Part 2, Chapter 9 Summary

Chapter 9 returns to the chronological presentation of the trial. As the trial develops the judge asks each defendant, individually, why they did not act to free the prisoners. All of the defendants state they were physically injured, or they were performing assigned tasks, or they were in shock. The prosecution, however, presents a handwritten SS report, which states the after-action details of the event. The report is particularly damning evidence as it refutes many of the defendants' alibis. The other defendants then claim that Hanna wrote the SS report as a cover-up for her own inadequacies, and that the report is not factual.

When the judge asks Hanna why she did not act to free the prisoners, Hanna attempts an actual response. In essence, she tells the judge that she and the other guards were few in number but responsible to...