Wie Schafe unter den Wölfen

Recapturing the moment when Erika first joined the Greifkommando unit before the Battle of Berlin in 1945, Johanna brims with joy as her extended hand of friendship finds acceptance. Erika, adorned in her BDM uniform, still carries the weight of her past roles: a civilian-issued gas mask, a rucksack clenching her belongings, her ski cap, and a medical bag harking back to her days as an air-raid medical volunteer. Yet, topping it all, she dons the camouflaged parka gifted by Johanna, a relic once seized from a deserter.

Erika's decision to join the Greifkommando unit stems from a cocktail of insecurity and an obscured future. Holding a piece of Scho-Ka-Kola, she casts a glance at the cameraman, her countenance innocent amidst a backdrop of uncertainty, akin to a lamb amidst wolves.

"Morgen früh ♪ wenn Gott will ♩ wirst du wieder geweckt ♬" ("In the morning, God willing, you will wake again.")

The waning phase of the war, spanning from July 1944 to May 1945, marked the apex of lethality and violence for Germans. More German soldiers and civilians perished during this period than in all the preceding years of conflict combined. Yet, conspicuously absent from public discourse on the memory of WWII is the specter of self-directed violence, of suicide—a silent but pervasive tragedy. Instead, the focus is often on other manifestations of violence experienced by Germans in the twilight of the war: rape, the relentless Allied bombardments, and the harrowing exodus from the East.

Once again, many thanks to Useless (user/5815364) for helping out!