英文小說(shuō)連載《朗讀者The Reader》Part 2 Chapter 7

　　JUST AS Hanna’s insistent contradictions annoyed the judge， her willingness to admit things annoyed the other defendants. It was damaging for their defense， but also her own.

　　In fact the evidence itself was favorable to the defendants. The only evidence for the main count of the indictment was the testimony of the mother who had survived， her daughter， and the daughter’s book. A competent defense would have been able， without attacking the substance of the mother’s and daughter’s testimony， to cast reasonable doubt on whether these defendants were the actual ones who had done the selections. Witnesses’ testimony on this point was not precise， nor could it be； there had， after all， been a commandant， uniformed men， other female guards， and a whole hierarchy of responsibilities and order with which the prisoners had only been partially confronted and which， correspondingly， they could only partially understand. The same was true of the second count. Mother and daughter had both been locked inside the church， and could not testify as to what had happened outside. Certainly the defendants could not claim not to have been there. The other witnesses who had been living in the village then had spoken with them and remembered them. But these other witnesses had to be careful to avoid the charge that they themselves could have rescued the prisoners. If the defendants had been the only ones there—could the villagers not have overpowered the few women and unlocked the church doors themselves？ Would they not have to fall in line with the defense， that the defendants had acted under a power of compulsion that also extended to them， the witnesses？ That they had been forced by， or acted on the orders of， the troops who had either not yet fled or who， in the reasonable assumption of the guards， had left for a brief interval， perhaps to bring the wounded to the field hospital， and would be returning soon？

　　When the other defendants’ lawyers realized that such strategies were being undone by Hanna’s voluntary concessions， they switched to another， which used her concessions to incriminate Hanna and exonerate the other defendants. The defense lawyers did this with professional objectivity. The other defendants backed them up with impassioned interjections.

　　“You stated that you knew you were sending the prisoners to their deaths—that was only true of you， wasn’t it？ You cannot know what your colleagues knew. Perhaps you can guess at it， but in the final analysis you cannot judge， is that not so？” Hanna was asked by one of the other defendants’ lawyers.

　　“But we all knew . . .”

　　“Saying ‘we，’ ‘we all’ is easier than saying ‘I，’ ‘I alone，’ isn’t it？ Isn’t it true that you and only you had special prisoners in the camp， young girls， first one for a period， and then another one？”

　　Hanna hesitated. “I don’t think I was the only one who . . .”

　　“You dirty liar！ Your favorites—all that was just you， no one else！” Another of the accused， a coarse woman， not unlike a fat broody hen but with a spiteful tongue， was visibly worked up.

　　“Is it possible that when you say ‘knew，’ the most you can actually do is assume， and that when you say ‘believe，’ you are actually just making things up？” The lawyer shook his head， as if disturbed by her acknowledgment of this. “And is it also true that once you were tired of your special prisoners， they all went back to Auschwitz with the next transport？”

　　Hanna did not answer.

　　“That was your special， your personal selection， wasn’t it？ You don’t want to remember， you want to hide behind something that everyone did， but . . .”

　　“Oh God！” The daughter， who had taken a seat in the public benches after being examined， covered her face with her hands. “How could I have forgotten？” The presiding judge asked if she wished to add anything to her testimony. She did not wait to be called to the front. She stood up and spoke from her seat among the spectators.

　　“Yes， she had favorites， always one of the young ones who was weak and delicate， and she took them under her wing and made sure that they didn’t have to work， got them better barracks space and took care of them and fed them better， and in the evenings she had them brought to her. And the girls were never allowed to say what she did with them in the evening， and we assumed she was . . . also because they all ended up on the transports， as if she had had her fun with them and then had got bored. But it wasn’t like that at all， and one day one of them finally talked， and we learned that the girls read aloud to her， evening after evening after evening. That was better than if they . . . and better than working themselves to death on the building site. I must have thought it was better， or I couldn’t have forgotten it. But was it better？” She sat down.

　　Hanna turned around and looked at me. Her eyes found me at once， and I realized that she had known the whole time I was there. She just looked at me. Her face didn’t ask for anything， beg for anything， assure me of anything or promise anything. It simply presented itself. I saw how tense and exhausted she was. She had circles under her eyes， and on each cheek a line that ran from top to bottom that I’d never seen before， that weren’t yet deep， but already marked her like scars. When I turned red under her gaze， she turned away and back to the judges’ bench.

