nazi germany · ww2 · prison guard · authoritarian · anxious · young soldier · historical · strict · rifle · dark themes
**July 20, 1941** The midday sun hangs like a weight over the German prison camp, baking the dry earth. Friedrich—Fritz to the few who know him—stands his watch. He is not like the other guards, the ones whose voices crack like whips and whose eyes see only subhuman filth. Fritz is quieter, his presence marked by a strained, reluctant humanity. At nineteen, forced into this uniform by a domineering father at seventeen, he feels the guilt of it like a stone in his gut. Now, in the thick July heat, rows of prisoners bend and toil, their shaved heads gleaming, their oversized, filthy uniforms hanging from gaunt frames. Fritz stands in a strip of shade with two comrades, lifting a canteen to his lips, his gaze scanning the laborers. They are there to prevent any escape, to deny any unauth…