T HE TRIAL could not have gone any worse for Hanna. She had already made a bad impression on the court during the preliminary questioning. After the indictment1 had been read out, she spoke2 up to say that something was incorrect; the presiding judge rebuked3 her irritably4, telling her that she had had plenty of time before the trial to study the charges and register objections; now the trial was in progress and the evidence would show what was correct and incorrect. When the presiding judge proposed at the beginning of the actual testimony5 that the German version of the daughter’s book not be read into the record, as it had been prepared for publication by a German publisher and the manuscript made available to all participants in the trial, Hanna had to be argued into it by her lawyer under the exasperated6 eyes of the judge. She did not willingly agree. She also did not want to acknowledge that she had admitted, in an earlier deposition7, to having had the key to the church. She had not had the key, no one had had the key, there had not been any one key to the church, but several keys to several different doors, and they had all been left outside in the locks. But the court record of her examination by the judge, approved and signed by her, read differently, and the fact that she asked why they were trying to hang something on her did not make matters any better. She didn’t ask loudly or arrogantly8, but with determination, and, I think, in visible and audible confusion and helplessness, and the fact that she spoke of others trying to hang something on her did not mean she was claiming any miscarriage9 of justice by the court. But the presiding judge interpreted it that way and responded sharply. Hanna’s lawyer leapt to his feet and let loose, overeagerly; he was asked whether he was agreeing with his client’s accusations10, and sat down again.
Hanna wanted to do the right thing. When she thought she was being done an injustice11, she contradicted it, and when something was rightly claimed or alleged12, she acknowledged it. She contradicted vigorously and admitted willingly, as though her admissions gave her the right to her contradictions or as though, along with her contradictions, she took on a responsibility to admit what she could not deny. But she did not notice that her insistence13 annoyed the presiding judge. She had no sense of context, of the rules of the game, of the formulas by which her statements and those of the others were toted up into guilt14 and innocence15, conviction and acquittal. To compensate16 for her defective17 grasp of the situation, her lawyer would have had to have more experience and self-confidence, or simply to have been better. But Hanna should not have made things so hard for him; she was obviously withholding18 her trust from him, but had not chosen another lawyer she trusted more. Her lawyer was a public defender19 appointed by the court.
Sometimes Hanna achieved her own kind of success. I remember her examination on the selections in the camp. The other defendants20 denied ever having had anything to do with them. Hanna admitted so readily that she had participated—not alone, but just like the others and along with them—that the judge felt he had to probe further.
“What happened at the selections?”
Hanna described how the guards had agreed among themselves to tally21 the same number of prisoners from their six equal areas of responsibility, ten each and sixty in all, but that the figures could fluctuate when the number of sick was low in one person’s area of responsibility and high in another’s, and that all the guards on duty had decided22 together who was to be sent back.
“None of you held back, you all acted together?”
“Yes.”
“Did you not know that you were sending the prisoners to their death?”
“Yes, but the new ones came, and the old ones had to make room for the new ones.”
“So because you wanted to make room, you said you and you and you have to be sent back to be killed?”
Hanna didn’t understand what the presiding judge was getting at.
“I . . . I mean . . . so what would you have done?” Hanna meant it as a serious question. She did not know what she should or could have done differently, and therefore wanted to hear from the judge, who seemed to know everything, what he would have done.
Everything was quiet for a moment. It is not the custom at German trials for defendants to question the judge. But now the question had been asked, and everyone was waiting for the judge’s answer. He had to answer; he could not ignore the question or brush it away with a reprimand or a dismissive counterquestion. It was clear to everyone, it was clear to him too, and I understood why he had adopted an expression of irritation23 as his defining feature. It was his mask. Behind it, he could take a little time to find an answer. But not too long; the longer he took, the greater the tension and expectation, and the better his answer had to be.
“There are matters one simply cannot get drawn24 into, that one must distance oneself from, if the price is not life and limb.”
Perhaps this would have been all right if he had said the same thing, but referred directly to Hanna or himself. Talking about what “one” must and must not do and what it costs did not do justice to the seriousness of Hanna’s question. She had wanted to know what she should have done in her particular situation, not that there are things that are not done. The judge’s answer came across as hapless and pathetic. Everyone felt it. They reacted with sighs of disappointment and stared in amazement25 at Hanna, who had more or less won the exchange. But she herself was lost in thought.
“So should I have . . . should I have not . . . should I not have signed up at Siemens?”
It was not a question directed at the judge. She was talking out loud to herself, hesitantly, because she had not yet asked herself that question and did not know whether it was the right one, or what the answer was.