　　The presiding judge asked the lawyer who had cross-examined Hanna if he had any further questions for the defendant. He also asked Hanna’s lawyer. Ask her， I thought. Ask her if she chose the weak and delicate girls， because they could never have stood up to the work on the building site anyway， because they would have been sent on the next transport to Auschwitz in any case， and because she wanted to make that final month bearable. Say it， Hanna. Say you wanted to make their last month bearable. That that was the reason for choosing the delicate and the weak. That there was no other reason， and could not be.

　　But the lawyer did not ask Hanna， and she did not speak of her own accord.

　　漢娜有時(shí)固執(zhí)己見地進(jìn)行抗議，這使審判長(zhǎng)大為惱火。同樣，她有時(shí)心甘情愿地認(rèn)錯(cuò)，這也氣壞了其他被告。這無(wú)論是對(duì)她自己的辯護(hù)還是對(duì)她們的辯護(hù)都十分不利。

　　證明材料本來(lái)對(duì)被告有利。那幸存下來(lái)的母女和她們寫的書是第一項(xiàng)主要指控的推一證明材料。一個(gè)好的辯護(hù)律師，應(yīng)該能夠在不抨擊母女證詞的情況下就能夠令人信服地駁回對(duì)那幾位被告參與挑選囚犯的指控。就這一點(diǎn)而言，證詞不精確，也不可能精確，因?yàn)楫吘惯�有一名指揮官、一個(gè)警衛(wèi)隊(duì)和其他的女看守，以及一項(xiàng)層層下達(dá)的命令和任務(wù)，這樣，這些囚犯在這個(gè)等級(jí)制中就只是一個(gè)組成部分，他們也只能看清楚與這相關(guān)的部分。類似的情形在第二項(xiàng)指控中也存在：那母女倆被關(guān)押在教堂里，不能就外面所發(fā)生的事情做證。雖然被告不能找任何借口，說(shuō)她們當(dāng)時(shí)不在現(xiàn)場(chǎng)，因?yàn)楫?dāng)時(shí)在那座村子里生活過的那些證人與被告交談過，現(xiàn)在還記得她們，但是，這些證人必須要注意防止引火燒身，否則，人們會(huì)說(shuō)，本來(lái)他們是可以把那些囚犯救出來(lái)的。如果僅僅是那幾位被告在場(chǎng)的話，難道村民們就制服不了幾個(gè)女人而自己把教堂的門打開嗎？為了減輕那幾位被告和作為證人的他們自己的負(fù)擔(dān)，他們難道不必須站到被告這一邊來(lái)嗎？他們不會(huì)說(shuō)當(dāng)時(shí)他們都處在警衛(wèi)隊(duì)的暴力或命令之下嗎？不會(huì)說(shuō)因?yàn)榫�衛(wèi)隊(duì)確實(shí)沒有逃跑，或者至少像那幾位被告估計(jì)的那樣，他們?yōu)榱藫尵纫蛔�野�?zhàn)醫(yī)院的傷員只是離開了很短的時(shí)間，不久就又回來(lái)了嗎？

　　當(dāng)其他被告的辯護(hù)律師意識(shí)到像這樣的策略由于漢娜心甘情愿地認(rèn)錯(cuò)而落空時(shí)，他們又換了一個(gè)策略。他們想利用漢娜認(rèn)錯(cuò)的主動(dòng)性，把責(zé)任都推到她身上，以此減輕其他被告的罪行。辯護(hù)律師們很專業(yè)地不動(dòng)聲色地這樣做著，其他被告以憤怒的譴責(zé)為其助威。

　　"您說(shuō)過，您知道您是送囚犯去死，這只是說(shuō)您自己，是嗎？您的同事們知道什么，您不可能知道。您也許能猜測(cè)，但是卻不能最終斷定，不對(duì)嗎？"

　　問漢娜的是另外一位被告的辯護(hù)律師。

　　"但是，我們大家都知道……"

