Introduction

A former professor descends into darkness in this provocative story of a Nazi soldier torn between duty and conscience.

East Prussia, Nazi Germany, 1939. History professor Erik Mueller is a model citizen and a family man. He’s also a decorated sergeant in the Gestapo. Proving his courage on the battlefields of Poland and the Soviet Union, and proud of the German army’s victories across Europe, he embraces what he thinks is the righteousness of the Third Reich’s cause.

But his loyalties are soon tested when he crosses paths with his old university friend Trude Bensheim. Forced into unemployment for being Jewish, Trude and her husband start a secret organization to help Jews escape Germany. But when they are betrayed by someone they thought they could trust, their lives hang in the balance.

Erik feels responsible for Trude’s capture, and he knows he’s in a position to help them. But when everything he holds dear is at stake, will he save his friends…or himself?

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Excerpt

PROLOGUE
Königsberg, East Prussia, Nazi Germany
August 1939
Greta giggled as her fingers slid down the razor-sharp blade.
“Careful,” warned her father. “That has a bite to it.”
She ignored him, brows furrowed, concentrating as she traced designs on the mirrored steel.
He grasped the hilt and drew the blade swiftly to her hair, plunging his thumb downward and slicing through a yellow lock.
“Daddy, stop it!” she protested.
He returned the knife to the nightstand, glancing to see if his wife had noticed. She hadn’t. He tucked the lock in his pocket, his eyes never leaving his daughter.
“Erik, get that thing away,” ordered Corina, peering up from her ironing in irritation. “Honestly, I don’t know who’s the bigger child.”
He reached out tenderly and wrapped both hands around Greta’s. She resisted for a moment, laughing again before she let go. His daughter sprang from the bed and out of the room as if the dagger would hunt her, a lace and platinum blur. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. Why would a regular German join the Nazi party? Even worse, why join the SS?
2. If your family would all be tortured and killed if you did not follow orders, what would you do when faced with a requirement that you commit an atrocity.
3. In the 1960’s, a psychological experiment showed that 60% of people will administer a lethal dose of electricity, just because they are told to do so by a person in authority. Why is that? Would you be able to resist such a situation?
4. Is there anything especially evil about Nazi Germany, or was it merely a well-publicized example of genocide? Compare Germany to South Sudan, Uganda, Cambodia? How were the Nazis different? What about Stalin and Mao? They killed tens of millions of people. Was Adolf Hitler worse or the same?
5. The world is seeing a rise again of populism and a desire for strong leaders. Adolf Hitler came to power legally, in a democracy. Could a dictator rise in the United States? Germany had a constitution and three branches of government. What makes the US different from Germany? Or is it?

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