When Hilde finds out she's pregnant for a second time, she feels she has three options. What do you think of her ultimate decision? What do you suppose the future holds for Hilde?

When Hilde finds out she's pregnant for a second time, she feels she has three options: Perform an abortion on herself; give the child up for adoption; or marry the baby's real father. What do you think of her ultimate decision? What do you suppose the future holds for Hilde?

First, her decision to become pregnant again was a poor choice. Then naming Werner as the father, was of course going to be denied as Nazi indiscretions were to be hidden. I'm glad she didn't choose the abortion. It might have been best to give the child up for adoption as I wonder what kind of mother she will be. Also, she doesn't love the child's father, who she seduced and lied to. Finally, the child's father has already told her his mother won't be very accepting of the situation. I think Hilde will have a hard life, but I hope she will love her baby. Perhaps she will learn to love her husband too. Her poor choices have limited her options.

Yes, I agree with Marcia S. As the old saying goes, Hilde “made her bed and now she must lie in it.” She valued status over all else, refused to see that she was being used, and unfortunately decided to trick poor Werner into having sex with her so she could get pregnant. She will end up in a loveless marriage, with a mother-in-law who hates her, and a poor, confused husband who doesn’t know he’s been duped. And her child could very well turn out just like her.

I don't think Hilde will ever be happy. She is the type who is always searching for the next best thing.
I suppose she will marry the child's biological father; try to woo over her mother-in-law (which won't happen), continue to work for the Reich, and somehow get pregnant again by a high-up official; then leave her born child with the mother-in-law and take off with the new guy.

Hilde's decision is the one you would expect - the one that takes only herself into consideration. She makes sure she is taken care of and doesn't have to return to her parents' home. The future does not look bright for Hilde. She is dishonest and manipulative in everything she does. That is a recipe for misery.

Of course, I don't like her decision. I think if was realistic that she chose that path because her main concern was making herself happy. Getting as many nice things and looking like she was 'popular' were most important to her.

Hilde was only worried about herself and didn't care if she had to lie and cheat to get what she wanted out of life. I think her future is going to be very disappointing with little hope of getting all of the good things in life that she thinks she deserves.

I found Hilde to be the most intriguing character of the three females. She is presented in the book as a very selfish and self-centered individual but there is also sufficient evidence that there was a reason for her being that way. She felt that she was a disappointment to both her mother and father. Most likely she was convinced that both of her parents would have preferred that she had been the daughter to catch smallpox and die. And on top of that, what teenage girl who already had low self-esteem due to her masculine body build would not be looking for a way to prove to those parents that she was not a failure in life.
And then she got pregnant and she thought the baby was her get home free card; but under the circumstances her pregnancy was a curse. She probably could have continued as Ziegler’s mistress if she had just kept her mouth shut.

Did Hilde imagine that Ziegler would leave his wife for her when she had his child? I don't think Ziegler himself was all that attractive to Hilde. I'm not sure she would have wanted to continue being his mistress if it was always under cover. (?)

I do agree that there are plenty of family reasons why Hilde turned out the way that she did. She proved to not be so resilient.

Hilde is similar to Cinderella's contemporaries who search in vain hoping to find the prince with the glass slipper. She wanted a life among women and men who would never accepted her. The reader doesn't know if the biological father would have even married her if his mother had a strong objection to her. Even if he did, his mother would still have looked upon her as the wrong person thus thrusting her in the same position as she had been placed by her biological parents. The one problem I had with the story is so many loose ends occurred at the end. If the biological father were sent elsewhere in the war and she is forced to live with his mother, I do not see a happy ending for her. I do not think she will fare well when the reality of the Reich hits her

Hilde is such a tragic character and a representation of low self-esteem that leads to overly zealous desires to fill voids in her life and status. Her choices were sad for her, her baby and the baby's father - not to mention the extended family, but her willingness to pick a path and stick with it, may allow her to mature to being a better person. The fact that her life will be away from the large cities and the Nazi hierarchy may allow her to be better.

Poor Hilde, she made one poor decision after another. Her decision to get pregnant again so soon after her miscarriage was so little thought out that one is already concerned for her future. It wasn’t a surprise that everything then collapsed on her. But because she wants to be accepted by people with power, when the war is over perhaps she’ll re-write her own history that excludes her Nazi sympathies and makes a martyr of herself.

Hilde did not make good choices, she deserved what she got. Her decision to get pregnant within hours of miscarrying was stupid and certainly not thought out. She so desperately to be famous or powerful, she didn't care how it happen and unfortunately she never did.

Hilde might not have been sufficiently loved or taken care of by her parents, but the choices she made, especially at the end were just unacceptable. She causes many of her own problems and, I agree with the others, she will probably never be happy because she doesn’t have compassion for anyone but herself.