Author Talk with Jennifer Coburn

CRADLES OF THE REICH by Jennifer Coburn uncovers a topic rarely explored in fiction: the Lebensborn project, a Nazi breeding initiative to raise the birth rate of “racially pure” Aryan children. 

For fans of The Nightingale and The Handmaid’s Tale, CRADLES OF THE REICH by Jennifer Coburn (Sourcebooks Landmark; Hardcover; October 11th) uncovers a topic rarely explored in fiction: the Lebensborn project, a Nazi breeding initiative to raise the birth rate of “racially pure” Aryan children. 

Lebensborn, which translates to Spring of Life, operated from 1935 to 1945 as a three-pronged program to produce more children of an elite race. The program targeted racially elite women with Aryan features offering a solution to inconvenient pregnancies by placing them in Nazi-run breeding homes while also arranging sexual liaisons with Nazi officers. All of its participants believed it was their patriotic honor to bear appropriate Nazi children. At its end the program had produced 20,000 children.  Lebensborn was also responsible for 200,000 kidnappings of Aryan children from invaded territories throughout the war.

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