During World War II, around 200,000 ethnic Polish children as well as an unknown number of children of other Slavic ethnicities from the Soviet Union were abducted from their homes and forcibly transported to Nazi Germany for purposes of forced labour, medical experimentation, or Germanization. This was among the most notable Nazi crimes against children.
An aim of the project was to acquire and "Germanize" children believed to have Aryan/Nordic traits because Nazi officials believed that they were the descendants of German settlers who had emigrated to Poland or the Soviet Union. Those labelled "racially valuable" (gutrassig) were forcibly assimilated in centres and then forcibly adopted to German families and SS Home Schools.