Cradles of the Reich
Cradles of the Reich
By: Jennifer Coburn
“‘In the four years the Lebensborn Society has been in existence, do you know how many girls have met one hundred percent of our criteria for genetic and aesthetic perfection?’ Dr Ebner paused, ‘One. One girl— you, Gundi.’”
This is a disturbing read.
Not because of the writing but because of the subject matter: Lebensborn Society circa WWII where the Germans sought to create perfect humans using a breeding process. It’s disturbing because of the indoctrination we know happened in Nazi Germany.
This book focuses on a unique facet of the war which differentiates it from so many other WWII novels and made it interesting to read, but unfortunately the ending left much to be desired.
Cradles of the Reich follows three characters who find themselves at Heim Hochland, one of the Germans’ centers to breed ‘racially pure’ babies for Hitler. Coburn indicates in her author’s note that she wanted to explore characters with three different attitudes a German citizen may have had.
Gundi: the perfect German ‘specimen’ but is secretly part of the Resistance against the Nazis and wants no part of their program
“‘Gundi, If you want to do something, it can’t be because you want to help the Jews. It has to be because you understand, heart and soul, that we are all inextricable bound. We don’t need a savior. We need allies.’”
Irma: the motherly nurse who hears the bad things that are happening but thinks it can’t be as bad as everyone says
“‘That’s the problem, Gundi, I don’t want to be in a world where helping one another survive is remarkable.’”
Hilde: young and enamored with an SS officer, excited to do her part to bear children for the Reich
“She was a woman of substance who understood that the most important thing about a man was the kind of life he could provide for her.”
The chapters change perspectives between the three women as they find themselves at the house intended to ‘care for’ pregnant women who are bringing racially pure children into the world.
Gundi tried to run away and escape the program but was back and basically forced to remain there. Irma is just trying to do good in the world by helping bring life into it. Hilde is desperate to bear children in this program and will do whatever it takes to be successful and wanted.
Historical Aspects
Since 60% of the women were unmarried, unwanted babies were placed in their adoption program to perfect German families dedicated to Hitler’s vision. Children were also kidnapped from other countries like Poland and put through the Lebensborn Society program in an effort to ‘Germanize’ them.
The house also had rooms for young single women who ‘entertained’ SS officers periodically which would hopefully lead to more Aryan pregnancies. Thousands of babies were born over the years they functioned.
HERE is an interesting article with stories from people with personal ties there.
The Edelweiss Pirates was a real organization of youths who were not taken in by the propaganda and avoided Hitler’s Youth.
The book Der Giftpilz that was written to teach kids that Jews were ‘poisonous’ was real. You can see a page of it HERE.
Kristallnacht was a horrific night. You can read more about it HERE.
The racial screening tools used on Gundi at the beginning of the book were real. The Holocaust Museum has a picture of one of them HERE.
Eugenics and Abortion
It’s pretty unreal to think about these kinds of centers existing. That the Nazis thought they could identify the perfect race and create a world like that— especially considering Hitler wasn’t even Aryan…
And yet, I can’t help but think about abortion in the United States.
We scoff and are disgusted by the practices contained in this book to create perfect humans, and yet culture approves and celebrates abortion which is essentially doing the same thing. Babies are killed if they are not perfect— they may have one ‘defect’ or another— or they are inconvenient, unwanted. We are lying to ourselves if we believe abortion in America is any different than the eugenics vision of Hitler.
All life is inherently valuable. It is simply a person’s human-ness that makes them worthy of life: not their skin color, their number of limbs, their number of chromosomes, the abilities of their minds, or the functioning of their senses.
Hopefully this book can remind us of the value of human life and stop us from trying to create ‘perfect’ families by keeping certain babies out of them.
The Ending
Why was the ending disappointing?
Because it was abrupt. And it was incomplete.
One of the characters makes an escape attempt but it’s at like 80% of the way through. And then the book is just over. We don’t even know what becomes of one of the characters. And even the woman who tries to escape we don’t get any information about her family or the father of the child or even what her future holds.
Considering the author creates a story where these three very different characters come together in the same house, you’d think we would get a fuller picture of how their attitudes change or influence one another.
I just needed so much more information at the end.
Recommendation
I would recommend this book if you enjoy all WWII books and love learning about more aspects of what happened during the war and how people endured different types of hardship. If you are interested in learning about the Lebensborn Society, you’ll probably enjoy this book.
If you like to have satisfying and complete endings, I wouldn’t recommend this one. I think you’ll be disappointed like I was.
It had so much potential and the ending really took away from it.
I also would not recommend this book if pregnancy or miscarriage is a sensitive subject for you. They are both major parts of the book and may be too much for some women.
[Content Advisory: 1 f-word, 0 s-words; one minor character is gay; considering the premise of the book there is frequent talk of sex and pregnancy; trigger warning for miscarriage]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
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