The Assignment Read online

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2020 by Liza M. Wiemer

  Cover art copyright © 2020 by Jason Hu

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Wiemer, Liza M., author.

  Title: The assignment / Liza Wiemer.

  Description: First edition. | New York : Delacorte Press, [2020] | Audience: Ages 12 up. |

  Summary: Standing in opposition to a class assignment to debate Hitler’s Final Solution, seniors Cade and Logan become embroiled in turmoil involving their teacher, principal, Commissioner of Education, white supremacists, and their entire community.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019041073 (print) | LCCN 2019041074 (ebook) | ISBN 978-0-593-12316-4 (hardcover) | ISBN 978-0-593-12317-1 (library binding) | ISBN 978-0-593-12318-8 (ebook)

  Subjects: CYAC: Conduct of life—Fiction. | High schools—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. | Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)—Fiction. | Antisemitism—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.W4917 As 2020 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.W4917 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  Ebook ISBN 9780593123188

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  Penguin Random House LLC supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to publish books for every reader.

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  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: Logan

  Chapter 2: Cade

  Chapter 3: Logan

  Chapter 4: Mason Hayes

  Chapter 5: Cade

  Chapter 6: Logan and Blair

  Chapter 7: Cade

  Chapter 8: Logan

  Chapter 9: Cade

  Chapter 10: Logan

  Chapter 11: Cade

  Chapter 12: Logan

  Chapter 13: Cade

  Chapter 14: Logan

  Chapter 15: Cade

  Chapter 16: Principal Arthur Mcneil

  Chapter 17: Logan

  Chapter 18: Cade

  Chapter 19: Logan

  Chapter 20: Cade

  Chapter 21: Logan

  Chapter 22: Logan, Cade, Lissa Chen, Education Director at Humanity for Peace and Justice

  Chapter 23: Cade

  Chapter 24: Logan

  Chapter 25: Cade

  Chapter 26: Logan

  Chapter 27: Cade

  Chapter 28: Riviere High School Students Oppose Holocaust Debate Assignment

  Chapter 29: Logan

  Chapter 30: Heather Jameson

  Chapter 31: Cade

  Chapter 32: Logan

  Chapter 33: Cade

  Chapter 34: Mason

  Chapter 35: Daniel

  Chapter 36: Logan

  Chapter 37: Principal Mcneil

  Chapter 38: Logan

  Chapter 39: Cade

  Chapter 40: Logan

  Chapter 41: Cade

  Chapter 42: Blair, Logan, Cade

  Chapter 43: Logan

  Chapter 44: Heather Jameson and Jesse Elton

  Chapter 45: Logan

  Chapter 46: Lake Towns Journal

  Chapter 47: Elias Dygola

  Chapter 48: Mason and Kerrianne

  Chapter 49: Cade

  Chapter 50: Logan

  Chapter 51: Cade

  Chapter 52: Mason

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54: Logan

  Chapter 55: Mikayla Crawford

  Chapter 56: Cade

  Chapter 57: Mason

  Chapter 58: Logan

  Chapter 59: Joe Bartley

  Chapter 60: Cade

  Chapter 61: Daniel

  Chapter 62: Mason

  Chapter 63: Cade

  Chapter 64: Logan

  Chapter 65: Cade

  Chapter 66: Lieutenant Peter Franklin

  Chapter 67: Joe Bartley

  Chapter 68: Cade and Logan

  A Note from the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Resources

  About the Author

  Now That You’ve Read the Assignment, Here Are Some Questions to Think About

  For all the young adults across the globe who have the courage to speak out against any injustice, even when you are afraid, even when others are against you, even when you have to stand against those who should’ve been your role models.

  You are lights illuminating darkness. The world needs you.

  To Archer and Jordan for being my inspiration.

  And to my lamplighters: Justin and Annabella, Ezra and Bracha.

  What you’re about to read is a fictionalized story based on an actual assignment given to students in a New York high school education program. It’s an assignment that could be given anywhere.

  Any country. Any town. Any school. Even yours.

  Are we supposed to pretend we’re Nazis? The second Mr. Bartley turns his back to our class, I lean over to my best friend, Cade, and whisper, “What do you think?” I tap the assignment on my desk.

  He lifts his hands, palms up, mirroring my confusion. “Weird, right?” He says it a little too loudly, drawing Mr. Bartley’s attention.

  I nod, face forward, and refocus on the assignment. I read it one more time, hoping that somehow I’ve misunderstood the instructions.

