Jennifer Coburn

In 1941, the Nazis established the ghetto of Theresienstadt, which is located forty miles northwest of Prague. Most of the Jews imprisoned there died of illness and starvation or were eventually deported to killing centers in the east. The Germans promoted this wretched place as a "paradise," and spread the false narrative that the Jews living in this camp were well-fed and comfortable. Inspectors from the Red Cross visited Theresienstadt in 1944 after the Nazis spruced it up. A deceptive show more film was made for propaganda purposes to hide the shocking truth: Theresienstadt was overcrowded, bug-infested, filthy, and disease-ridden. It was of some consolation that artists, musicians, and scholars in the ghetto were permitted to perform in concerts and plays and deliver lectures to their fellow internees.

Jennifer Coburn's "The Girls of the Glimmer Factory" is a powerful and poignant work of historical fiction that centers on two childhood friends who part, only to meet again years later. Hannah Kaufman, a young Jewish woman, is sent to Theresienstadt along with her widowed grandfather. She was once close to Hilde Kramer, a German who is a proud supported of the Third Reich. Hilde longs to make documentaries like the renowned director Leni Riefenstahl, whose films glorified National Socialism. The author contrasts Hannah's naive, vulnerable, and sweet nature with Hilde's selfishness, cunning, and opportunism. To her credit, however, Coburn depicts Hilde not as a monster, but as a lonely and bitter individual who is desperate for attention and admiration.

This well-researched novel (Coburn, in her afterword, explains where she deviated from the facts for the sake of the narrative) has a large cast of intriguing characters. Its well-constructed plot and vivid descriptive writing keep us enthralled as we observe a terrified Hannah trying to keep her spirits up in her terrifying new surroundings. Although there are many heartbreaking passages in "The Girls of the Glimmer Factory," it has uplifting moments, as well. Certain scenes remind us that—in a world filled with so much hatred and evil—there are still brave human beings who will not sell their souls to save themselves. show less

The story opens in April 1939. Gundi Schiller, a twenty-year-old university student, and her widowed mother, Elsbeth, have gone to see their regular physician but find that he has summoned SS-Oberfuhrer Gregory Ebner (an actual historical figure who was the physician overseeing the Lebensborn homes) to participate in the consultation. Gundi’s heart drops when he confirms that she is in fact pregnant. In another time and place, Gundi would be overjoyed to carry the child of Leo Solomon, the show more young Jewish man she loves. But it is an increasingly treacherous time in Germany. Gundi and Leo are both members of the Edelweiss Pirates, a real resistance group, and Gundi has been able to use her Aryan beauty to clandestinely further their efforts. She knows the consequences if their activities are discovered. She is also cognizant of the law prohibiting relationships with Jews and what would likely happen to her, their child, and Leo – who has gone missing – if the Nazis learn Leo is the father. Anna Rath was a real German who was paraded through Nuremburg, after having her head shaved, for merely intending to marry a Jew. Gundi can only imagine how much worse the penalty would be for bearing the child of a Jew.

Gundi is humiliated and appalled when Ebner’s examination grows increasingly violative and includes racial screening methods such as assessing the color of her skin and eyes, and using calipers to measure her skull, the distance between her eyes, etc. Ebner delightedly declares that she is the first women to ever achieve a perfect score, and she will be sent to the real Heim Hochland, “a very special maternity home for German girls, where you will receive top-notch medical care.” Gundi quickly learns that declining an invitation from a Nazi officer is not an option. To protect both Leo and her mother, who has spent the last decade working as a file clerk at the Reich Chancellery and whose allegiance is unclear to Gundi, she names her homosexual friend, Erich, as the baby’s father. By doing so, she is extending protection to him, as well.

Author Jennifer Coburn says she found the character of Hilde Kramer the most difficult to craft. “I wanted to examine a young woman’s path to becoming a true believer without making excuses for her heinous acts.” But in order to do so, she had to “embody” a young woman who would have considered Coburn and her Jewish family “untermenschen” (subhumans). The fictional Hilde is based on Hildegard Trutz, a “Hitler Girl” who happily became pregnant by a German officer and enjoyed her stay at a Lebensborn home before voluntarily relinquishing her child to a German adoptive family. She later recalled her time as part of the Lebensborn Society “the best in her life.”

