Before today, she has always understood togetherness as factional: the rioting groups of her postwar youth, drawn together only because of whatever they were against. But she is against nothing. And neither are these young people onstage, who seem so sincerely lifted by one another’s company. They are for something—for solidarity and Germany.

This must be what Hitler means when he says Kraft durch Freude: “strength through joy.” Strength through community and song and happiness. It is the opposite of everything Ania was raised to believe. The feeling she experiences at this realization can only be described as religious.

So? Rainer says, after the youth march offstage. She feels a thousand kilometers from the nuns, the musty, damp-smelling cloister, the whole creaky missionary enterprise.

Yes, Ania says, breathless. You’re right.

And so it is not as a conformist but as a rebel that Ania Fortzmann joins the Nazi Party.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

DORTMUND, 1935

Ania and Rainer are married at city hall. She wears a sensible blue suit and he his best Landjahr leader uniform.

The solemnity of the occasion strikes Ania as funny. She feels like a child playing at being a grown-up. But Rainer is serious as death. He remains two steps ahead of her as they climb the building’s steps. Even when she hurries, he won’t quite allow her to catch up.

Following this new, stiff, and humorless Rainer, Ania feels the chill of doubt. Do you love him? her friend and gymnastics partner Ulrike asked her when Ania told her they were engaged. The question took Ania by surprise. She and Rainer have known each other since they were children. They share a passion for the work and for improving Germany’s future. And Rainer says he has always known he would marry her. His certainty is compelling. Ania is used to following the lead of opinionated men. But is she “in love”? She is not even sure what this means exactly. In novels, love seems to be a stormy and irrational thing, full of chaos and bodily urges. Ania has never experienced this. And it is not something she wants. What she wants is a partner.

She is marrying Rainer because as husband and wife, they can lead a lager together. They will be assigned their own troop of boys from all over the country. They will teach them how to till the land and grow vegetables and be proud, unpretentious, able-bodied citizens of the Reich. Never mind that neither she nor Rainer knows much of anything about farming. They have acquired some simple skills in their training and will work alongside local farmers. They will bring their passion for the movement and its ideals of togetherness, class equality, and national pride.

When Rainer reaches the top step, he turns and offers Ania his hand. “My almost husband,” she says, smiling and panting slightly. He steps back and gestures for her to precede him. Together, they make their way down to the musty basement and the town clerk who handles such matters.