The nurses behind the Nazi 'Super Race Children': Inside the Aryan breeding wards where boys and girls were given UV treatment if their hair turned brown

Like other wartime nurses, those in Nazi Germany selflessly tended to wounded soldiers in some of the toughest conditions imaginable.

But they also had a more sinister side to their job - assisting with Third Reich's 'experiments' including euthanizing the mentally handicapped and other groups Hitler deemed 'undesirable' and assisting in the creation of 'Super Race Children.'



A collection of photographs has captured these women, probably in the nursing profession's darkest hour.

UV: A nurse gives children of working mothers UV light treatments at a nursery in Berlin, Germany

The actions of the Nazi doctors throughout the war are well documented but the actions of the nurses and others who assisted them in their controversial endeavors are often ignored.

Probably the most disturbing project the nurses of Nazi Germany assisted in was the Lebensborn Program, where scientists, on orders of Heinrich Himmler, attempted to breed an elite race of pure Aryans to lead the Third Reich.



Under the plan, children who didn't measure up were sent to concentration camps, according to the website Best Certified Nursing Programs.



In 1939, the Nazis went even further, traveling to occupied territories such as Poland to steal hundreds of thousands of Aryan-looking children.

Experiments: Nurses put babies under a sunlamp at the NSV, the welfare organization of the Nazi party during World War II

Gas mask: A Nazi nurse fits a young girl with a government-issue gasmask, in 1937

Orphans: Three young orphaned homeless German children are led by a nurse to the Lichterfelde children's home, Berlin, in 1945

Lebensborn: A nurse at a Lebensborn nursing home tends to children involved in the 'Super Race' project The youngsters were transferred to Lebensborn clinics where they were 'Germanized' and then adopted out to SS families.

Children who refused to be indoctrinated were beaten, and often sent to concentration camps where many were killed. Nurses performed tasks such as treating brown-haired children's hair with UV light in a bid to make it fairer.

Whether they were simply following orders, or trying to help out, or fight for a cause they believed in, these nurses are part of the diverse history of the nursing profession. Support: Troop support by nurses of the German Red Cross at a fast train with front vacationers at Saalfeld station, in 1941 Babies: Nurses with the National Socialist People's Welfare checking the health of two babies

Assisting the cause: Nazi General Erwin Rommel greets nurses in 1943