By Britten Schear, Special to JTNews
Michael Sendrow’s new play, Well Of Life, is about a maternity hospital; it is composed of an all-female cast. It does not have any death, any war scenes, or any outward struggles between good and evil. What makes it unusual is that the play is set in mid-1930s Nazi Germany.
Heinrich Himmler’s creation of the Lebensborn Eingetragen Verein, (“Registered Society of Lebensborn”) in 1935 is a mysterious and practically unresearched topic. The Lebensborn homes, totaling 10 at the end of World War II by some estimates, were meant to be comfortable, clean places where “racially pure” young women could go to have babies; the reality of the homes is much more sinister. There is evidence that babies were carefully screened immediately after birth for any physical handicaps, and if any were detected, the babies were killed.
The homes doubled as adoption agencies. Unwed mothers could give birth at the Lebensborn and their babies, if physically suitable, would be given to pure-blood German families to raise. It is believed that having a child out of wedlock was actually an encouraged practice, especially if a young woman was impregnated by an SS officer — she was doing her duty to propagate the perfect Aryan race, where the Nazi regime would serve as the father, and the Lebensborn as the mother. The children were essentially the property of Hitler, and meant to be raised as instruments of his dictatorship.
Even now, little is known about whetherthe women who came to the Lebensborn were complicit in the Nazi party’s ownership of their children.
“The research work is fascinating, partially because there’s a lot of dispute over what really went on in the Lebensborn homes,” explains actress and associate producer Michelle Lewis. “Who was there willingly, and who was coerced? How much say did women have about the fate of the children they gave birth to? So much is unknown.”
Sendrow, a 26-year-old playwrite from Phoenix, Ariz., has chosen to focus specifically on these women for the play. It is ironic, Sendrow says, that “all of this [the Holocaust] was sparked because of a German need to create life. So much of the Nazi agenda was about creating new blood, pure blood.”
The production has one simple set and five actresses. Four of the women play patients who have come to the Lebensborn for different reasons, and the fifth plays the nurse. Enacted in real time, Sendrow meant for the play to be a genuine representation of the female perspective during the lead-up to World War II, and intended for the dialogue to be free of his own morals.
Sendrow’s fears that the script would show traces of his bias, writing from the perspective of a Jewish male, are quieted by Lewis, who notes: “The best thing about the play is that it’s not didactic. It doesn’t tell the audience how they’re supposed to feel or think about these women. And by portraying only a brief slice of their life, in real time, we see how much these women are like ourselves, or like women we know, and that anyone could find themselves in such a position…without realizing how far it all could go.”
Director Erik Maahs set up improvisation exercises to help the actresses understand the mentality of the Lebensborn women. In one activity, the women were made to wait in a set-up “waiting room” for up to two hours before they were called into a private room to be interviewed by a man they didn’t know. They then had to explain their family history and cultural background in an attempt to secure a place at the “Lebensborn.” The real Lebensborn homes were quite selective, and applicants had to bring documentation of their “Aryan ancestry.”
Sendrow first became interested in the issue of the Lebensborn about six years ago, when he saw a brief piece about it on the newsmagazine “20/20.” After a disappointing search for further information, Sendrow came across a book at the University of Washington library that appeared to be the only work devoted entirely to uncovering the secrets of the Lebensborn society. Of Pure Blood by French authors Clarissa Henry and Marc Hillel, is out of print, and not much has been done to further their research.
Well Of Life is Sendrow’s attempt to rekindle an interest in the dark history of the Lebensborn. “I would like for the audience to explore this topic. [This play] is going to ask a lot of questions and not give a lot of answers. I don’t want people to cry at this play. I want them to learn.”
Well Of Life is produced by the Shunpike Arts Collective. It will run at the Richard Hugo House from Oct. 23–26 in its “workshop form,” which means the set and costumes will be very basic, and the production will rely almost entirely on the skills of the director and the actresses. Sendrow is hoping to run a more elaborate production of the play in mid-2004. For tickets, call 206-406-5894.