We Are Wolves chapter sampler

Our schoolroom is crowded with sixty-three students: two classes squashed together because the male teachers are off fighting in the war, and Otto’s teacher, Fräulein Rothschild, just disappeared. Teachers are in short supply, like boots and meat and papas. Fräulein Hofmann doesn’t seem to mind. She’s having a wonderful time, running our lessons like a military operation. She shouts like a sergeant-major commanding his soldiers. ‘Stand!’ ‘Sing “The Song of the Germans”!’ ‘Sit!’ ‘Take out your books!’ ‘Write your nine times table!’ ‘Liesl, tell us the answer to eighty times seventy.’ I love school. I love learning. I love the way Fräulein Hofmann keeps everything running to a tight schedule. And I especially love the lessons about Germany and how we are bringing civilisation and joy to more and more countries across the globe. I even love the crowded classroom. More bodies mean more heat. On the way home, Otto is flying about, bombing rats in Königsberg once more, when suddenly he stops. ‘Liesl!’ he cries, grabbing my hand so that I, too, must come to a halt. ‘Can you hear that?’ Above the howling wind, I hear boots. Heavy boots, marching along the cobblestones.

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