The Trial and Its Afterlife

Michael encounters Hanna again as a defendant and struggles to reconcile his private memories with her crimes.

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The Seminar Begins

Entering the Nazi Past A Legal Question Michael joins a seminar following a trial of former camp guards. Students debate whether the law is what statutes say or what society actually enforces, including the prohibition on retroactive justice. A Generational Accusation The students condemn their parents’ generation for enabling or tolerating perpetrators after the war. Michael joins their moral certainty before recognizing how little he understands about the past or his own connection to it.

Hanna in Court

Recognition Without Feeling The Defendant Michael recognizes Hanna when she is called to testify, but initially feels nothing. She admits that she joined the SS voluntarily and served at Auschwitz and a satellite camp near Cracow. A Private Past Reappears Her presence disrupts the distance Michael had built between himself and their affair. He continues attending court, watching her posture and manner while claiming inwardly to be numb.

The Camp Testimony

Evidence and Responsibility Selections and Deaths The indictment describes monthly selections that sent weakened prisoners back to Auschwitz. Hanna admits participating, insisting that the guards acted together and that new prisoners needed space. The Question of Choice When the judge asks whether she knew the women would die, she says yes, then asks what he would have done. The exchange exposes the gulf between her habitual sense of duty and the court’s demand that she account for her choices.

The Church Fire Account

A Crime Reconstructed The Locked Church Witness accounts and records describe prisoners locked inside a church during a bombing. The guards did not open the doors as the roof burned and the women cried for help. Hanna’s Admission Hanna explains the confusion and fear surrounding the guards’ departure and says they believed they were responsible for preventing escape. She later admits writing the report that helped establish what happened, worsening her legal position.

The Life Sentence

Judgment and Aftermath A Public Verdict Hanna receives a life sentence while the other defendants receive fixed terms. Her black suit makes spectators imagine her in uniform, and the courtroom’s whispers turn her appearance into a symbol of the crimes. A Lost Look Michael waits for Hanna to look toward him, but she stares ahead with a wounded, exhausted expression. He leaves the trial with no resolution between the woman he loved and the defendant the court has condemned.

Winter, during Michael’s university years

Spring, at the opening of the trial

The second week of the trial

During testimony about the final forced march

Late June, when the verdict is read