I just finished this novel today. I highly recommend it. It is the best book I have read all month. It is fiction based on reality. Author is Sara Young.
Setting is the Netherlands and Germany in World War 2 days. The book opens in 1941 and ends in 1947, however, the bulk of the story takes place within 1941.
Here is what the book cover has to say:
"Cyrla's (pronounced Cur-la) neighbors have begun to whisper. Her cousin, Anneke, is pregnant and has passed the rigorous exams for admission to the Lebensborn, a maternity home for girls carrying German babies. But Anneke's soldier has disappeared, and the Nazis confiscate fatherless children. A note is left under the mat. The neighbors know that Cyrla, sent from Poland for safekeeping with her Dutch relatives, is Jewish. The Nazis are imposing more and more restrictions; she won't be safe there for long.
And then in the space of an afternoon, life falls apart. Cyrla must choose between certain discovery in her cousin's home and taking Anneke's place in the Lebensborn--Cyrla and Anneke are nearly identical. If she takes refuge in the enemy's lair, can Cyrla fool the doctors, nurses, guards, and other mothers-to-be? Can she escape before they discover she is not who she claims?
Mining a lost piece of history, Sara Young takes us deep into the lives of women living in the worst of times. Part love story and part elegy for the terrible choices we must often make to survive, My Enemy's Cradle keens for what we lose in war and sings for the hope we sometimes find."
My thoughts: this novel will leave you stunned. I had no idea what a Lebensborn was before reading this. This part of history was not taught to me in high school, college or graduate school. It is rather shocking yet not too shocking when you realize just how horrid the Nazis were to people who were not considered to be of the "Master Race".
History you will learn: In 1935 Heinrich Himmler set up the Lebensborn (Wellspring or Fountain of Life) Organization. The goal was to increase the population of the "Master Race". The tragedy is that the experience of the Lebensborn life affected women and children across Europe in a horrible, emotionally scarring way.
It remains one of the least-known aspects of the history of World War II.
Mothers who had given birth in these homes and who tried to find their children after the war were unable to: records were destroyed. Babies/children still in those homes, orphanages or institutions were often abandoned. Most suffered from abuse and neglect. Large numbers of them grew up autistic or were wrongly labeled as mentally impaired. Today, as adults, many of them suffer from elevated rates of depression, alcoholism, and suicide.
PLEASE NOTE: I was tempted to let my 14 year old daughter read this because of the history that unfolds. However, she is not quite ready, emotionally, for the content of this book. IT IS GRAPHIC with some details. (rape, self-induced miscarriage/abortion) I do not recommend this book for children under the age of 17.
However, every Christian should read this book! It affected me dramatically and made me get on my knees in thanks to my Lord for allowing me to give birth during a time of relative peace and security. It is not a difficult read stylistically, however, it is challenging to not feel deep, utter hatred for Nazi Germany and all that it entailed. You will most likely want to thank God for all the things we take for granted here in this century, in this country.
Setting is the Netherlands and Germany in World War 2 days. The book opens in 1941 and ends in 1947, however, the bulk of the story takes place within 1941.
Here is what the book cover has to say:
"Cyrla's (pronounced Cur-la) neighbors have begun to whisper. Her cousin, Anneke, is pregnant and has passed the rigorous exams for admission to the Lebensborn, a maternity home for girls carrying German babies. But Anneke's soldier has disappeared, and the Nazis confiscate fatherless children. A note is left under the mat. The neighbors know that Cyrla, sent from Poland for safekeeping with her Dutch relatives, is Jewish. The Nazis are imposing more and more restrictions; she won't be safe there for long.
And then in the space of an afternoon, life falls apart. Cyrla must choose between certain discovery in her cousin's home and taking Anneke's place in the Lebensborn--Cyrla and Anneke are nearly identical. If she takes refuge in the enemy's lair, can Cyrla fool the doctors, nurses, guards, and other mothers-to-be? Can she escape before they discover she is not who she claims?
Mining a lost piece of history, Sara Young takes us deep into the lives of women living in the worst of times. Part love story and part elegy for the terrible choices we must often make to survive, My Enemy's Cradle keens for what we lose in war and sings for the hope we sometimes find."
My thoughts: this novel will leave you stunned. I had no idea what a Lebensborn was before reading this. This part of history was not taught to me in high school, college or graduate school. It is rather shocking yet not too shocking when you realize just how horrid the Nazis were to people who were not considered to be of the "Master Race".
History you will learn: In 1935 Heinrich Himmler set up the Lebensborn (Wellspring or Fountain of Life) Organization. The goal was to increase the population of the "Master Race". The tragedy is that the experience of the Lebensborn life affected women and children across Europe in a horrible, emotionally scarring way.
It remains one of the least-known aspects of the history of World War II.
Mothers who had given birth in these homes and who tried to find their children after the war were unable to: records were destroyed. Babies/children still in those homes, orphanages or institutions were often abandoned. Most suffered from abuse and neglect. Large numbers of them grew up autistic or were wrongly labeled as mentally impaired. Today, as adults, many of them suffer from elevated rates of depression, alcoholism, and suicide.
PLEASE NOTE: I was tempted to let my 14 year old daughter read this because of the history that unfolds. However, she is not quite ready, emotionally, for the content of this book. IT IS GRAPHIC with some details. (rape, self-induced miscarriage/abortion) I do not recommend this book for children under the age of 17.
However, every Christian should read this book! It affected me dramatically and made me get on my knees in thanks to my Lord for allowing me to give birth during a time of relative peace and security. It is not a difficult read stylistically, however, it is challenging to not feel deep, utter hatred for Nazi Germany and all that it entailed. You will most likely want to thank God for all the things we take for granted here in this century, in this country.
2 comments:
Excellent review! It's amazing how fiction can be a vehicle for expressing truth. I've snippets of Hitler's master race activities, but it sounds like this book goes into quite a lot of detail. If it happened then, it can happen again.Scary.
In the face of great evil, my comfort is this: "Greater is He who is within you, than he who is in the world."
I assume can scratch this one off your Spring Reading Thing 2008. :~D
e-Mom @ Chrysalis
How interesting, I loved this post.
I would like to read this story!
Thanks Faith.
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