One of the Jewish protagonists in this novel is “encouraged” to join the SS because of his Aryan appearance. Jenz is 6’4”, has sandy blond hair and steel blue eyes. His parents have enrolled him in Hitler Youth Camp in order to camouflage his religion. He is noticed by the SS and joins as a Lieutenant after his first year of engineering studies at the Technical University in Berlin.
On an inspection tour of the secret rocket facility near Nordhausen, Germany, he notices that the Jewish slave workers are poorly fed and are being worked to death. He seeks out the manager of the facility, Georg Rickhey, for an explanation during the last few months of the war.
Rickhey: “Lieutenant, we are producing these weapons as fast as we can. But we lose over 200 Jews each day.”
Jenz: “I don’t give a damn about dead Jews! I care about live Jews. You are killing them faster than the gas houses. Now listen to me very carefully. Two things are going to happen immediately. First, you are going to feed these workers decent meals. These are precious workers for the Reich. I don’t care if they eat the same meals as our front-line troops. Second, there will be no more corporal punishment for prison workers who are sick and cannot produce their quotas. We are at war, you imbecile! The Fatherland is in a desperate situation.