the principles of addressing cultural equity and inclusion, which we are always striving for, by ensuring that the artists we exhibit are diverse in gender, class, and race.
In pursuit of its mission, Photoville produces an annual, city-wide open air photography festival in New York City, a wide range of free educational community initiatives, and a nationwide program of public art exhibitions.
By activating public spaces, amplifying visual storytellers, and creating unique and highly innovative exhibition and programming environments, we join the cause of nurturing a new lens of representation.
Through creative partnerships with festivals, city agencies, and other nonprofit organizations, Photoville offers visual storytellers, educators, and students financial support, mentorship, and promotional & production resources, on a range of exhibition opportunities.
For more information about Photoville visit, www.photoville.com
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Dutch Culture USA
Dutch arts, culture, and shared cultural heritage are represented in the U.S. through the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Washington, DC, and the Consulates General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, New York, and San Francisco. The headquarters for cultural services is the Press and Cultural Affairs Department of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York.
FUTURE 400, a 2024/2025 initiative of the Netherlands Consulate General in New York, endeavors to honor 400 years of Dutch-New York history with honesty and integrity, creating space for others who share this common heritage to voice their feelings and experiences at this monumental moment. Partners from cultural to commercial fields, from the New York area to the Netherlands will come together to create new work and new opportunities that will continue to write the next chapter of our shared story, our collective…FUTURE 400. More information: www.dutchcultureusa.com
Lebensborn
Featuring: Angeniet Berkers
Curated by: Fleurie Kloostra
Locations
ON VIEW AT: #37
View Location Details Download a detailed map of this location Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza1 Water St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
This location is part of Brooklyn Bridge Park
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The views and opinions expressed in this exhibit are those of the exhibition artists and partners and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Photoville or any other participants and partners of the Photoville Festival.
This program is supported by DutchCultureUSA, a program of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the United States.
With special thanks to the nine individuals who shared their life stories with me for this project, and in particular to Gisela Heidenreich, Michael Sturm, and Ingrid von Oelhafen.
Thanks for your support Mira Matic, Jeroen Toirkens, Will Bous, and Paul Berkers!