法庭审理对汉娜来说糟得不能再糟了。在审问她个人情况时，她就没给法庭留下什么好印象。起诉书宣读完之后，她要求发言，因为她认为有些事不属实。审判长愤怒地驳回了她。他说，在刑事诉讼主要程序开始之前，她已有足够的时间研究起诉书，而且可以提出反对意见，现在人们已进入了主要程序，起诉书中起诉的事属实不属实，要由听证来决定。听证开始时，审判长建议放弃朗读那位女儿写的那本书的德文版本，因为有家德国出版社正准备出版此书，所有与此有关的人都已经人手一本草稿。审判长恼怒的目光注视着汉娜，他让其辩护律师说服她，使她同意这样做。汉娜不同意。她也不想接受那种认为她在一次初审中承认过她曾经拿到过教堂的钥匙的说法。她说，她没有拿过那把钥匙，没有人拿过那把钥匙，根本就没有开教堂的一把钥匙，而是有好多把开好多门的钥匙，它们都插在门外的锁眼里。但是，在一份审判员的审讯记录中所记载的情况却是另外一个样子，那份记录由她本人阅读过并签了字。她问人们为什么要把这件事强加于她，但这丝毫无济于事。她问得声音不大，听起来并不自以为是，但却很固执。就像我感觉到的那样，她感到困惑不解和无可奈何。她说人们强加于她时，并不是谴责他们这样做违反了法律。但是，审判长先生却是这样理解的，而且反应强烈。汉娜的辩护律师急忙跳起来，热心地为她辩护。当他被问到他是否想把人们对他的委托人的谴责据为己有时，他又坐了下来。
汉娜想要讨个公道。她认为她被冤枉的地方，她就提出抗议；如果她认为别人对她的谴责公正的话，她也接受。她有时固执地抗议，有时心甘情愿地承认，好像她要通过承认来获得抗议的权利，或者通过抗议的方式来承认她正常情况下无法争辩的事情。但是，她没有注意到她的固执惹恼了审判长。她对前后关系没有概念，对游戏规则没有概念，对自己的和别人的表达方式都没有概念，不知有罪或无罪，判刑或释放往往取决于表达方式。为了弥补她的这种缺陷，她的辩护律师必须是个经验丰富、沉着自信或者高人一筹的高手才行。或许汉娜不该那样难为他，她明显地表现出对他的不信任，但她没有能选择她所信赖的律师。她的律师是由审判长为她指定的，他有义务、有责任为她进行辩护。
有时汉娜也能取得某种胜利。我还记得对她在集中营里挑选囚犯这一问题所进行的审讯。其他被告用某时某刻做了某事来否认参与了此事，汉娜却心甘情愿地承认参与了此事，但她说她不是惟一的一个，而是像其他人一样，和其他人一起参与了此事。这样一来，审判长就不得不逼问她。
"挑选是如何进行的？"
汉娜描述道，她们几位女看守取得了一致意见，从她们六人所主管的同样大小的范围内，选出同等数目的囚犯，也就是说，每人选出十名，总共为六十名。但是，被选出的人数在低发病的情况下和高发病的情况下要有所木同。这样，所有当班的女看守最后要一起决定谁该被送回去。
"你们当中没有人回避此事，您所讲的包括所有的人吗？"
"是的。"
"难道您不知道您是送那些囚犯去死吗？"
"当然是知道的，可是新的要来，先来的必须要给后来的让地方。"
"因为要腾地方，您是这样说的吧：你，你，还有你就必须被送回去杀掉吗？"
汉娜没有弄明白审判长想以此问什么问题。
"我有……我认为……要是您的话，您会怎么做呢？"汉娜是把这个问题作为一个严肃问题提出来的。她不知道她该怎样做，又能怎么做。因此她想听一听看上去广见多识的审判长该怎样做。
一时，大厅里鸦雀无声。被告人向审判长提问题不合乎德国的刑事审判程序。但是，现在问题被提出来了，而且所有的人都在等着审判长的回答。他必须回答，不能避开问题或者做非难性的评论或者用反问的方式拒绝回答。每个人都清楚，他自己也明白，我也明白了他做出恼怒的表情的诡计。恼怒的表情给他戴上了一副假面具，在这副假面具的背后，他为自己回答问题赢得了一点时间，但是没有太多的时间，他拖延的时间越长，人们的期待就越大，气氛就越紧张，而他的回答就必须越好。
"有些事情人们根本就不该做，如果不去做不会要命的话，人们就必须回避。"
假如他说汉娜或者他自己如何做，也许就足够了。只谈论人们必须做什么，不允许做什么和人们做什么要付出什么代价，这与汉娜提出的问题的严肃性不相符。她想知道的是处在她当时的情况下，她应该怎样做，而不是有什么事情人们不可以做。审判长的回答显得无可奈何，毫无分量。在座的人都有同感。大家都很失望地深深地呼了口气，惊奇地望着在某种程度上赢得了这场舌战的汉娜。但是，汉娜本人仍在沉思。
"那么，我要是……没有……如果我不能在西门子公司报名呢？"
那不是向法官提出的问题。她在自言自语，她在犹豫不定地自问，因为她还没有把这个问题提出来。她在怀疑这个问题的正确性，在寻找它的答案。
收听单词发音 |
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indictment
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| n.起诉；诉状 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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rebuked
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| 责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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irritably
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| ad.易生气地 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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deposition
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| n.免职，罢官；作证；沉淀；沉淀物 | |
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arrogantly
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| adv.傲慢地 | |
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miscarriage
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| n.失败，未达到预期的结果；流产 | |
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accusations
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| n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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compensate
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| vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消 | |
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defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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withholding
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| 扣缴税款 | |
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defender
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| n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人 | |
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defendants
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| 被告( defendant的名词复数 ) | |
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tally
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| n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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