Dangerous Territory

Overlord

It was the sixth of June, and nothing seemed different about this day compared to the day before. Eren looked at a calendar his group had been using in their cozy house. A Tuesday. He had never liked Tuesdays for some reason.

Armin walked up to him drinking some muckefuck coffee. "There's a lot of chatter on the radio. Sounds like something happened on the coast."

"There's always something happening somewhere in this world," Eren muttered to himself. "You're probably right, though. The captain called for a meeting of the officers."

Armin handed over a cup. "Drink up, then. Who knows how long the meeting will go!"

Eren nodded in thanks and took a deep drink of the muckefuck. "I never thanked you for helping out that one time with the Jew."

Armin held up his hand. "There's nothing to thank. I did what I wanted to do." He began to lift his own coffee mug but paused. "May I speak freely, Herr Leutnant?"

"If you think I shouldn't care so much about the Jews, I've heard enough on this matter from everyone else," he said in annoyance, not forgetting being reprimanded by Jean Kirschtein, of all people.

"No," he whispered. "Do you ... ever..." He looked around the room sharply and listened, but there was a card game going on in another room that had everyone's attention. "...pity them?"

Eren jolted and looked down at the small soldier.

"I mean, I know what I was taught and all, but ... have you ever seen a Jew from Israel? Like, one born there, a true Native Jewish man?"

"I doubt it. I've seen a few Black men, but I never saw an actual Jew at all until the war began."

"I met one once. He had been born in Nazareth, just like Jesus."

"Jesus was born in Bethlehem."

"Right. Well, raised in Nazareth. Anyway, that man and these Jews, they look nothing alike. I often wondered about that when I was taught in school about the Jewish race. European Jews and Palestinian Jews ... it's like they're not the same race at all. So then I have to wonder, what are these European Jews? Where did they come from? Do they really even have the same religious beliefs, or is it like Protestants and Catholics, little differences? If we're supposed to see the Jewish Race as inferior, does that mean Jews from the Middle East, or Jews who have lived in Europe for centuries? What if they are pure Aryan, but their ancestors converted to that religion a hundred years ago? How can a religion make someone racially inferior? And in the end, aren't we all sons and daughters of Adam and Eve? Even if some evolved quicker, we're all the same at our roots, and if some evolved more, that means Adam and Eve weren't fully evolved, they were not truly perfect, which goes against the Bible. God made Adam and Eve perfect, which means all who descended from them have that divine perfection as a starting point. I don't know," he sighed. "I just can't accept it, and I know I never will, no matter how loudly you yell at me. God created animals, and then he created humans. Abraham, Isaac, and Israel all descended from Adam and Eve, so Jews are definitely humans. Just because God created one person with black skin, one with yellow skin, one with white skin, we're all still human. Jews were God's chosen people, they descend straight back to Noah and Adam, maybe more directly related than Aryans or anyone. Jesus was a Jew, and there's no way you can convince me that he was less superior to even the purest Aryan. So how ... how are Jews subhuman? How was Jesus, the Son of God, a subhuman Jew? Or for that matter—"

Eren placed his hand on Armin's shoulder. "Enough," he whispered. "I don't think you're wrong, but speaking of this aloud is dangerous."

"Do you think I'm right, then?"