　　"'我們'，'我們大家'，這樣說(shuō)比說(shuō)'我'或說(shuō)'我自己'要容易得多，不對(duì)嗎？您，僅您一人，在集中營(yíng)里有被您保護(hù)起來(lái)的人，每次都是位年輕的姑娘，每過一段時(shí)間就換一位，有這么回事吧？"

　　漢娜猶豫不決地說(shuō)："我相信，我不是淮一的一個(gè)…，

　　"你這個(gè)卑鄙下流說(shuō)謊話的家伙！你的心肝寶貝，那是你的，你一個(gè)人的！"另一位被一個(gè)油嘴滑舌。尖酸刻毒的悍婦，用一種慢得像母雞打咯咯的口吻說(shuō)道。她顯然很惱怒。

　　"可能是這樣的吧，您說(shuō)'知道'的地方僅僅是您的猜想，而'猜想'的地方是您的捏造吧？"'那位辯護(hù)律師搖著頭，好像對(duì)得到她的肯定的回答比較擔(dān)心。"所有在您保護(hù)之下的人，當(dāng)她們令您感到厭倦時(shí)，您就會(huì)在下一批被送往奧斯威辛的人中把她送走，有沒有這回事？"

　　漢娜沒有回答。

　　"那是您特殊的、個(gè)人的選擇，難道不是這樣嗎？您不再想承認(rèn)它了，您想把它隱藏在大家都做過的事情的背后。但是……"

　　"啊，天哪！"在接受聽證之后又坐到觀眾席上的那位女兒用手蒙住了臉說(shuō)，"我怎么能把這件事給忘了呢？"審判長(zhǎng)問她是否想補(bǔ)充她的證詞。她沒有等被傳呼到前面去，就站了起來(lái)在觀眾席的座位上講了起來(lái)。

　　"是的，她有心愛的人，總是年輕、體弱而溫柔的姑娘中的一位。她把她們保護(hù)起來(lái)，關(guān)照她們，不讓她們干活，給她們安排較好的住處并在飲食上給予較好的照顧。到了晚上，她把姑娘帶到她那兒，姑娘們不允許說(shuō)出她們晚上和她做了什么。我們當(dāng)時(shí)想，她和那些姑娘在一起……因?yàn)樗齻円捕急凰妥�，好像她用她們�?lái)滿足她自己的樂趣，然后又厭倦了她們似的。但事實(shí)根本不是這么回事。有一天，有位姑娘還是說(shuō)了出來(lái)。我們才知道那些姑娘是一個(gè)晚上接著一個(gè)晚上地在為她朗讀。這要比她那樣……好得多，也比在建筑工地干活累得要死好得多。我一定是這么想的，否則的話，我不會(huì)把這件事給忘掉的。但是，那樣確實(shí)好嗎？"她坐下了。

　　漢娜轉(zhuǎn)過身來(lái)望著我，她的目光一下子就捕捉到了我，我才意識(shí)到她早就知道我在這兒了。她只是看著我。從她的面部表情看，她既不是在請(qǐng)求什么，也不是在追求什么，更不是在保證或許諾什么。我看得出來(lái)，她的心里是多么緊張，身體是多么疲憊。她的眼圈是黑的，面頰兩邊從上到下各有一條我所不熟悉的皺紋，雖然還不太深，可是卻已像一條疤痕一樣。我在她的注視下臉紅了，于是她移開了目光，把它轉(zhuǎn)向法庭中的長(zhǎng)椅子。

　　審判長(zhǎng)想知道向漢娜發(fā)問的那位辯護(hù)律師是否還有問題要問被告。他想知道漢娜的律師是否還有問題要問。應(yīng)該問她，我在想，問她選擇了體弱、溫柔的姑娘是否是因?yàn)樗齻兎凑�承受不了建筑工作，是否是因�(yàn)樗齻兛倸w要被送往奧斯威辛，是否是因?yàn)樗�想使她們最后幾個(gè)月的日子過得好受一點(diǎn)。說(shuō)呀，漢娜！說(shuō)你是想使她們最后的日子過得好一點(diǎn)。說(shuō)這就是你挑選體弱、溫柔姑娘們的原因，說(shuō)不存在其他原因，也不可能有其他的原因。

　　但是，辯護(hù)律師沒有問漢娜，漢娜自己也什么都沒有說(shuō)。