Do you think Gundi had any options other than to go to Heim Hochland?

Gundi tries to avoid going to Heim Hochland but can't seem to escape Dr. Ebner's surveillance. Do you think she had any options? What would you have done in her shoes?

Gundi doesn't have an understanding of the tension of being Jewish in Nazi Germany until she meets Leo's family. Although she does deliver dangerous literature I am not so sure she realizes the danger in which she places herself. As she becomes more knowledgeable of the falsehoods of the Germans propaganda, she does come into her own identity. Because of her beauty she is stuck as the face of German motherhood and she has no choice because her innocence makes her believe that she can truly change hers and her baby's destiny. The author has to figure out a way to make this a bearable ending so the transformation of Irma's mindset about her former boyfriend does give hope. Unfortunately history has taught us that there few happy endings in Nazi Germany.

Once she was selected as the "perfect" German specimen of womanhood, she has no way to escape the destiny of going to the breeding home. She was literally hunted down and had no other choice.

I also saw no other options for Gundi. Her democratic state had been replaced with a serious dictatorship that tolerated no dissent or independence, and punishment for infractions was swift and severe.

Young Gundi wouldn’t have had the necessary support group to help her succeed. Her only option would have been an act of self-violence that was naturally anathema to her. In addition, her life at Heim Hochland provided her and her baby with excellent physical care. This actually put her in a better position than running away or hiding while still pregnant. When her child was born she was fortunate enough to have help escaping. What would I have done? I hope I would have bided time until escape was possible.

Given that an evil dictator had taken over, there was no hope for her to escape this fate, as evidenced by her being hunted down when she tried.

Her only other option would have been to kill herself, which would not have been the better choice. As it turned out, she delivered a healthy baby and received unexpected support in escaping.

There are always options but some are more palatable than others. As the book states several times, there were moments when escape from Germany was possible, but unfortunately many people could not believe the evil was coming and that so many would be afraid not to fall in line. Having gone to the birthing home, Gundi was able to find the help she needed to escape, and having had the baby and it being identified as not Aryan, she and the baby had a better chance of escaping than had she escaped prior to the birth. I think if she had escaped prior to them seeing the baby, they would have hunted her down, no matter where she fled to.

No, I don't believe that Gundi had any choice other than to go to the home. The experience of being caught on the train and her mother's home being ransacked made it clear that both she and her mother were under constant surveillance.

I think Gundi made the right choice by going to the home. There was no way the Nazis were going to allow the "perfect German" woman out of their sights. Had she tried to hide, her fate would likely have been worse.

I don't think she had an option because she was concerned for her family's safety.

I don't think she had any options once Dr. Ebner put her focus on her. The episode of her being pursued and removed from the train illustrated how hopeless her situation was.

Once her mother turned her in as a perfect Aryan woman, her fate was sealed.

I don't think she had any choice. The people in charge believed that she would deliver a beautiful Aryan child and they were insistent that she would go into their program. When she tried to escape, she was caught and returned. I think if she had 'disappeared' on her own, they would have harmed her mother.

I don’t think Gundi had other options because both she and her mother realized that going to Heim Hochland was the only safe way for her pregnancy to continue to term…..

I do not feel Gundi had other options once she was betrayed by her mother in collusion with her doctor. The Germans were relentless in their pursuit of those they deemed perfect candidates for their twisted breeding program. Refusal to participate would have endangered Gundi's family. Cooperation meant safety temporarily for her and her baby. Gundi pushed the thought out of her mind that her baby might look like Leo. She also had no idea that her child's life would be in danger if she/he did not meet Aryan standards.

Unfortunately, I don't believe she had any other options. I think the Reich would have taken her mother's life and then hers if she tried to escape....although, they could have forced her to give birth and then killed the baby and start the process over again with a 'pure' German, or, just killed her too b/c she was with a Jew....????

Gundi was really trapped by her mother and the doctor. She was forced to go along with the plan to pretend she would give the Reich another Aryan child.

I think Gundi realized that she was stuck and had no other option, but then felt that perhaps she could help the resistance from the inside if she did go to Heim Hochland because she was seen as the "perfect" specimen she would be less likely to be suspected.

In a more normal world, Gundi could have “moved away” for 9 months and given the baby up for adoption, or confided in Leo and married him, but in Germany at that time, she soon realized that she had no other choice. She was one of the “perfect Germans” and so she and her unborn child were important to the future “pure” Germany. If she had been average looking and had other physical faults, maybe she could have slipped away as she first tried to.

I don't believe so, as soon as her mother interfered, her fate was sealed. If it had been at any other time in the history of Germany, perhaps, however under Hilter she had little or no other choices.

I don’t think she had another good option because of Dr. Ember’s borderline obsession with her. I’m not sure her mother really understood what she was getting Gundi into when she took her to the doctor. I probably would have done the same thing in her situation. She couldn’t risk her mother’s life.

I do not think Gundi had any other options, given the strong interest of Gundi by Dr Ebner and her mother's meek personality. Her mother simply gave up on Gundi. Gundi did know she had to figure out a way to have her baby and hoped the baby would have Arian features.

No. After her mother's home was ransacked and things that were precious to her were destroyed, the threat was very clear. How could she possibly choose to ignore her mother's plight in order to secure her own, when that might not even be possible. I believe Gundi did understand the dangers to herself and her baby, as well as to her mother. The risk she took going to Heim Hochland were less than trying to escape from Germany.