“I still say,” said Herr Kessler, “that National Socialism was good for Germany.” “Was it good for you?” I said, on an off chance. There was a pause. Then: “No.” “Why not?” I said, “if it was good for Germany?” “Perhaps we will talk about that, one day, Herr Professor.” We did, one day, months later. It burst out. “Through National Socialism I lost my soul. I blasphemed. Every night, through all those years, I blasphemed; I said my children’s prayers with them; I took the name of the Lord in vain. I wanted them to be Christians, and I myself had denied Jesus Christ.”
