A group of 15 individuals across four countries has discovered through DNA testing that their biological father was Walther Frisch, a Danish SS soldier. Following the Second World War, Frisch had been imprisoned for a year due to his pledge of allegiance to Adolf Hitler. Despite this history, he later became a sperm donor in the 1960s through fertility treatments provided by Sweden’s Karolinska hospital.
The revelation has left the donor children, who are now seeking clarity on their origins, deeply unsettled. Thomas Rasmussen, one of the biological children, expressed his confusion in the documentary The mystery of the Danish Nazi-donor, produced by the Danish public-service media enterprise DR. He questioned how a man with such a background could have been permitted to donate sperm. Rasmussen noted that because only a small fraction of the population has undergone DNA testing, the actual number of children could potentially exceed 100.
Rasmussen has connected with his Swedish half-brother, Mats Rydberg, to investigate the circumstances surrounding their conception. Rydberg raised concerns about whether they were the result of a deliberate ideological racial project, citing the Nazi ideology promoted by figures like Heinrich Himmler, who advocated for SS officers to father at least four children. Heinrich Himmler was a senior Nazi official and a primary architect of the Holocaust.
The search for answers has been hampered by a lack of records. Neither the Swedish national and regional archives nor the Karolinska Hospital currently possess documentation regarding the donations made by Frisch. When approached for comment, Karolinska Hospital declined an interview but stated that they have no information concerning Frisch. The hospital further remarked that if the selection of a donor had been influenced by ideological motives, it would be considered “completely unacceptable and deeply unethical.” For viewers in Denmark, the documentary detailing these findings is available on DRTV.
