I now know this was called the Lebensborn project, or Fountain of Life." It was one of most secret and terrifying Nazi projects to be created by the government. Heinrich Himmler founded the Lebensborn project on December 12, 1935, the same year the Nuremberg Laws outlawed intermarriage with Jews and others who were deemed inferior. For decades, Germany's birthrate was decreasing. In the beginning, the Lebensborn were SS nurseries. In order to create a "super-race," the SS transformed these nurseries in "meeting places" for "racially pure" German women who wanted to meet and make children with SS officers. SS stands for Schutzstaffel or Protection Squadrons. Between 1935 and 1945, there were born some 10,000 children in Germany and an estimated
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But back then, it was a thriving industrial city with a large university and a lovely city center. Our family was comfortable there and Mama created a lovely house for us it was on the second floor above the bakery. Oh, the glorious smells of fresh baked goods coming through the windows every day is something I remember well and even now, when I smell fresh-baked bread I think of our apartment in Jena. Sometimes when we walked down the stairs and passed the baker or his wife, they'd greet us and talk. Often they'd hand Mama some baked goods which we love so much. I must have been about three when I first began learning the things that Mama thought her little girl should know. Among the lessons was this little prayer: “Lieber Gott, mach nick fromm, depich in den Himmel komm.” In English it means: “Dear God, help me to be a good person, so I will go to heaven.” Every time I said my little prayer I felt a lot comfort as if someone stood beside me holding my hand. In real life, I didn't have …show more content…
They had to sell many of the cows and horses as they couldn't care for the stock alone and the War Department needed meat for the soldiers.
How special dinner was when visiting Grandpa's farm, although Grandmother Frieda was not as good a cook as my mama. But it was the conversations when we all gathered around the big wooden table as Mama and Grandpa would tell stories of what life was when he was growing up on this same farm and also when Mama was my age.
Oh, he laughed as if he could see Mama up to the mischief he described. Much like me, she had no fear. “One time, children, your mother nearly gave me a heart attack. She jumped off a fast-rolling hay wagon, tumbling to the ground, but barely escaping being squashed by the wagon wheel. And another time, your mama right there decided that the bull needed to be out in the field. She somehow struggled to open the gate and let a big angry bull out of his barn."
Mama looked guilty or pretended to be. "I just wanted him to be in the pasture and have friends with the cows."
"Your mama," Grandpa would say with a sigh, but we could tell he loved her so
But back then, it was a thriving industrial city with a large university and a lovely city center. Our family was comfortable there and Mama created a lovely house for us it was on the second floor above the bakery. Oh, the glorious smells of fresh baked goods coming through the windows every day is something I remember well and even now, when I smell fresh-baked bread I think of our apartment in Jena. Sometimes when we walked down the stairs and passed the baker or his wife, they'd greet us and talk. Often they'd hand Mama some baked goods which we love so much. I must have been about three when I first began learning the things that Mama thought her little girl should know. Among the lessons was this little prayer: “Lieber Gott, mach nick fromm, depich in den Himmel komm.” In English it means: “Dear God, help me to be a good person, so I will go to heaven.” Every time I said my little prayer I felt a lot comfort as if someone stood beside me holding my hand. In real life, I didn't have …show more content…
They had to sell many of the cows and horses as they couldn't care for the stock alone and the War Department needed meat for the soldiers.
How special dinner was when visiting Grandpa's farm, although Grandmother Frieda was not as good a cook as my mama. But it was the conversations when we all gathered around the big wooden table as Mama and Grandpa would tell stories of what life was when he was growing up on this same farm and also when Mama was my age.
Oh, he laughed as if he could see Mama up to the mischief he described. Much like me, she had no fear. “One time, children, your mother nearly gave me a heart attack. She jumped off a fast-rolling hay wagon, tumbling to the ground, but barely escaping being squashed by the wagon wheel. And another time, your mama right there decided that the bull needed to be out in the field. She somehow struggled to open the gate and let a big angry bull out of his barn."
Mama looked guilty or pretended to be. "I just wanted him to be in the pasture and have friends with the cows."
"Your mama," Grandpa would say with a sigh, but we could tell he loved her so