  TOP-SECRET

  MEMO TO: Senior Members of the Nazi Party

  FROM: SS General Reinhard Heydrich, Chief of the Reich Main Security Office

  SUBJECT: A FINAL SOLUTION OF THE JEWISH QUESTION: Your attendance is required for this critical meeting scheduled for 20 January 1942 at the Wannsee Villa in Berlin, Germany.

  PURPOSE: As members of Hitler’s elite Nazi leadership, our purpose is to debate a Final Solution of the Jewish Question and to share perspectives on how to resolve the storage problem of Europe’s eleven million Jews.

  POSITIONS:

  Pro: Extermination

  Con: Sterilization, ghettos, work camps

  WHAT TO PREPARE FOR THE MEETING: As a Nazi, you must thoroughly research and analyze five reasons supporting your position of a Final Solution of the Jewish Question.

 
Research:

  The Nuremberg Laws

  Attitudes on religion and race

  Our policies on education, including who may attend or teach at primary and secondary schools and universities

  Economics, including our perspective on who has the right to own businesses and property

  Our leader’s stance on Darwin and survival of the fittest

  How to increase our superior Aryan race by exploring key ideas such as emigration, expulsion, evacuation, and eradication to be judenrein (Jew-free)

  Note from Mr. Bartley:

  The Wannsee Conference was one of the most pivotal historical moments that had a destructive force on humanity in the twentieth century, one that continues to leave a profound mark on society today. As you complete the research for this assignment, it is important for you to know that the goal is not to garner support or elicit sympathy for the Nazi perspective. It is, however, imperative for you to understand the Nazi mentality, even if it makes you uncomfortable and is diametrically against your moral, ethical, and philosophical beliefs. Researching this historical meeting and your side of the debate allows you to broaden your points of view and develop critical thinking skills.

  * * *

  —

  I flip the page, read through the requirements for our papers and how we’re going to be graded on the debate. My stomach somersaults. Get an A by successfully debating reasons to put Jews in gas chambers versus torture them, starve them, force them to be slave laborers for profit until they’re dead. Either way, Mr. Bartley is asking us to advocate for murder.

  Everything in my body screams, This is so wrong! But do I say it to Mr. Bartley? Looking at the other sixteen seniors in our class, I don’t see anyone other than Cade who seems uncomfortable with this assignment.

  “One more minute,” Mr. Bartley calls out. “Then I’ll answer questions.”

  I have a question. Is this a sick joke? I can’t bring myself to ask it out loud. Mr. Bartley isn’t any teacher. He’s a great teacher, my favorite teacher.

  He must have a reason why he wants us to pretend we’re Nazis. I reread his note. It makes me more than uncomfortable. For the first time ever, I’m tempted to get out of class by asking to go to the girls’ bathroom or the nurse’s office. I could say I have a pounding headache. Thanks to this assignment, I do.

  Mr. Bartley leans against his desk, and when he notices me staring at him, his warm smile fades. I pick up my pen and trace the blood-red “TOP-SECRET” that’s stamped on top of the memo. I don’t get it. Why would Mr. Bartley want us to keep this a secret? History of World Governments is the fourth class I’ve taken with him, and we’ve never had any assignment like this.

  Soon after Mr. Bartley started teaching at Riviere High School my sophomore year, he became our most popular teacher. He has the kind of smile that makes you know you’ve been seen, that you matter. During lunch and his free periods, his room is always filled with students. I’ve liked him for bringing in guest speakers, for taking us on field trips, showing movies, and letting us decorate his papered walls with quotes, facts, and pictures for every new unit. I love to contribute quotes. He makes history exciting, interesting, and challenging.

  I run my thumbpad over the silver bracelet my cousin Blair gave me for my seventeenth birthday and wonder what she would think of this assignment. I’m tempted to take a photo and text it to her, but I don’t want to get caught with my phone and have it taken away.

  Cade’s bouncing knee catches my attention. He writes in his notebook, then flashes it at me. He’s drawn an X over “Nazi” and written, “No. Freaking. Way!”

  The Allies defeated Nazi Germany during World War II. Why would I want to pretend I’m a Nazi? Mr. Bartley wants us to broaden our points of view. Really? How is it possible anyone would think murdering millions of people was okay? It’s simple. Killing is wrong. Debate over. This is ridiculous.

