Wolf Children

Wolf children (German: Wolfskinder) was the name given to a group of orphaned German children at the end of World War II in East Prussia.

Between the end of 1944 and January 1945, civilians were forbidden by the Nazis to evacuate. The Nazis viewed evacuation as a sign of capitulation. As the Red Army got closer, many prepared to evacuate anyway. Until the last minute, the Nationalist Socialist Governor Erich Koch gave orders that fleeing was illegal and punishable ("strenges Fluchtverbot" - flight strictly forbidden). At the last moment flight was allowed. The invasion prompted millions of men, women, and children to flee; however, many adults were killed, leaving many orphaned children. The children fled into the surrounding forest and were forced to fend for themselves. Many German children who were not fortunate enough to escape were killed by Allied bombs. Thousands more were abandoned, orphaned, raped or kidnapped.

When the Red Army conquered East Prussia in 1945, thousands of German children were left on their own because their parents had been killed during bombing raids or during harsh winters without any food or shelter. Older children often tried to keep their siblings together, and survival—searching for food and shelter became their number-one priority. Many went on food-scrounging trips into neighboring Lithuania and were adopted by the rural Lithuanian farmers, who often give them food and shelter for free. Most of these children made these trips back and forth many times to get food for their sick mothers or siblings. They were called “wolf children” because of their wolf-like wandering through the forests and along railroad tracks, sometimes catching rides on top of or in between railroad cars, jumping off before reaching Soviet control stations. Those who assisted the German children to survive had to hide their efforts from the Soviet authorities in Lithuania. Therefore, many German children's names were changed, and only after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 could they reveal their true identities.

After Soviet occupation and orphaned by hunger and disease, these orphan children had to care for themselves. Surviving despite starvation meant they were condemned to live through "begging, , stealing".

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