“I regret, Fräulein, that only the twenty lucky girls who have been selected will find out what the task is.”

“Lucky?” Leni came back in a flash. “Lucky?”

The officer looked exasperated.

“Yes, Fräulein—lucky. It will be a privilege to serve the Reich in the way we intend. And of course, Fräulein Steiner, those problems you have at home will be alleviated if you make it through to the last twenty. That goes for all of you.”

That caused Leni, as well as the others, to shut up. It wasn’t so much the threat, but the fact that he knew who she was.

“Yes, girls, for this is your way to help yourselves. If you succeed, we shall turn a blind eye,” he said, pointedly looking at Leni, “to any indiscretions that you or your families may have committed. Any other questions?”

The girls stayed quiet. Like Leni, they were all reflecting on their problems back home, each knowing that they had little choice but to cooperate. Bastards, she thought, especially this one for joking about Father’s eye.

“Good. One final thing. My name is Untersturmführer Schwarz. I shall be here for the duration of the tests, so please feel free to contact me about any problems you have, large or small. Enjoy the rest of your breakfast!”

What a shit, thought Leni as Schwarz walked out, what a shit, acting the kindly uncle, the benevolent schoolmaster. He was as bad as his uniform indicated. Leni wanted to shout at him, to tell him what she thought, but she knew that would see her father in Theresienstadt before the day was out. Neither could she share her thoughts with the others, because one of their number was bound to be an informer. Leni looked around—many of the girls were crying slightly, including Heidi, who was sitting next to her. She brought Heidi’s head to rest on her shoulder, and, gently stroking her hair, whispered words of encouragement to her.

Schwarz was right: the tests were hard. It seemed that the SD had assembled every leader in his or her field to assess them. A professor of English from Berlin University grilled Leni in that language for two hours, asking her questions about her family and her childhood. The head of Stuttgart’s medical school carried out a thorough investigation of her physique, even asking her questions about her sexual background. A female psychiatrist spent an inordinate amount of time trying to establish whether Leni had any mental difficulties, any hang-ups, any dysfunctions.