Nath furrowed his brows in concentration, his stylus darting across the tablet's screen at the speed of thought. A head of bushy brown hair. Blue eyes. Straight nose. Thin lips. Long dark robes. A splash of red around the midsection to break up the dark profile. Hood superimposed to cover most of the character's head and face; shadows to match.
"What is this one for?"
Nath didn't look up from putting the final touches on his drawing, placing the new character over the Champs de Mars background he already had saved on his tablet. "Just another one of Opa's stories," he explained, scrawling "Magier, Mage" at the bottom of the image in harsh, blocky letters. He shifted his shoulder and slid the tablet over to give Marc a clearer view of the new character. "Think this guy could fit into the Ladybug book?"
Marc hummed thoughtfully, tapping his chin. "We can always use another Akuma villain," he mused. "Unless you were thinking hero?"
Nath shrugged. "I could go either way," he admitted. "But that works." He zoomed in on the figure's hands and adding a small keychain dangling from one hand, along with a butterfly outline around the figure's eyes. "How's this?"
"It feels like something is still missing…"
Nath pursed his lips, staring at the picture. He couldn't think of anything more that could be missing: the character looked exactly the way he pictured it, with little difference from the description Opa had given him. "What are you thinking?"
"I mean, could you give him a weapon?" suggested Marc. "After all, most Akumas have some sort of special weapon."
"Opa never described this one as having a weapon," he replied, his brows knitting together in thought, tapping the stylus against his chin. But perhaps… With a stroke of the stylus he adjusted the character's arm, raising his hand above his head and closing it into a fist. "Better?"
Marc nodded. "Yeah," he began, falling silent as the classroom door opened. He elbowed Nath in the ribs, and Nath saved his drawing and shut off the tablet.
Two people entered the room. The first was their art appreciation teacher, a kindly middle-aged woman named Mme Hartung. Under her arm she carried two rolls of what appeared to be posters. Nath cocked his head, eyeing them curiously – they were supposed to begin a new unit this week, but she had been exceedingly tightlipped about the subject. However, she was not alone: close behind her, M. Kubdel entered the room.
"What do you think he's doing here?" Marc whispered pointing surreptitiously.
Nath shrugged. "Maybe we're going to be studying the Louvre's art collection?"
"I don't think so. Wouldn't we just… go there if that were the case?"
Nath hummed. "So it's got to be something more than that… And Alix has been acting pretty smug recently…" Marc quirked an eyebrow at him. "More so than usual, I mean." Marc snorted.
"Ahem…" Alix turned around in her seat directly in front of Nath and smirked. "It's only arrogance if you can't back it up. And you're welcome, by the way."
Nath gave her a dubious look. "For what?" Alix grinned.
Mme Hartung cleared her throat, and the conversation in the room fell away. "Now then, I'm sure you heard rumors about a surprise for the spring of your Terminale year," she began, smiling eagerly. "Well, the rumors are true! M. Kubdel is here to explain our surprise to you in more detail but, with your parents' permission, we will be going on an international trip!"
A wave of excited whispering ran through the room. Nath leaned back in his seat. They'd gone on a few trips in the past – museums, parks, a couple days out in the country, even a trip to Bayonne to visit the Basque region of France as part of their civics class during the first year of lycée. But from the way Mme Hartung described it, this wasn't going to be quite like that trip.
"Where do you think it will be?" Aurore asked from the table to their left, her voice a little higher than a whisper.
"I hope we're going somewhere exciting!" Mireille whispered back, grinning eagerly. "America, maybe?"
"Would they really spring a trip to America on us with this little warning?" Marc objected, raising an eyebrow.
Alix shook her head. "It's not America."
M. Kubdel stepped forward, and the whispering died down. "Last year, as part of our celebration of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Louvre Board of Directors began considering ways that we could do our part in encouraging the peace that has persisted since then, particularly between us and our… eastern neighbor." He paused. "To that end, we have decided to open up a cultural exchange."
Marc stifled a laugh. "If they want a cultural exchange with Germany," he whispered to Nath, "you're right here!"
Nath coughed, quirking his eyebrows in amusement.
M. Kubdel continued. "Your class has been selected to represent France, or Paris, or the Louvre, as part of our cultural exchange. The Berlin State Museums Board of Directors has selected an Oberstufe class from one of the Berlin Gymnasia to do the same – their final-year students and our final-year students. On our trip we are going to tour a number of museums with them in Berlin, and then in the spring they will come to Paris and we will host them to tour the Louvre as well as some other significant locations in Paris. Our hope is to encourage friendships between the upcoming generations of both countries which can last beyond the confines of just a school trip. Are there any questions?"
Nath leaned back in his seat and furrowed his brows thoughtfully. A trip to Germany with his friends sounded amazing! Opa had described his life in Stuttgart in such glowing terms – up to a certain point – that he had wanted to visit for years. Opa had never had any desire to return, however, and his parents had been less enthusiastic. Berlin wasn't Stuttgart by any means, but even so, it was an opportunity to learn more about his own family and history.
While he had been thinking, several of their classmates had already raised their hands with questions. M. Kubdel pointed to Jean first, who asked, "Are we going to be staying in a hotel on the trip, or are the hosts actually going to host us?"
