A DEBT OF TONGUES

Hannah Kroner, 32, a German Jewish émigré, arrives at the Palace of Justice in November 1945 as a U.S. War Department interpreter. The defendant assigned to her booth is Klaus Vogler, the SS administrator who forged exit visas for her family in 1942 and later processed transport lists for Auschwitz. The court convicts Klaus and sentences him to fifteen years. Hannah translates the verdict in her own voice, returns to the empty booth after the trial closes, and folds her headphones. A single tear hits the transcript.