Word: scholten
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...hero of Gregor's book is Ernst Scholten, a schoolboy who cares little about the war and less about politics. A passionate reader of Karl May's cowboy-and-Indian stories,* Scholten imagines himself as the dauntless Indian chief, Winnetou. Even though German adults - both soldiers and civilians-urge the uneasy boys to desert, they blindly follow Scholten's lead. "You can do as you please," he says. "I am staying. Winnetou will hold the fort." The boys' resolution is strengthened when a passing general cannot resist spouting nonsense: he urges them to defend the bridge...
Twelve hours later, only Scholten and one other teen-ager are left alive. When a truckload of German troops arrives, the boys think they are replacements to take over their position. Discovering that the unit is really a demolition team come to blow up the bridge, Scholten cries hysterically: "Why did we have to defend it, then? Five are lying over there who've fought for this bridge." Author Gregor's final irony: after driving the demolition squad away from "our" bridge, Scholten is killed by a fellow German...
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