The Forbidden Six

May 11th, 1933

"There was another book burning. I heard about it last night, but it was too late to call you," Liese said, anxiety carefully concealed in her eyes. "We should visit the school today. We've waited for too long already. We should've gone to that new school in April after the Nazis boycotted those Jewish businesses." Liese put her things on her desk and sat down. "I feel so sorry for Leyna and Pieter. Everywhere they go, they get yelled at by our classmates."

Werner nodded along while she talked. "We can tour it today. If they don't have an opening today then we can go on Monday since tomorrow is Saturday," he answered.

She agreed. "They took my books," she said, louder than she meant to. The entire class swiveled to look at her and her posture shrunk. The two were in geography, learning about how Germany's geopolitical location was beneficial to them conquering the world. In Werner's opinion, it was boring and so he continued to talk to Liese.

"You have a pretty smile," he observed after looking at her for a moment.

"Was?" She laughed.

Werner shrugged and started to talk about the new school.

"Liese," the geography teacher said, "Werner. Stop talking. Some of us are actually trying to learn about our country. It will be very beneficial in your life to come."

Mena snickered and Liese shot her a look. She made a heart with her hands and Liese quickly looked away, pretending she never saw it. Mena turned to whisper something to Pieter, who she was seated next to.

"How will this help me later in life? I want to be a lawyer," she quietly sighed.

Pieter shrugged. "Maybe you will have to defend an ancient German someday."

She laughed and quickly concealed it with her hand. The teacher was busy reprimanding Liese and Werner so she didn't notice. Mena smirked at Pieter and he copied her.

After school was over, the friends walked to their tree. Mena mouthed some words to Liese, but the latter couldn't read lips. She shrugged and continued to talk to Werner about anything and everything.

When they reached their destination, Leyna climbed the tree and sat in her favorite spot. She leaned back and almost fell off. She inhaled through clenched teeth and grasped the tree trunk.

"Don't fall. I don't want you to hurt yourself," Pieter called up to her, his light brown hair falling into his eyes.

"Keine Bange. I'll be fine." Leyna swung off the branch and landed safely on the ground. She discreetly rolled her eyes.

"On a more serious note," Mena began once they had settled, "we should visit the school today. We've been putting it off for too long."

"That's exactly what I was saying to Werner in geography," Liese interrupted. "If the Nazis have started burning books, that means that they're becoming more serious and we need to be careful."

"What kind of books did they even burn?" Leyna wondered, mostly to herself.

"Oh," Otto said, ready to supply answers, "they burned things by Karl Marx and All Quiet On The Western Front, I'm pretty sure. And, uh, Helen Keller as well."

"What!" Liese cried. "I loved that book. It was such a good description of the Great War. That's what my dad said, anyway. He was in the war and he read it."

The group fell silent as they thought. Three minutes passed.

"Are we ready to go?" Pieter asked.

"Finally," Werner answered, jumping off of the tree. "Let's go. No more Frau Keller. No more Frau Keller. No more..." he chanted, trying to get his friends to join in. Mena hit him about the head. The two began fake boxing as the others laughed. Mena threw a "punch" and Werner ended up falling onto the ground. Pine needles were littered in his hair as Mena mimed shooting him with a gun.