"An emotional read… engagingly written." -- All About History magazine
In 1942 Erika, a baby girl from Yugoslavia, was taken for a ‘medical’ examination by the Nazi occupiers. Declared an ‘Aryan’, she was removed from her mother; her true identity erased, she became Ingrid von Oelhafen.
The Lebensborn programme was the brainchild of Himmler: an extraordinary plan to create an Aryan master race. Later, as Ingrid began to uncover her true identity, the full scale of the scheme became clear – including the kidnapping of up to half a million babies like her, and the deliberate murder of children born into the programme who were deemed ‘substandard’.
Her research took her to little-known records of the Nuremberg Trials, and, ultimately, to Yugoslavia, where an extraordinary discovery revealed the full truth behind her story: the Nazis had substituted ‘Ingrid’ with another child, who had been raised as ‘Erika’ by her family.
Written with insight and compassion, this is a powerful meditation on the personal legacy of Hitler’s vision, of Germany’s brutal past and of a divided Europe that for many years struggled to come to terms with its own history.
Industry Reviews
"An emotional read... engagingly written... by experiencing the distance and loneliness of von Oelhafen's youth with her, it's much easier to empathise with the tragic situation of hundreds of children during Hitler's reign." -- All About History magazine; "Every person I have told about this book has immediately gone to buy it and I encourage everyone else to do so as it is a story that needs to be told, much like the Holocaust needed to be told." -- CountryWives.co.uk; "Eminently readable, a perfect mixture of personal discovery and a historical backdrop that both fascinates and horrifies" - BeingAnne.com; "Heartbreaking ... a compelling and addictive read" -- thequietknitterer.wordpress.com; "Sobering ... I learned much about the history of post-war Germany along with the complicated process of missing identity. The story flows well and Ingrid is a fascinating raconteur; her resolute determination to find out the truth is a credit to both her strength of purpose and utter resilience ... inspirational" -- jaffareadstoo.blogspot.co.uk; "In an age when it takes a lot to shock Western audiences, there is still shock to be found in true stories. And Ingrid's story is a true one. Hitler's Forgotten Children ... will stay in your head for a long time once you close the final pages." -- MadamJMo, blogger; "Shocking... I had to take some quiet time after reading it just to process what I had learned. This is a hugely important book which anyone with an interest in the Third Reich, or who cares about the damaging impact of supremacist politics, must read." --Louise Hector, LouiseReviews; "A really interesting book on a little known subject ... we have to admire Ingrid for telling her story" -- Callmemadam, blogger; "A very readable look at an incredibly personal tale - the openness featured here is remarkable, as is the clarity of the writing, as the narrative goes from official history to personal ... The fact that so many Lebensborn sufferers have gone on to work for the care of others shows the Nazi idea behind it died a death a long time ago, even if the legacy still remains. The fact this book exists is a further success against the Nazi idea too, and as a result is worth the read." -- John Lloyd, The Bookbag; "Every once in a while you think you have heard the most grotesque and bizarre extremes of Hitler's National Socialist madness and then another revelation comes along. Reading Ingrid von Oelhafen's book was just such a moment. ... Two of the most remarkable features of this book are its human warmth and its absence of rancour. The author has every right to bitterness and self-pity after the treatment she received, but she yields to neither. Towards the end of the book she writes 'I knew I had to learn not just to understand but to forgive'. It is my belief that she has done both." --Richard Littledale, blogger; "As someone who reads non-fiction books such as this one quite often, I was pleased overall with the narrative voice of Ingrid, and readers will really feel for her personal struggles to get answers to questions no one wants to answer. Her determination is admirable, and her positivity is outstanding, considering some of the hardships she has faced. ... I feel we owe it to her to at least try and understand what she alone has had to go through over the years, simply to find out what the rest of us take for granted: our true identity." --Jade Cranwell, Reviewing Central
