Cade speaks up. “With all due respect, we won’t do this assignment. It’s not just that the Nazis' actions were immoral. This assignment is immoral. We want it canceled.”

“Excuse me?” Mr. Bartley says.

As we rehearsed for this scenario, I hand copies of our presentation to Principal McNeil, Mr. Bartley, and Cade. Cade’s hand shakes as he takes his copy from me.

“What is this?” Principal McNeil flips through our eight-page document.

“Cade and I spent many hours researching and putting together our arguments against this assignment and creating alternatives.” I hold up my copy.

“We’ve been asked to debate the Final Solution of the Jewish Question, but the Wannsee Conference had ultimately one purpose: to discuss how to implement the systematic murder of the Jewish people. That was confirmed in Conspiracy, the movie our class watched this past Friday. If you look at our document, we have included additional source material from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s website supporting this fact.”

I focus on Mr. Bartley. “Furthermore, you compared our assignment to acting. Actors choose their roles. Everyone knows it’s pretend. But by having us re-create the Wannsee Conference, you are forcing us into the Nazis’ shoes, rationalize their actions, and justify their thinking. This assignment allows for the possibility that the Nazis were right.”

Waves of frustration or resentment or both roll off Mr. Bartley, but he hasn’t uttered a word since I handed them our document.

I straighten my posture as if I’m standing in front of the judges for one of my debate competitions. “As you know, the purpose of a debate is to persuade others that your position is correct. In order to be persuasive, there must be legitimate arguments. How can anyone justify starving people to death in ghettos? How can anyone legitimize enslaving people for the sole purpose of profit, abusing them until they’re dead? That’s murder. How can you ask us to justify genocide? We can’t debate two evils. Asking us to do so normalizes the Nazi perspective. It dehumanizes the Jewish people. We shouldn’t be asked to support systematic annihilation of any people, whether it’s a historical perspective or not.” I pause for their reaction, but from their silence it’s clear I haven’t convinced them.

I forge on. “After World War Two, the results of the Nuremberg Trials prove our position. The defense attorneys argued that these Nazis were only following their superiors’ orders. But the International Military Tribunal concluded that under international law, morality overrode any order from a government or from a superior. Again, what the Nazis did was pure evil. There is no debate. Morality overrides this assignment!”

In need of support, I reach for Cade’s hand. He laces his fingers with mine and holds tight. For two long beats, silence suffocates the room. I look over at Cade. It’s his turn to speak.

Chapter 15: Cade