The Wave Read Free

of inflation that had virtually ruined their country. Perhaps some of them hoped the Nazis would be able to restore their society. Anyway, after the war, the majority of Germans said they didn’t know about the atrocities.”
    Near the front of the room, a black youth named Eric raised his hand urgently. “That’s crazy,” he said. “How could you slaughter ten million people without somebody noticing?”
    “Yeah,” said Brad, the boy who had picked on Robert Billings before class began. “That can’t be true.”
    It was obvious to Ben that the film had affecteda large part of the class, and he was pleased. It was good to see them concerned about something. “Well,” he said to Eric and Brad, “I can only tell you that after the war the Germans claimed they knew nothing of the concentration camps or the killings.”
    Now Laurie Saunders raised her hand. “But Eric’s right,” she said. “How could the Germans sit back while the Nazis slaughtered people all around them and say they didn’t know about it? How could they do that? How could they even say that?”
    “All I can tell you,” Ben said, “is that the Nazis were highly organized and feared. The behavior of the rest of the German population is a mystery—why they didn’t try to stop it, how they could say they didn’t know. We just don’t know the answers.”
    Eric’s hand was up again. “All I can say is, I would never let such a small minority of people rule the majority.”
    “Yeah,” said Brad. “I wouldn’t let a couple of Nazis scare me into pretending I didn’t see or hear anything.”
    There were other hands raised with questions, but before Ben could call on anyone, the bell rang out and the class was rushing out into the hall.
    David Collins stood up. His stomach was grumbling like mad. That morning he’d gotten up late and had to skip his usual three-course breakfast to make it to school on time. Even though the film Mr. Ross had shown really bothered him, he couldn’t help thinking that next period was lunch.
    He looked over at Laurie Saunders, his girlfriend, who was still sitting in her seat. “Come on,Laurie,” he urged her. “We have to get down to the cafeteria fast. You know how long the line gets.”
    But Laurie waved him to go without her. “I’ll catch up later.”
    David scowled. He was torn between waiting for his girlfriend and filling his growling stomach. The stomach won, and David took off down the hall.
    After he was gone, Laurie got up from her seat and looked at Mr. Ross. There were only a couple of kids left in the room now. And except for Robert Billings, who was just waking up from his nap, they were the ones who seemed the most disturbed about the film. “I can’t even believe that all the Nazis were that cruel,” Laurie told her teacher. “I don’t believe anyone could be that cruel.”
    Ben nodded. “After the war, many Nazis tried to excuse their behavior by claiming they were only following orders and that they would have been killed themselves if they hadn’t.”
    Laurie shook her head. “No, that’s no excuse. They could have run away. They could have fought back. They had their own eyes and their own minds. They could think for themselves. Nobody would just follow an order like that.”
    “But that’s what they said,” Ben told her.
    Laurie shook her head again. “It’s sick,” she said, her voice filled with revulsion. “Just totally sick.”
    Ben could only nod in agreement.
    Robert Billings was trying to sneak past Ben’s desk.
    “Robert,” Ben said. “Wait a minute.”
    The boy froze, but could not look his teacher in the eye.
    “Are you getting enough sleep at home?” Ben asked.
    Robert nodded dumbly.
    Ben sighed. All semester he had been trying to get through to this boy. He couldn’t stand seeing him picked on by the other students and it dismayed him that Robert didn’t at least try to participate in class. “Robert,” his teacher said sternly, “if you