Indeed, Hilde is a largely despicable character. At eighteen years of age, her parents are pressuring her to find a husband. She wants desperately to be an actress but is aware that she is not considered beautiful by German standards. She has a figure “like a can of evaporated milk.” The middle child, she feels she falls short when her parents compare her to her successful older brother and deceased younger sister, who was a classic beauty. But Hilde is ambitious, if not very bright and incredibly naïve. Opportunity presents itself when her father, an SS officer who needs to build goodwill with his superiors, invites Obergruppenfuhrer Werner Ziegler, Himmler’s right-hand man, to dinner. In her Bund Deutscher Madel – the girls’ division of the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) – uniform, Hilde dominates the dinner conversation, including claiming to have participated in Kristallnacht, and manages to impress Ziegler enough to secure a secretarial position in the Frauenschaft, the National Socialist Women’s League. She is convinced she is on her way to greatness and fixated on Ziegler. She becomes intent on seducing him, but in her fantasy, she will have his baby and they will raise the child together. Her scheme succeeds in part. When Hilde does, in fact, become pregnant, she happily goes to Heim Hochland where she is convinced that if the other girls and staff knew the identity of her baby’s father, they would envy and revere her, and she would receive special privileges. She is haughty and lazy, frantic to see her plans come to fruition, and will do anything necessary to achieve her goals.

Finally, Irma Binz is a forty-four-year-old former nurse who served in battlefield hospitals during World War I and was left traumatized by her experiences. Since then, she has remained adamant about her nursing career being behind her. But her personal life implodes and the future she planned is no longer a possibility, so she accepts an offer from a fellow nurse, Marianne, to serve at Heim Hochland. For Irma, it represents not just a chance to start over. It is also an opportunity to use her skills again, but under happier circumstances, helping usher babies into the world rather than, in far too many instances, watch wounded soldiers depart from it. Coburn describes Irma as being like many other Germans who “decided to keep their heads down, focus on their lives, and assume that reports of persecution of Jews and other minorities were exaggerations from the Lugenpresse, the so-called lying press.”

The three women meet at Heim Hochland in a fascinating, but frequently horrifying tale. Gundi is terrified about the approaching day when she will deliver her precious baby, praying fervently that the child will bear no resemblance to Leo. She feels guilty about her desire to bear a child who shares her perfect Aryan features because she truly loves Leo and his family who welcomed her warmly into their midst, never judging Leo for loving a gentile woman. She learns that their circumstances have become quite dire, even though she has no idea of the extent of the atrocities taking place and worries that they will never be reunited so that Leo can know his child.

Hilde does not endear herself to the other girls or the staff, considering herself superior to them because she is carrying Ziegler’s child, and believes she will be able to convince him to leave his wife once the baby arrives. When her plans go awry, she deviously and ruthlessly plots an alternative way to remain at Heim Hochland. It requires deception and Hilde has no qualms about callously using anyone and anything to get what she wants. Will her conceit ultimately be her undoing?

And each day at Heim Hochland reveals to Irma just how maniacal and heartless the Nazi regime is. She is dismayed when she arrives and discovers that Marianne lied to her about the “apprentice mothers” residing there who are, rather, prostitutes, essentially. They accept gifts of jewelry and other items from the German soldiers and sneak into town to party on nights when there are no soldiers to entertain at the home. Marianne reveals herself to be a true believer in the program, which further causes Irma to consider her feelings about the work they are doing. She cares about the pregnant girls she cares for, especially Gundi, and is kind to them, unlike some of the other nurses. But her conscience prohibits her from embracing the Reich’s ideals, unaware that she will soon be given the chance to tangibly demonstrate just where her allegiance lies and what she genuinely believes in.

Cradles of the Reich is a gripping, well-paced story comprised of alternating narratives detailing the three main characters’ perspectives. Coburn intersperses scenes revealing how Gundi became involved in the resistance and her sweet, but dangerous romance with Leo. Likewise, Irma’s history and how she came to make one mistake she now regrets is described. Those interludes are deftly timed to hold readers’ interest and provide context to the events currently unfolding. Gundi and Irma are both likable and sympathetic, each caught up in situations they could not have envisioned in part because of their choices and behavior, but also because of the forces at work in Germany over which they have no control, but are intent upon not falling victim to. Hilde is thoroughly unlikable, yet pitiable because she is a product of her upbringing and the environment in which she was raised. She is fueled by deep-seated insecurities and feelings of inadequacy that drive her obsessive need for attention and validation. Understanding those aspects of her personality, however, does not render her sympathetic or excuse her narcissism and unrestrained desire for power and status. Readers will likely be satisfied with the manner in which Coburn wraps up her story. Coburn surrounds the three characters with an intriguing cast of supporting players, some of whom are instrumental in the surprising plot developments that Coburn cleverly injects into the story.

Historical fiction fans in particular will find themselves engrossed in Coburn’s illuminating and suspenseful tale. Coburn says she loves historical fiction because it provides a way to learn about history “through the more intimate lens of personal relationships” and that is precisely what Cradles of the Reich accomplishes. The Lebensborn program, although a lesser-known part of the Reich’s horrific legacy, was carried out in approximately thirty locations where approximately twenty thousand children were born. The details remain sketchy because when it became clear that they were losing the war, the Nazis burned the records. Accounts of what actually transpired are contradictory, but it is beyond doubt that the Nazis established a concerted effort to propagate a generation of German citizens they considered superior to all others while simultaneously murdering millions of innocent individuals who did not conform to their definition of worthiness to live.

