Here’s my pay stub.”

“And the two other gentlemen?”

“Never met them before. They sat down at our table and got involved in our argument.”

“And what were you arguing about?”

“I don’t love him.”

“Why was the other gentleman so indignant about you, then, if you don’t love him?”

“How do I know? Maybe he didn’t believe me. He was annoyed that I agreed to dance with him.”

“I see!” said the chubby face, snapping his notebook shut and looking from one to the other. They really did seem more like a quarrelsome pair of lovebirds than conspirators caught red-handed. Even the way they shyly avoided looking at each other… And yet their hands were almost touching on the tabletop. “I see! Of course we’ll have your answers checked, but it seems to me… anyway, I wish you a more congenial end to your evening…”

“I don’t!” said the girl. “I don’t!” She got up simultaneously with the brownshirt. “I’m going home.”

“I’ll take you.”

“No, thanks, I’d rather go alone.”

“Trudel!” the boy begged. “Just let me say two more words to you!”

The brownshirt smiled from one to the other. They clearly were lovers. A superficial check would do.

Suddenly she made up her mind: “All right, but only two minutes!”

They walked out. At last they were away from this appalling hall and its atmosphere of concerted hatred. They looked about them. “They’ve gone.”

“We will never see them again.”

“And you can live. No, Trudel, you must live! An unconsidered step on your part would plunge the others into danger, many others—always remember, Trudel!”

“Yes,” she said, “now I must live.” And with a swift decision.

“Good-bye, Karl.”

For an instant she pressed herself against his chest and her lips brushed his. Before he knew what was happening, she was running across the carriageway to a waiting tram. The driver moved off.

He made as if to take off after her. Then he thought better of it.

I will see her in the factory from time to time, he told himself. A whole life lies ahead of us. And I know now that she loves me.

*SA is the “Sturmabteilung” or “storm troopers,” a para-military group that helped bring Hitler to power and whose members were know because of their uniform color as the “brown shirts.”

† Organization Todt was a military construction and logistics unit run by Fritz Todt. The RAD, or Reichsarbeitsdienst (“Empire work service”) was a six-month forced labor program for all young Germans, with a component of military training. Sonderführer (“Special leader”) was not a specific position in any hierarchy, but conferred as the need arose. A Politischer Leiter, or political leader, was any Nazi Party official. They wore golden brown uniforms. “Golden pheasant” was a nickname for Hermann Göring, who was given to ostentatious uniforms. The BDM, or Bund Deutscher Mädel (The “League of German Girls”) was the girls’ branch of the Hitler Youth, for girls from 10 to 21 years old.

Chapter 14

SATURDAY: DISCORD AT THE QUANGELS’

The Quangels didn’t speak to each other all of Friday either—that meant three days of silence between them, not even giving each other the time of day. This had never happened in the entire course of their marriage. However laconic Quangel might be, he had managed a sentence from time to time, something about someone at work or at least the weather or that his dinner had tasted particularly good. But none of that now!

The longer it lasted, the more keenly Anna Quangel felt it. Her deep grief for her son was being sidetracked by disquiet about the change in her husband.