Helga slumped back in her recliner and stared at the television in shock and disbelief. He won! Jack Duncan had won the election against all the odds. As she watched the returns roll in from around the country, her mind slid back to the days of her youth.

***

Helga Brüner watched as the soldiers marched into her tiny village. Goose-stepping to a halt in the village square, they stood, rigid, their rifles held crosswise against their chests. Young Helga thought they looked dashing and handsome in their feltgrau uniforms. She was proud to don the full blue skirt, middy blouse, and heavy marching shoes that were the uniform of the Jungmädelbund. It was the first year she was eligible, and she was excited to be part of the movement to improve Germany.

She had listened intently as her older brothers spun tales of their days’ activities in the Hitlerjungend and the Deutsches Jungvolk. Her eldest brother, Bruno, was almost old enough to join the Sturmabteilung. In a few months, he’d leaving for his indoctrination.

Helga and most of her family had the natural blonde hair and blue eyes that were cherished by the Party. Her youngest brother, Franz, was the exception. Although he had the whitest of blond hair, his eyes were a brown so dark as to appear black.

The day of her first Jungmädelbund meeting was the day the Schutzstaffel knocked on the door of the house, to demand purity checks on all the family. That was the last time Helga ever saw her brother Franz.