Broken Angels by Gemma Liviero

Author:Gemma Liviero [Liviero, Gemma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503934863
Published: 2016-04-25T16:00:00+00:00

I travel in the new uniform my father has given me. It is gray with two insignias on the dark-green collar. It is the first thing that people look at, before the eyes. Mine says that I am a loyal and ranked Nazi member. That I will do whatever it takes. That those I instruct must do what I say.

My father has given me a typed report on the Center that offers little more than what he has just told me. The older girls there are all German; the younger children come from the east, the occupied territories. These children have been given up by their parents or orphaned.

As I drive near the entrance, I see that there are several girls standing in a line, presented to me like a row of horses to be examined. They wear white dresses with collars, socks and shiny black shoes. Their hair is either short or tied back. They are German virgins ready for reaping, I think, somewhat callously, here to be groomed for marriage and to provide more Aryan specimens for the future of Germany. It is hard to observe without cynicism.

I greet the girls formally, nodding, a shake of their poised hands. They titter among themselves once I walk past.

Frau Miriam Haus, the program supervisor, ushers me through the line.

“I must say that we were only just told of your visit this morning.”

“Please accept my apology. My father directed me yesterday to see the facilities. It seems that you are waiting on a commander here.”

“Yes. Perhaps it will be you, Herr Gerhardt.”

“Perhaps.”

It is peaceful here. The only sounds are birds—a startling contrast to the guns, heavy boots, trucks, and cries to which I have become accustomed. I imagine that this is what life would be like without war. I have often imagined a life in a house such as this with Lena, though each time that memory surfaces I push it out again. It is certainly a place far from the ghettos and camps. Perhaps worth considering.

I am given a tour of the ground floor, walking through the house to a kitchen where a woman is cooking. I am not introduced to her. She is not considered important enough for introductions.

At the back of the house it is different, as if a facade has been lifted. Apart from patches of snow, the Center grounds are barren. Another guard sits lazily at his post. I wonder if the guards are keeping people in or out. Behind the property I see winter trees in a stretch of wooded forest. From the kitchen door, broken pavers lead to an old army-style hut at the side of the house. Miriam attempts to steer me back to the room where I was first received.

“What is that building used for?” I ask, pointing to the hut.

“It is where the younger children are housed and Germanized.”

“The reeducation program.”

“Exactly, Herr Gerhardt. Some are orphaned, and others have been given up by their own foreign parents so they can specifically learn to be loyal to our Führer, loyal to Germany.

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