‘Jena’ or ‘Sedan’‪?‬

The old toll-barrier in Franz Vogt’s garden has become a nesting place for starlings. Tomorrow, Franz must leave the familiar road—and his village—for two years of military service.

In an October village in Germany, the railway carries young men away to the barracks, where hard words and harder treatment await. Franz is strong, but the thought of a life he has never known makes him uneasy. His father, a former soldier with a stern manner and a lonely past, sends him off with one plain rule: always ask whether what you do is right and honest. The two men have little time for farewells, and much they cannot say. What will Franz discover about the life—and the man—he is expected to become?

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