A World on Fire returned to our screens on Sunday night – and viewers loved the new season, with the entire series also available on BBC iPlayer. The series introduced a host of new characters, including a German teenager named Marga, who believed she was honored after being asked to provide children for the Third Reich. But did it really happen? Find out more…
According to the Holocaust Memorial Museum of America, the Lebensborn program is very practical and designed to increase Germany’s population due to the declining birth rate. Women were tested to see if they were “racially worthy” to bear children of the Aryan race. While most of the women involved were single and pregnant, providing support to single mothers and a variety of services, teenage girls were also recruited from the German Federation of Girls – a group of Nazi youth – to provide children for the Fuhrer.
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Marga’s story in The World on Fire is similar to that of Hildegard Koch, a member of the German Girls Band that was recruited when she was 18 years old. Speaking of the experience, she said: “It was leader Gau who chose me out of hundreds of girls. half a head taller than the tallest of them and has lovely long blonde hair and bright blue eyes.”
She continued: “We had to sign an obligation to waive all claims to the children we would have there, because the state would need them and they would be taken to special homes. and the marriage settlements… There were about 40 girls my age. No one knew the names, no one knew where we were from.”
© Mammoth ScreenMiriam Schiweck as Marga in The World on Fire
Hildegard also revealed that she and the SS soldiers were introduced to her at the maternity ward, where they had a week to choose who they liked and their hair and eye colors had to be as similar as possible. “
“We were medically examined again and allowed to have SS men in our room at night… He slept with me three nights a week. The rest of the night he had to do his duty. with another girl. I stayed in the house until I got pregnant, that didn’t last long.” Hildegard gave birth to a baby boy and cared for him for two weeks before he was taken away.
While participating in The World on Fire, Marga’s parents tried to protest – but gave up for fear of conflict with the Nazis – complaining about the situation. An official report from the German Ministry of Justice in 1944 read: “Parents of girls participating in the German Girls’ Union filed a complaint with the guardianship court in Habel-Brandenburg about the Federation leaders’ suggested to their daughter that they should give birth out of wedlock..
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“These leaders point out that due to the widespread shortage of men, not all girls can expect to marry in the future, and girls must at least fulfill their duties as men.” how to be a German woman and give birth to the Führer’s child.”
© Steffan Hill The popular show is back on Sunday night
Speaking about her role in the series with the BBC, Miriam Schiweck, who plays Marga, said: “It’s common in movies about World War II – especially those made in foreign countries. outside of Germany – Germans are often described as being a bit two-dimensional.They’re bad Nazis and of course no one would object to that, but I think it’s also important to reflect our pride. misplaced pride that many felt when they were young in that country.
© Mammoth ScreenWorld on Fire returns for a second season
“That’s what I find very interesting about World on Fire, because it’s not just the enemy, it’s like a micro-story inside the enemy. Marga is surrounded by this terrible ideology and she is. didn’t really know it or realize what she signed up for… she hadn’t even had sex before.”
Categories: Entertaintment
Source: HIS Education