Cradles of the Reich would be an ideal book club selection because of the themes it examines, including the many ways throughout history in which women and children have been targeted and victimized. Coburn hopes readers will think about and discuss the “social environments that allow women’s bodies to be politicized and commoditized.”

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book and to Sourcebooks Landmark for a hardcover copy. show less

“Propaganda has the power to divide us, make enemies of our neighbors, and even physically harm one another. Dictators propagating false narratives are nothing new but always dangerous. On the other hand, human connection- women’s friendships in particular- has the power to help us discover who we really are and find our strength when we need it most.”
This is a story of women’s friendships and human connection in the midst of inexplicable inhumanity, injustice, pain and loss. This is show more also a story of unfathomable hope and determination in the desire to be free from the horrors of Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ and Nazi rule. Within the Jewish Ghetto of Terezin and the fortress of Theresienstadt, unimaginable atrocities occurred while those imprisoned there continuously tried to find the beauty in the world through their rebellion and sorrow.
Well written with factual, historical events depicted in heart wrenching detail, The Girls of the Glimmer Factory gives an inside look at everyday life inside Terezin as told by the point of view of both its prisoners and those who visited. I definitely had all the feels reading this one. The lives of the two main characters were in juxtaposition until they weren’t, and the results for each were never the same.
Although this book kept reminding me of another I had read based on life and events at Terezin, it is different. The thing is, with stories having this many similarities within the Terezin ghetto, you know the truth is there too.
When reading “a novel about the dangers of propaganda”, it’s important to note that it’s a timeless lesson, one that resonates even today. Coburn keeps this in mind throughout her telling of the story, and presents it in candid detail.
*I received an arc from the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review show less

If you thought you might die young, what would you do? Would you choose to spend time with loved ones or would you try to experience all the things you wanted to see and do? Maybe you'd do both, like Jennifer Coburn did. Over the span of eight years, she and her young daughter took four different trips to Europe to see some of the wonderful sights there but also to build memories together in case Jennifer died young like her own father did. She's recaptured these precious trips in her show more memoir, We'll Always Have Paris.

There were many reasons that Coburn first decided she wanted to take her eight year old daughter Katie to Europe. She wanted her to experience amazing things, different cultures and people, to see that life is both different and the same in other places. She wanted Katie to be confident and fearless, willing to travel to foreign places, and to escape the anxieties that plague Coburn herself. But perhaps most of all, Coburn was only a teenager when her father died and she never felt as if she got to spend much quality time with him. She didn't want her own daughter to feel this same way about her even if, as Coburn the worrywart suspects, she too will die young. And so she decides to take Katie to Europe instead of fixing up their house or any other myriad of things their family could do with the money spent on a European trip.

Part travelogue, part mother daughter story, part memorial to the father she lost young, Coburn writes lovingly of her experiences through the years as she takes Katie to France, to Italy, to England, to Spain, and to Holland. She captures Katie's generous and accepting spirit and acknowledges her own fearfulness and worry as she learns to let go a little and embrace detours, last minute changes, and inescapable events. Katie's innocence on the first trip fades away but, over the next three trips and eight years, she never loses her openness, wisdom, and interest in new experiences. As Coburn and Katie experience Europe together, sights trigger Coburn's memories of her father. She faces her regret for what might have been even as she learns to live in the moment with her daughter, building sweet memories for both of them that will last forever. The narrative goes back and forth in time between the present of their trips and Coburn's memories of life with her not quite famous singer/songwriter father.

As in many travel memoirs, this is filled with funny personal anecdotes told with humorous turns of phrase. Coburn is up front about the fact that she is insecure and not a seasoned traveler herself so she and Katie rely on the kindness of strangers, often strangers who don't speak their language. As expected, this leads to a number of misunderstandings and tight connections. But the memoir is quite introspective, sometimes too light on the outside setting of the sights and sounds of the places they're visiting. And occasionally Coburn's memories of her father and her deep need for his love overwhelm the story of the memories she's building with her own daughter. But the growth that both Coburn and Katie show over the years and the ways in which they appreciate each other as more than parent and child, as friends really, and these amazing experiences in their lives is lovely. The writing is intimate and accessible; it's like listening to a friend tell you the story of her European vacation. It may inspire other parents to travel with their children or give people places to add to their bucket lists but it will certainly show people one way to learn to live in the moment and appreciate what you have in the here and now. This is definitely a sweet paean to memory: those that we already possess and those we are forever building. show less