In the spring of 1944, the German Ninth Army, then stationed in the Bobruisk area of Belorussia, faced the problem that children were becoming an ever-growing share of the remaining civilian population. While the Germans were transporting 35,000–45,000 people to Ozarichi (the figures are uncertain; see Endlager Ozarichi in this volume), the German staff noted that almost 50 percent of these “useless mouths” were children of the age of 13 years or less.1 In April, Army Group Center created a plan to concentrate, indoctrinate, and train Soviet children in occupied territory, by organizing “children’s villages.”2 In accordance with that plan, the German Ninth Army took steps to create several youth education camps (Jugenderziehungslager, JEL) in villages in the army’s rear area, in which army personnel would concentrate the children. The children were to be “raised in the spirit of a future White Ruthenia under German administration.”3 On May 14, Ninth Army headquarters issued the orde...