The Forbidden Six

June 22nd, 1940

Ever since Otto and Werner left, everyone's lives had become monotonous. Mena and Liese were still attending college together. They had two years left until Liese graduated with her writing degree and five years in total until Mena could be a lawyer. She knew that one day the Nazis would bar her from working. Nevertheless, she persisted and continued on with her schooling.

When Mena got home from her day at college, she checked her mailbox. A letter from Otto sat in it. Even though it was fairly small, it filled up the mailbox with joy. The small envelope caused her heart to leap into her throat. Every time she got a letter from him, it made her day so much better. She ripped open the envelope and read the slip of paper inside. She sat in her lonely dining room as Artemisia wound herself around her ankles and read the words written by Otto.

May 24th, 1940

Dear Ena,

I miss you so much. I miss home and honestly I miss school, of all things. I would much rather sit through five days of math class than be in this war. Every day without you is a drag. I wish this war was over already so I could see you. It has been so long! I don't think this war will end soon. At least I have Werner to keep me occupied.

Werner seems to like it in war. He's always on his toes and looking out for problems. He misses Liese a lot and talks about her almost every day. All the boys like to make fun of him for it. Including me. He knows it's all in great fun. We have to have some way to pass the time, haven't we?

Speaking of which, I must tell you about all the ways that we spend our time when we're not marching, training, or trying to kill people. For instance, we play pranks on each other and Truth or Dare. Although it is childish, it makes the time go by. The other day, someone dared Werner to eat his sock and he dipped it into water and put it into his mouth. Don't worry, he spit it out. I tried to tell him not to do it because it was a waste of water. Please don't tell Liese I said that (even though I know you will); she might stop loving him.

We are planning to move into France. We plan to take it over. We were originally sent near Poland. Our plans have changed and we have been making our way west. I don't expect it to work because it is a fairly strong country. My friends refuse to believe that we don't have a chance.

Currently, we are in Luxembourg. It is alright. We passed through Leipzig and Frankfort to get here. I had hoped we were going to go through Kassel, but we didn't. If we had, we would've just passed through. There could've been a chance that I would've seen you!

You don't have to send me anything. We get chocolate in our rations! The British don't. It is a source of comfort to me to know that we have something the British don't. They also don't have me so that means their army is naturally inferior.

As I write this, I am sitting in the camp as my newfound friends talk around me. Werner is laughing despite all of this. I wonder how he does it. I hope he hasn't forgotten about everyone at home, including Pieter. I most certainly haven't.

Werner has some new friends. I'm not saying I don't like them, I'm just saying they are a bit different than we are used to. Every morning, they wake up with a "Heil Hitler!" and go to bed saying the same. I do it because I am scared that I will be punished if I don't. Werner does it with relish. I think he is enjoying himself. I feel a bit scared for him. I think he has fallen too far into the Nazi ideals.

He also got shot in the shoulder. We were marching along and a British soldier shot him! Somehow, Werner fired back, killing the soldier. He's fine since the wound wasn't too deep. Looking back on it, it was funny. It wasn't too funny at the time, of course.