Question

Franz thinks," will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons?"What could this mean?

Answer 1

well, Franz is a little French lad. He is seeing that the order has come from Berlin declaring, German would be taught to the students of the French schools. The thing that striked his mind was that, they could be forced to study German, but the foreign rules didn't have the power to control the animals and make them sing in German. This was what little Franz meant by saying-"will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons".

Answer 2

The statement refers to the extreme desperation of the Frenchmen towards the Germam authorities.It is much painful to adopt a new language.Moreover they paid huge devotion to their mother tongue which is engulfed by the German atrocities.