This and That
Welcome!
Finally, FINALLY autumn is here. And so is hurricane season. Seems like an oxymoron, as the humidity and heat continue to provide a shroud over Florida. My sister Jackie lives in Colorado and is busy battening down for snow, putting antifreeze in her camper plumbing, storing it for next summer, and cleaning out plant beds. I’m busy trying to keep my potted plants outside alive from the heat.
I’ve also been busy on the computer. The book publication is in process and I’m awaiting the cover design. Yesterday I sent off answers to questions from the publisher, Vine Leaves Press, to provide insight into what I think may be most effective, to make people want to pick up the book and have a look inside. And hopefully buy. I offered my ideas along with photos to create a visual sense. I’m excited to see what the talented and award-winning Jessica Bell will come up with. ILLEGITIMATE: A Daughter’s Search for Truth in the Shadow of Lebensborn is on track for a March release.
Yesterday I received an email from my father’s widow, Anni. She is a lovely woman with a big heart; I am delighted that my dear Papa found her and lived a long healthy life with her love and companionship. She wrote to tell me she read my manuscript, her son had it translated into German, and she congratulated me for undertaking such a project. Then she stated she had never heard of Lebensborn and had to look it up. Never had she heard any comments or read anything in regard to this Nazi eugenics program. Anni referred back to “those times”, the horrors of daily life and how one man could exert such influence over so many. Including my grandmother. My research never turned up any concrete answers, because there aren’t any.
Here’s what I believe. We live our lives within our own perspectives. And our perspectives are based on what we feel is best for us. And if you believe Darwin and his theories, at least the overview, it all goes back to natural selection and species survival. And survival is what Herr Hitler had in mind: the creation of a superior Aryan race.
I have no way of knowing my grandmother’s perspective and why she did what she did. My grandfather was a career soldier and gone most of the time, especially after the war began. The first three girls were his, all dark-haired and sharp-featured as he was. The Lebensborn girls are blonde and beautiful. And smart and strong. Was this my grandmother’s contribution to the survival of the fittest? And how did she hear about the program? I’ll never know. But my research did offer glimpses into her life and from this we have to draw our own conclusions.
Part of the publication process for me is to ask authors and other industry professionals for endorsements, or blurbs. You know, those praise comments you see in the front of the book or back jacket. Basically, I get to ask very busy people to take the time to read the galley proof and write a sentence or two of what they thought. Oy vey! For someone who hates to ask anybody for anything, this is a daunting task. But I got through it and hopefully will have a handful to add credibility, and some bling.
On my list is an author and artist named Angela Findlay who wrote a powerful book in 2023 about inter-generational guilt after she discovered her grandfather was a (notorious) German general who ended up on trial for war crimes. In My Grandfather’s Shadow: A Story of War, Trauma and the Legacy of Silence is well-written and fascinating. Angela, too, went on a quest to understand his perspectives, and those like him. She found a legacy of shame, guilt, and the detrimental effects of silence, ultimately passed down through generations. Angela has a printed and bound copy of my book, sent to her in Gloucestershire. (My book is in England right now!) Although she is also uber-busy she has agreed to look it over and offer a few words.
Here’s another interesting parallel. I belong to the Authors Guild and posted on the community forum that I was going through my blurb phase. I received an email from an author and Emmy-winning public broadcasting producer Chris Dickon, who had written about a similar trauma, except in this case it dealt with biracial children born to Dutch women at the end of WWII from African American soldiers. Again, family secrets and a legacy of shame followed those children and the need to know who their fathers were in order to know themselves. Dutch Children of African American Liberatorstellsanother untold story well worth knowing.
Today there is a hint of fall in the air. I rushed to Lowes this morning to find mums in my favorite colors: gold, burgundy, and rust and found a planter combo with all three and a burst of fountain grass in the middle. They look wonderful on my front porch. Now we just need the slight briskness that signals fall is definitely here, instead of standing in my air-conditioned home looking out and pretending.
