THERE was only one time she felt afraid of him. But well into her 11th decade, when she remembered it, Brunhilde Pom-sel would tremble and the hairs would start to lift on her arms. The day was February 18th 1943, when she had gone with a colleague to the Berlin Sportpalast to hear her boss give a speech. Everyone at the Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda was meant to go; as a junior, one of six secretaries in her office, she hadn't known how to get out of it. So there they were, in the huge sports stadium, among the party high-ups in the reserved seats.
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