Storyville

Not a photo I took, alas, but a still from a documentary about Brunhilde Pomsel, who was Goebbels’ secretary. For 81 minutes, the camera grimly held her face and its beautiful lines as she told her terrible story. Pitiless and pitiful.

It struck me how easy it must be to move, incrementally, without realising what you’re doing, onto the worst possible path and have a small part in enabling evil to flourish, just because it means you’ll earn a little more than your friends, because you very much want that dress or a slightly lovelier apartment. It reminded me how alert we need to be. I found the grief pooled in that face at times unbearable.