Pity and apologies might not be necessary in Erik's eyes, but the Father couldn't stop the reaction. He'd listened to accounts of the Nuremberg Trials on the radio, seen news reels in the cinemas, read articles about the camps in the papers while in the seminary. So much suffering should never have been allowed to take place, and Erik is the first person he's actually met that had been a prisoner. He can't hide his shock and sadness at what had happened, but as Erik doesn't want to continue to talk about it (and really, he can't blame him one bit), he shoves it back into its corner and sits on it, hard.

"Not really, though after so much time I might qualify as a nurse. We were very short-staffed sometimes, and everyone had to pitch in and help. But my official role is as the camp chaplain, providing spiritual guidance - though it seems my sort of help wasn't needed as often as the army thought it would be."