  Despise barely describes how I feel about this class and I have no one to blame but myself. I let Logan rope me into taking it instead of Advanced Web Design so we could spend more time together before we graduate. I look at my best friend and know it’s worth it. She’s worth it.

  But this assignment?

  It fills me with dread. My grandparents grew up in Poland and lived through World War II. Grandpa was fifteen at the end of the war. Nana was fourteen. They immigrated to the United States in the late 1960s. The one time I asked Nana about her family, she smiled and said, “I have you right here.” Then she pulled me into her arms and squeezed me tight.

  A memory returns to me. I was twelve. Nana and my parents were at church, and Grandpa and I were in his workshop. The smells of linseed oil and sawdust filled the air. We were elves, making puzzles for Santa to give to children on Christmas. As we sanded the pieces we’d cut from old drawers, I asked Grandpa what his life was like when he was my age. I remember Grandpa said he didn’t like to talk about it, that lots of bad things happened in Poland during the war. His expression grew solemn. His tone was firm. “Promise me you won’t ask Nana about her childhood, either. It will only upset her,” he said.

  I nodded.

  We kept working, but then a little while later he said, “Other than your grandma, I haven’t told another soul about my life in Poland. Not even your mom. But you’re old enough to understand, and I’m growing old.” He paused. “The story might frighten you.”

  I said I didn’t care.

  I can’t quite remember. Something about watching his Jewish neighbors being rounded up by Nazis? I buried those stories when we buried Grandpa two months later.

  Mr. Bartley plants himself in front of Logan’s center row. A murmur goes through the room as if Mr. Bartley broke a silencing spell. He holds up a palm like he’s a crossing guard halting traffic, and it’s quiet again. “Questions?” he asks.

  Logan’s hand shoots up, but then she lowers it when Mr. Bartley aims his clicker at the Smart Board and brings up the assignment.

  Kerrianne Nelson gets called on. “I’m confused. The Final Solution of the Jewish Question. Do you mean the Holocaust?”

  Mr. Bartley says, “Exactly. The Final Solution was the plan and implementation of the Holocaust.”

  “Ah, okay. I thought so.” She smiles at her boyfriend, Mason Hayes, but he’s too busy picking at a thread on his hockey jersey to notice. When she sees me looking at her, she frowns. Like most of the people at our school, I’ve known Kerrianne since kindergarten. We always got along, but for some reason when Logan moved to Riviere and joined us in eighth grade, Kerrianne stopped sitting with us at lunch and started hanging out with the hockey players.

  “Question, Spencer?” This is a surprise. Like me, Spencer Davis never raises his hand in class. If Spencer talks, it’s to his hockey teammates or to the girls he deems worthy of his time and attention. He claims to have hooked up with at least a dozen. As if. Thank everything holy Logan isn’t one of them.

  “Can we get extra credit for dressing up for the debate?”

  I turn around to see if he’s serious. Oh yeah. Dead serious.

  Mr. Bartley says, “Although I appreciate your desire for authenticity, Spencer, that does not extend to dress. No uniforms for this debate.”

  Someone whispers, “Damn.” I glance around, but I can’t figure out who it was.

  “Excuse me, Mr. Bartley—” Logan breaks off when Mr. Bartley calls on someone else.

  He answers a question about citing sources, then another on the structure of our papers that are due the same day as the debate. Moving over to his desk, Mr. Bartley grabs a paper bag and shakes it. He says, “Each of you will draw a number—either a one or two. Call it out after you pick. Mason, you start.”

  When it’s my turn, I mumble, “One.” Logan says, “Two.”

  “All the ones will take the pro side. Twos will tak
e con,” Mr. Bartley says. “You may work together to create your platform, but your paper must be your own. Your arguments should be based on the Wannsee Conference held on January 20, 1942. A week from this coming Monday we’ll transform our room into the Wannsee Villa and hold our own top-secret Nazi conference to debate how to handle the biggest threat to the Aryan race—the Jew.”

  The Jew. The way he said it makes my skin crawl.

  Mr. Bartley advances to the next PowerPoint slide. “These were the fifteen Nazi men who came together to address how to handle the storage problem of Europe’s eleven million Jews. Adolf Eichmann is in the center because he was instrumental in implementing the Final Solution. He oversaw the deportation of Jews from their homes to ghettos to death camps. Tomorrow, we’ll watch the movie Conspiracy, which reenacts the meeting with these men.”

  Men? More like monsters, I think.

  “The movie will be a good resource, but I highly recommend you get a jump start tonight on your research to support your arguments.”