Collaboration
An Epistolary Poem
Dear Reader:
Your eyes, the most public parts of your brain
Slide smoothly over small symbols, arranged
To conjure a microcosm and gain
Your trust, your sympathy; your mind, but changed
Imagine a body, supple and pure
Shining with vigor and strong, vulgar health
Watch as disease, for which there is no cure
Eats every cell, pillaging all that wealth
Imagine a mind, perspicacious, swift
Let time make a desert of that garden
Conflate dream and memory—spoil the gift
Tangle synapses; force them to harden
You do the bidding of these symbols small
Making, unmaking, enjoying it all
Yours,
A Poet
About the Creator
D. J. Reddall
I write because my time is limited and my imagination is not.
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What happened in the factories that the Nazis used to breed babies?
The Lebensborn program, initiated by the Nazis in 1935, was a secretive scheme to create a "pure Aryan race" through controlled breeding and child rearing. 😱🧬 Apparently, Heinrich Himmler was obsessed with this program. He'd personally approve SS marriages and expect them to pop out kids. Creepy micromanagement much? 👀🚼 The program established maternity homes across Nazi-occupied Europe, including Germany, Norway, Austria, and other countries. These facilities were often set up in requisitioned properties. 🏥😰 Women had to pass stringent "racial purity" tests to participate, with only 40% of applicants accepted. Preferred traits included blonde hair, blue eyes, and specific height requirements. 🤯😭 SS officers were encouraged to father children with these women, even outside of marriage. The program offered medical care, financial support, and secrecy to participating mothers. 💰🤐 Upon birth, many Lebensborn children were taken by the SS and placed in Nazi-controlled nurseries. Biological mothers often had to renounce all rights to their children. 💔👶 The program conducted disturbing "baptism" ceremonies for newborns, involving SS daggers and pledges of loyalty to Nazi ideology, aiming to indoctrinate children from birth. 🥶❗ It gets worse. They kidnapped around 200,000 kids from occupied countries. Snatched 'em right from their parents if they looked "Aryan" enough. Can you imagine? 😢🚓 These kidnapped children underwent forced "Germanization," involving psychological manipulation and sometimes physical abuse to make them forget their true origins. 🎭😵 After the war, many Lebensborn children faced stigma and discrimination. In Norway, some were even institutionalized and subjected to abuse. The full extent of the program's impact remains unclear to this day. 😡✊
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Take Me With You
I've been here, my love. Watching, waiting. I've wanted to come to you, but I can't seem to break free of these wrought iron bars. You must have looked upon my face at least a hundred times these last few months, yet your face never once lit up for me. Not the way I know mine does for you. It's like you didn't recognize me anymore.
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