DNA tests link former SS soldier to 15 donor children

DNA tests and genealogical research have revealed that Danish Nazi Walther Frisch was a secret sperm donor at Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm during the 1960s, DR reports. At least 15 donor-conceived people in Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Finland have since discovered that he was their biological father.

The donor children fear the final number could be much higher, with some believing they may have more than 100 biological half-siblings. They say the number of children can only be established through DNA testing, which very few people have undergone.

Frisch’s identity remained hidden for more than 60 years. His donor children are now asking why he became a sperm donor, whether they were part of a Nazi experiment and who he really was.

Volunteered for the Waffen-SS

Frisch was born in Viby J in 1917 and grew up in a middle-class family. His father was a master bricklayer, while Frisch began working as a waiter at the age of 16.

In his twenties, he became sympathetic to Nazi ideology. In May 1942, at the age of 25, he volunteered for the Waffen-SS, the armed branch of the Nazi SS.

During the Second World War, Frisch trained at the SS school in Seinnheim in northeastern France. He was later attached, among other places, to a Waffen-SS barracks in Graz, Austria.

More than 200 Jews and forced labourers were murdered in a mass shooting at the barracks while he was there. It has not been established whether Frisch was present during the killings.

After the war, Frisch stood trial in Copenhagen. He said he had worked only as a waiter for the Germans and had not taken part in fighting at the front. He was sentenced to one year in prison.

After serving his sentence, he moved to Sweden and began a new life. He had a partner, got married, worked as a head waiter and was employed by an auction house. He also became a sperm donor.

Questions about an ideological motive

For several years during the 1960s, Frisch regularly visited Karolinska Hospital as a sperm donor. No one knows how many donor children resulted from his visits.

Several of the 15 known donor children suspect that the total may be far higher. Donors in Sweden remained anonymous until 1985, and Frisch’s children were not told who their biological father was.

No explanation is known for Frisch’s decision to become a donor. However, several of his donor children suspect that it may have been ideological.

Frisch never regretted his time in the Waffen-SS. He remained proud of having fought for Nazi Germany, continued to hate Jews and kept an SS tattoo on the inside of his upper arm, according to the article.

Some of the donor children have therefore wondered whether Frisch was inspired by Heinrich Himmler, the leader of the SS and a principal architect of Nazi racial theories.

“Then the thoughts start spinning. What did Heinrich Himmler say? Every German Waffen-SS officer should have at least four children. Are we a result of that ideology?” Mats Rydberg, one of Frisch’s donor children, told DR.

Rydberg’s mother was inseminated at Karolinska Hospital in 1962. She was not told who the donor was.

Sweden was a pioneer in hormone treatment and insemination during the 1960s, prompting several Danish women to travel there in the hope of having a child.