One day in February 1943, the Gauleiter of Bavaria, Paul Giesler, to whom the Gestapo had brought a file of the letters, convoked the student body, announced that the physically unfit males—the able-bodied had been drafted into the Army—would be put to some kind of more useful war work, and with a leer suggested that the women students bear a child each year for the good of the Fatherland. “If some of the girls,” he added, “lack sufficient charm to find a mate, I will assign each of them one of my adjutants… and I can promise her a thoroughly enjoyable experience.” The Bavarians are noted for
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