Was there one scene that disturbed you more than any of the others?

The book reveals a number of practices that were common in WWII Germany that most find repugnant today. Was there one scene that disturbed you more than any of the others?

I was bothered by many things! The persecution of the Jewish people was terrible. As far as Gundi's time at the home. I was very disturbed when she heard Renata upstairs with a soldier who was abusing her. I know abused women and it upsets me greatly. That's probably a minor thing in the bigger picture of the book, but it has stayed with me.

The old man dying in the road after Kristallnacht with his little granddaughter watching over him.

The "stealing" of the Polish children.

How afraid the butcher husband and wife were when Gundi tried to get info about Leo.

There were many disturbing things. The description of the old man dying was horrific.

There were so many I would find it hard to isolate just one. The one that lingers is Gundi being groped by Dr. Ebner, perhaps because I worked in the medical field for so many years.

Even though there were more horrific scenes in the book, the groping of Gundi by the doctor in the beginning was hard to read. The way Hilde gave herself to the German officer was disturbing, the way the young girls were “groomed” for motherhood while supplying German soldiers with sex.

Cradles of the Reich had so many disturbing scenes, but the ones I'd not considered before were the many of sexual abuse - the doctor groping Gundi and the girls groomed to be mothers (or just sex toys).

There were so many disturbing scenes in the book but the one that bothered me the most was the whole concept of the maternity homes - both for the pleasure of the soldiers and for the goal of populating Germany with perfect Aryan children.

Although there were many disturbing scenes in Cradles of the Reich, perhaps the most disturbing were the sexual abuse by doctors……as well as the adoption process overseen by the German nurses….

Without a doubt there were many but when Sister Dorothea told Gundi that Sister Marianne suspected that Nadja was a Mischling. Dr. Ebner would examine her, confirm it then giver her a lethal injection. With everything else being done to Jewish people I believed this to be true. It made me sick.

There were many disturbing scenes in this story. The most memorable focused on the sexual betrayal and exploitation of women by male characters including doctors and Nazi officials.

I echo many of the comments above. The entire topic of the book was disturbing, but none more than the sexual betrayal and exploitation of women.

There were so many it is hard to isolate just one. There are so many atrocities committed by mostly men that are so disturbing. Babies forcefully removed from their mothers was one part of this book that really bothered me. I can't imagine the heartbreak of losing my baby.

While there were many disturbing scenes, I think the one that I found most upsetting was when the home held a special event in which Aryan families without children essentially shopped for babies. Beforehand, they had decorated the room and tried to highlight certain features or hide what might be perceived as flaws in the babies. It felt so transactional, but I couldn't help but remember those were real people and real babies.

There are many disturbing scenes, however, I one that really bothered me was Dr. Ebner's explicit examination of Gundi. It was disgusting! Also Hllde's and Herr Ziegler's affair was also not comfortable for me

Every single thing everyone has already mentioned disturbed me, but the girls being used by the soldiers was the first thing I thought of.

As many others have commented, there are so many disturbing scenes that identifying one that is worse than the others is nearly impossible. If I had to choose one, it would be the dual purpose of the maternity homes. The concept of literally trying to breed the master race and prostituting young women to help in that endeavor was possibly only overshadowed by the inclusion of what happened to the less-than-perfect babies.

The violation of Gundi during her “medical exam” at the beginning of the book was definitely the scene that disturbed me the most. It was described vividly and I could feel Gundi’s total loss of control and power in a situation such as that. I think this early story really set the scene and let us know there would be more disturbing things to come.