“It was April 1943 and the people of Marwencol were just sitting down for their evening meal when the Germans rolled into town. Life stopped for a moment, as if someone had pressed a pause button. // The townspeople had only heard about the war; they never thought they would actually see someone from it. They knew that the soldiers were German. What they didn’t know was that they were the meanest, most uncaring, and rotten men that ever came out of the SS. And they were lost and angry. // The Germans grew more annoyed with the townspeople by the minute. Every time the soldiers demanded that someone show them where they were—where Marwencol was—on the map, the people said, ‘I don’t know.’ // So the soldiers ate whatever they wanted, took whatever they wanted, and did whatever they felt like doing in the town. When they finished, they started killing the elders of the town. Then they killed the men. And then they raped and killed the young women. // When the SS were finished eliminating everyone, they left. They left the town empty and desolate. This town, Marwencol, was a ghost town. Barren and devoid of life. And that’s when Hogie came into the picture.”