M. Kubdel exchanged a glance with Mme Hartung before responding. "Our intent was for the visitors to stay at a hotel, rather than with host families."
"It will be much easier for us to keep track of you at a single hotel than if you go home with a dozen different families," explained Mme Hartung.
"Roommates?" Marc asked, nudging Nath.
"As if you have to ask!"
Lila gave M. Kubdel a simpering smile. "Which school are we going to be touring with?"
"We selected the art appreciation class from Königgraf-Gymnasium," he answered.
Lila pursed her lips in thought.
Nadine waved her hand in the air eagerly. "This will be so cool!" she enthused. Philippe put a hand on her shoulder, and she stilled. "Which museums are we going to visit?"
"The itinerary isn't entirely set yet, but at this point we are planning to visit the Altes Museum, which provides a good counterbalance to the Louvre's Egyptian antiquities collection; the Museum Europäischer Kulturen, which features art and cultural exhibits showing a broad range of German history; and the modern art collection housed at the Museum Berggruen, which is in fact preparing to unveil a new collection focused on 20th-century history, particularly the cultural history surrounding World War II."
Mme Hartung cleared her throat. "This new exhibit is in fact the reason why the Louvre chose art appreciation classes for this program," she added. "The exhibit's primary focus is on art, and particularly on the artwork produced by both sides of the war. This includes that which the Nazis produced for the encouragement and rallying of their own supporters, as well as that produced by the Allies in response."
Nath tensed, squeezing his stylus in a white-knuckled grip. In his pocket he could feel the change in demeanor from Orikko, reacting to Nath's own anxiety. World War II German history. World War II German art history. World War II German propaganda. Opa's stories had covered more than enough of what Germany had been like before the War. Opa had fled from Germany to escape the persecution; he had joined the Resistance to fight back against that persecution! Nath knew more than enough about what World War II had meant for people like him; did he really need to see more of the evidence? He was vaguely aware of Marc's hand squeezing his.
Clearly he wasn't the only one questioning this trip. Two rows ahead of them, Kim raised his hand. "Don't get me wrong," he began slowly. "A trip to Germany with friends sounds absolutely awesome! But is this really what we want to be learning about?" he asked. "I mean, should there even be an entire museum collection dedicated to the Nazis?"
"What do you mean?"
Kim frowned. "I mean, it sounds like it's all full of Nazi propaganda."
M. Kubdel nodded. "That's mostly correct," he agreed. "There is some variety beyond that narrow definition, but many of the pieces do indeed fall into that category."
"So with all the negativity and evil in the world," Kim continued, "should we really be celebrating the Nazis and what they did and how they did it? I mean, what's Germany thinking, giving them this kind of platform?"
M. Kubdel chuckled. "That is a valid point," he admitted. "I don't think anyone wants to see a return to Nazism."
Nath shuddered. "That's for sure…" he muttered, eliciting a frown from Marc.
"Absolutely not!" Lila interjected. "The Nazis were absolutely terrible! How could they have so completely taken over the hearts and minds of an entire country, as to do such terrible things?"
"Exactly!" Kim pointed at Lila, though Ondine grabbed his arm and pushed it down onto the table, shaking her head.
Mme Hartung coughed, drawing their attention to her. "Can anyone think of a reason why we should study Nazism and how it was able to gain such a following?"
Marc sighed. "'Those who do not learn from their past are doomed to repeat it,'" he recited sullenly.
"Very good," she praised him. "Knowing the past is the way we move beyond its mistakes. Do you know why we spent time learning about Renaissance paintings this year?"
"Because you really like da Vinci?" asked Philippe. Nadine elbowed him in the ribs, stifling a giggle.
Mme Hartung pursed her lips. "Because knowing the techniques of the past helps us to understand where the techniques of the present originated, thereby giving us a clearer picture of our heritage." Lila hummed contemplatively. "The same holds true in this case – and more so: learning about the past provides insight into our present."
Nath's mouth twisted around in distaste. "Great," he grumbled, softly enough that only Marc could hear him. "This time we get to learn about all the ways the Nazis mischaracterized the Jews. Perfect."
"We know it's all crap," Marc consoled him, a troubled look in his eye.
"That doesn't change that it happened," Nath pointed out.
Marc frowned and rubbed his back sympathetically. "It's not like anything can… much as we want it to."
"Learning about this history is not meant to be comfortable," M. Kubdel interjected. "It is not a flattering period of history for Europe – most certainly not for our German brethren." Nath hummed in acknowledgement. "However, if we do not learn our history, we cannot learn from our history," continued M. Kubdel. "Do you remember the first time you burned yourself on a hot stove?" He gave Alix an amused look, and she scoffed. "By remembering that the stove is hot, you can avoid falling into the mistake of touching it again. You can learn from the painful parts of your past in order to avoid them in the future. However, learning about the past does not mean we are beholden to the past."
AN (EDIT): The German education system is confusing. From what I can tell there are 2 states where it runs a year longer than the French system, but Berlin is not one of them. Thanks to DivineDemonDragon on AO3 and Guest on FF for pointing that out and giving me the correct terminology to use.
As another note, the museums mentioned are all real, though the "Nazi Propaganda Collection" is entirely fictional (to the best of my knowledge). Berlin has several museums with WWII exhibits/collections, though I didn't find one with this collection specifically.