Is anyone safe in Germany…especially the perfect female examples of the German race.

Gundi is one of the perfect, gorgeous German women chosen by the Reich to bear perfect children to create the master race. She does have a secret, though. Actually she has two secrets.

We meet Hilde who is a staunch follower of the Reich and one of the women who is willing to help fill Germany with perfect children.

And we meet Irma a former nurse and 44 years old. She will be the one encouraging the unwed mothers to stay healthy so they deliver these perfect children.

We meet these women during this dark time in history and at Lebensborn Society maternity home where women arrive already pregnant or will become pregnant by an approved German officer.

Ms. Coburn did amazing, thorough research on a topic I never knew about.

Historical fiction fans will enjoy CRADLES OF THE REICH.

There are many sensitive and heartbreaking topics addressed, and this idea of using German women in this way is something I couldn’t believe. 4/5

This book was given to me by the author via NetGalley for an honest review.

Cradles of the Reich, Jennifer Coburn, author; Natasha Soudek, narrator
This book is based on historic facts, real people and experiences. It is written in a style that would be suitable for a YA audience as well as an adult audience. It would be helpful to introduce this subject in order to educate young people about the horrific behavior of Germany during WWII, a time in which the Germans seemed to have universally supported the diabolical behavior of Adolf Hitler, unless of course, they were not ‘’pure Aryans”. In that case, they feared him and his National Socialists.
In alternating chapters, the lives of three women, Gundi, Irma and Hilde, are revealed to the reader. All three meet at Heim Hochland, in Bavaria. It is a home for unwed Aryan mothers or Aryan women who have chosen to carry babies for the Reich, run by the Lebensborn Society. Often the child would be adopted by a suitable, worthy Aryan family, unless the child was deemed unsuitable. Then other means would be used to dispose of the newborn. Women were encouraged to have four children, so many wanted to adopt additional children to further Hitler’s dream. The Lebensborn Society aided in this endeavor.
Gundi, a non-Jew had a Jewish boyfriend, Leo Solomon. Both had been university students and had been in the Underground. After he was arrested, she discovered she was pregnant with his child. When she went to the doctor to confirm her pregnancy, he was overjoyed to discover that she was the perfect specimen of an Aryan mother. He makes her the symbol of motherhood all over Germany. Unknown to this Nazi doctor, however, is the fact that her baby’s father is Jewish, and the baby will be an unacceptable mischling. He believes the father is an Aryan with an impeccable ancestry because Gundi has not named Leo as the father, but instead, has named her former boyfriend. Everyone had already assumed that anyway. She is forced to go to the Lebensborn Society’s home for expectant mothers. There she will be given the best care for her perfect Aryan baby, but when the imperfect baby is born, they may both be in grave danger.
Hilde is a teenager completely enthralled with the National Socialist movement who dreams of having a child with a prominent Nazi and then rising within the ranks of the party. Defying her parents, she pursues those goals. When she becomes pregnant, as she had hoped, she is sent to the Lebensborn facility, as well. What will happen to her when she miscarries?
Irma is a nurse in her forties. She has been in what she thought was a serious relationship, but when her lover betrays her, she accepts a position at the Lebensborn home to begin her life in a new direction. How does that work out for her? Gundi, Irma and Hilde will each face a serious challenge, and each will rise to their challenge in a completely different way. How will they each find the courage to deal with their problems and go forward? Will they all condemn Nazis in the end?
Germany started WWII. I feel strongly that the Germans were complicit in the horrid acts committed, were responsible for the terrible destruction and the monumental loss of life, because they enabled it. No denials from them will ring true, when it is apparent that Germany’s commercial enterprises used the starved and abused slave labor that the Nazis happily provided them with and they happily accepted, as other Aryans gleefully stole the belongings of those who disappeared and never wondered where they went or didn’t care, and as in some places, they smelled the foul smell of burning bodies that could not be ignored. These selfish and greedy Germans believed they were superior beings. In fact, though, they were inferior in matters of ethics, morality, honor and virtue. Shame on all of them that didn’t pick up a finger to fight in The Underground or to support the resistance.