CRADLES OF THE REICH
Three women, a nation seduced by a madman, and the Nazi breeding program to create a so-called master race
At Heim Hochland, a Nazi breeding home in Bavaria, three women’s fates are irrevocably intertwined. Gundi is a pregnant university student from Berlin. An Aryan beauty, she’s secretly a member of a resistance group. Hilde, only eighteen, is a true believer in the cause and is thrilled to carry a Nazi official’s child. And Irma, a 44-year-old nurse, is desperate to build a new life for herself after personal devastation. All three have everything to lose.
Based on untold historical events,
Three women, a nation seduced by a madman, and the Nazi breeding program to create a so-called master race
At Heim Hochland, a Nazi breeding home in Bavaria, three women’s fates are irrevocably intertwined. Gundi is a pregnant university student from Berlin. An Aryan beauty, she’s secretly a member of a resistance group. Hilde, only eighteen, is a true believer in the cause and is thrilled to carry a Nazi official’s child. And Irma, a 44-year-old nurse, is desperate to build a new life for herself after personal devastation. All three have everything to lose.
Based on untold historical events, this novel brings us intimately inside the Lebensborn Society maternity homes that actually existed in several countries during World War II, where thousands of “racially fit” babies were bred and taken from their mothers to be raised as part of the new Germany. But it proves that in a dark period of history, the connections women forge can carry us through, even driving us to heroism we didn’t know we had within us.
- Sourcebooks Landmark
- Paperback
- July 2023
- 416 Pages
- 9781728269832
Buy the Book
$16.99
About Jennifer Coburn
Jennifer Coburn is the author of Cradles of the Reich, a historical novel about three very different women living at a Nazi Lebensborn breeding home at the start of World War ll.
She has also published a mother-daughter travel memoir, We’ll Always Have Paris, as well as six contemporary women’s novels. Additionally, Jennifer has contributed to five literary anthologies, including A Paris All Your Own.
Jennifer lives in San Diego with her husband, William. Their daughter, Katie is currently in graduate school. When Jennifer is not going down historical research rabbit holes, she volunteers with So Say We All, a live storytelling organization, where she is a performer, producer, and performance coach. She is also an active volunteer with Reality Changers, a nonprofit that supports low-income high school students in becoming the first in their families to attend college.
Praise
“Every historical fiction novel should strive to be this compelling, well-researched and just flat-out good.” – Associated Press
“Skillfully researched and told with great care and insight, here is a World War II story whose lessons should not―must not―be forgotten.” ― Susan Meissner, bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things
“Unforgettable!” — Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code
“A deep well of discussion topics for book-club readers.” — Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Gundi, Hilde, and Irma have starkly different attitudes toward the Nazi regime and their places at Heim Hochland. Who did you most identify with? Who did you find most compelling as a character?
2. Compare Hilde’s and Gundi’s experiences during the November pogroms the Nazis called Kristallnacht. Did either of them really understand the broader context of this event?
3. As Hilde tries to impress Nazi officials, she represses her conscience to say the right things. What motivates her to seek status within the Reich? What does Hilde want out of life?
4. How did the Reich’s propaganda about self-sacrifice smooth the way for Lebensborn homes to function?
5. There are many examples of the Reich’s coordinated effort to dehumanize Jews, from the picture book about poisonous mushrooms to the documentary The Eternal Jew. How do these materials relate to Lotte’s insistence that “great things only happen when strong people make difficult choices”?
6. Put yourself in Gundi’s shoes when she learns that the father of her child has been framed for a crime and sent to a labor camp.Would you be able to keep your secret? Would you look for a way to help Leo?
7. While the book focuses primarily on birth mothers, adoptive parents are an enormous part of the machinery of the Lebensborn Society. What circumstances led Germans to become adoptive parents? How, as in the case of the “displaced” Polish orphans, does adoption contribute to genocide?
8. How does Gundi’s self-image get in the way of her first attempts to find Leo and get to know him?
9. Gundi’s escape from Heim Hochland almost fails several times. Which close call made you the most nervous?
10. Irma says she doesn’t want to live in a world where helping people survive is remarkable. How can we make that more ordinary in the modern day?