Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf

Author:Joan M. Wolf [M. Wolf, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Seven

April 1944: Puschkau, Poland

A few weeks after the trip to town, our early-morning routine was interrupted again.

This time Fräulein Krüger said nothing, offering no hints of surprises or good news. No new clothes awaited us. The only sign that something was different was that Fräulein Krüger wore her formal Nazi uniform. It was decorated with medals and draped with a sash that read The League of German Girls.

Instead of going to home economics lessons after breakfast, we were taken as a group to the little church that Liesel and I had spent so many nights visiting.

"Do you think we're going back to town?" asked Siegrid, as we were directed into the church.

"Oh, I hope so. I hope we get to stop at the candy stand again," said Gerde.

Liesel walked beside me. "What do you think is going on?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said nervously.

In the daylight I could see that bright white paint covered the walls of the church, and an even larger picture of the Führer had replaced the one that was usually above the altar. A large League of German Girls poster hung where the statue of Mary had been, and small red candles burned brightly everywhere. On either side of the Führer dozens of blood-red roses were arranged in crystal vases.

Liesel slid into the pew, sitting next to me. "It looks different in the day, doesn't it?" she whispered.

I nodded, and she patted my arm and looked toward the front. Whispers and giggles from the other girls filled the church.

"Heil Hitler!" The church fell silent as Fräulein Krüger appeared from a side door with two male Nazi guards I had never seen before. They were dressed in uniforms that were decorated with medals, and they wore polished black boots. A fresh wave of nervousness clenched my stomach.

"Heil Hitler!" I jumped up with everyone in salute.

"You may be seated." Fräulein Krüger approached the podium at the front of the church. Her hair was braided and wound around the back of her head in a way that reminded me of a spiderweb. So much poison under all that beauty.

"Today, German girls, is a most special day," she began.

The war is over. That was the first wild and hopeful thought that jumped into my head. The war is over and I am going back to Mama and Papa to be called by my real name and have a party with real cake and all of this will be forgotten as if it was a bad dream.

"Today you begin your new lives as official German citizens." She saluted the two male officers in the front row as they stood.

All the feeling drained from my body. The war was not over. The nightmare would continue.

"Your training has been difficult, I know," Fräulein Krüger continued, "but you have become fine young German girls. Girls we are proud to say will one day belong to Hitler's League of German Girls. And today..." She stopped briefly, addressing her smile toward each of us in turn.

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