Extract - Leo's List from When the World was Ours by Liz Kessler

LEO

‘We here in this school, we citizens of Vienna, are overjoyed that the Anschluss has taken place,’ Mr Schmidt began.

I’d heard of the Anschluss. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but it had happened just this weekend. Mama and Papa had been talking about it in hushed whispers at home and I knew it had something to do with the sudden appearance of soldiers on the streets. But I didn’t understand what it could have to do with me, or with this assembly.

‘We welcome our leader, the Führer, and we are proud to play our part in Greater Germany. We will obey all our new laws without hesitation. Indeed, we plan to set an example of how to behave and we hope that other schools will learn from us and act similarly.

From today, we have two important changes. The first is that, from this moment on, our school day will begin in a different way.

You will no longer hear me over the tannoy, welcoming you and reminding you to leave your coats in the cloakroom and hurry to your classes. From now on, you will hear a new greeting from me.’

Then he thrust his right arm forward, palm down, arm straight out, and shouted, ‘Heil Hitler!’

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No one spoke, not even in a whisper.

Mr Schmidt lowered his arm. ‘That is how we will all greet each other from now on,’ he said. He looked around the hall to make sure everyone was listening. I was starting to feel awkward standing up while almost everyone else was sitting. I wished he would get to the point so we could go back to class.

‘The second important change is that we are going to show our dedication to the Führer and show our enemy their true place,’ he went on.

He raised a hand and pointed at each of us who were standing. ‘You dogs no longer have the same rights as everyone else in this school,’ he said.

I burst out laughing. I couldn’t help myself. We weren’t dogs!

This must be one of his games! A bunch of other kids laughed too. A ripple of giggles went through the hall.

Mr Schmidt saw the laughing and his face turned scarlet. ‘You Jews are lucky to be taught in this school at all!’ he yelled, so loud I had to cover my ears. ‘From now on, you shall be treated like the lesser race you are! You will sit separately in lessons and assembly, at the back of the room.’ His gaze moved around the school hall. ‘The rest of you are not to interact with them. Jews are different from us. They are dirty and inferior. For now, we have to put up with them in our school, but no one is to talk to them or play with them. You will pretend they do not even exist.’

My feet were blocks of stone, rooted to the floor. I couldn’t move. I still couldn’t understand what was happening. Was it a joke?

If so, it was a really, really not funny kind of joke. And no one was laughing any more.

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The hall was completely silent.

‘NO contact. Do I make myself clear?’ Mr Schmidt asked.

‘Yes, Mr Schmidt,’ the entire school replied. Even us Jews standing awkwardly amongst the rest. That’s how conditioned we were to obey our headmaster.

I could still hardly believe what was happening, though.

I looked down at Max. I think a tiny bit of me was hoping he would flash me a grin and tell me to sit back down. Max would make me realize it had all been a mistake. That it was a joke and the punchline was coming soon and then we’d all laugh. If so, I promised myself I would laugh the hardest.

Except, when I looked at him, Max didn’t make me see that it was a mistake or a joke at all.

He made it a hundred times more real.

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MAX

Max didn’t mean to do it. If you’d asked him the day before – even ten minutes before – he would have laughed in your face if you told him what he was about to do.

It didn’t even feel like a decision that he made. It was pure instinct.

Max moved away from Leo. Not a lot. Probably not even enough for most people to notice.

An outside observer wouldn’t have spotted a thing. But Leo wasn’t most people, he was Max’s best friend. Had he noticed?

Max’s thoughts were spinning so hard they made him feel dizzy.

What was happening? Why was it happening?

And why did it feel so familiar?

Almost as soon as he asked himself the question, Max knew the answer: Mr Schmidt sounded like his father. Since the day he’d banned Max from playing with Leo and Elsa, Max’s father still hadn’t talked about it much at home. Mother wouldn’t let him. But there had been a few times when he hadn’t managed to stop himself. He’d be reading the newspaper and would blurt out 62

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something that made Max itch with embarrassment: blaming Jews for everything that was wrong with the world, ranting about how much better off the country would be without them.

Max forced himself to switch off whenever it happened. Made himself believe that it was just his father, ranting. That he would get over it.

But he didn’t. And now the headmaster seemed to have become infected with the same hatred.

Max could feel his best friend’s eyes on him. He didn’t dare look up, though. He couldn’t bear to look into Leo’s face and see what must be a world of betrayal, hurt and fear in his eyes.

So, his face warm with shame, Max stared at the floor and shifted his body a tiny bit in the direction of the other children.

The children who still belonged. A small part of his brain knew that he was letting his best friend down. But the bigger part had a question beating against it.

What if I’m next?

And so, he shuffled closer to a boy on his other side who he had never particularly noticed before, he stared at the floor, and he held his breath until the headmaster spoke again.

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