It came as little surprise that Leni was picked for the last twenty. Schwarz told her that she was “outstandingly qualified” for the task, although she would have to learn to temper her rebellious streak. She never got the chance to say goodbye to Heidi, because those who had failed were immediately spirited away. She often wondered what had happened to Heidi, who had seemed too fragile for the task. Had she really gone back to Bohemia, allowed to live a near-normal life? Or was she now in a concentration camp? Leni knew the answer—it was only optimism that kept her asking.

At six o’clock the next morning, the remaining girls were picked up by a sealed truck, which took them two hundred kilometers to the alpine town of Sonthofen, just north of the Austrian border. There, they were installed in an Ordensburg, a training school for SS cadets and future Nazi leaders. This Ordensburg was a “castle” built in the Teutonic style in 1934, and was one of four such establishments in Germany. The presence of so many young women caused some excitement, although Schwarz did his best to keep them separate from the male cadets.

Over the next two months, Leni was trained in a wide variety of activities. For the first time in her life, she handled firearms, which she took to well after some initial apprehension. Although not the best, she was a more than competent shot, as well as showing a natural skill in unarmed combat. They were also taught how to code and decode messages, and were given lessons in National Socialism, economics, the war, first aid, as well as learning how to drive all manner of vehicles.

But despite the glamour and range of these topics, it was becoming clear to Leni and the other girls that there was a growing emphasis on topics such as sexual health, cosmetics, seduction and conversation. It was Leni’s nature to be direct, and thus she put it straight to Schwarz over soup one evening.

“So, Karl,” she said, adopting an intimacy that infuriated the untersturmführer, “are we going to have to screw some people at some point?”

Schwarz put down his spoon, and looked around the table. The other girls had also stopped eating.

“Because that’s what all this is about, isn’t it, Karl?” Leni continued, enjoying her audience. “You want us to become whores, don’t you? All this training in guns, and learning how to spot a Romanian officer’s uniform and the rest is just rubbish, isn’t it? Why else would we have all these lectures on venereal diseases and learning how to make the perfect cocktail? We’re just going to become SD whores—”

“Shut up!” barked Schwarz. “That’s enough!”

Leni stopped, remembering her father.

“Have you finished?” asked Schwarz.

Leni nodded.

Schwarz took a deep breath.