The Exception: A Novel Part 40

Iben tries to catch Anne-Lises expression. How are things?

Just fine. Really. Fine. What about you?

Oh, fine.

Anne-Lise hesitates for a moment. You know, Im actually feeling happy.

Iben nods toward the papers on the desk. Whats all that about?

I have to sort out the keywords for this pile of new books.

Iben yawns. I guess Id better get to work too.

Anne-Lise says, Yes. Then she uses one of Malenes phrases: Wed better be good.

When Iben sits down at her desk, Paul has left, and Malene leans across her desk as far as she can and whispers: We need to talk.

They go off together to the small meeting room. Iben emphasizes how it would have been so much better not to have been forced to disagree in front of the others. Malene apologizes for this, and for her words on the phone. Because Paul is at the Center they cant spend too much time away from their desks, but they promise each other to have a longer talk later.

Iben needs to work on the Turkey issue. However, as things stand, it would probably be best to avoid Anne-Lise for a while. She sends an e-mail to her instead, saying that shes sure their planned discussion will generate all sorts of exciting ideas, but that she would like to postpone it for a couple of days.

Anne-Lise has enough understanding of what is going on and e-mails back a simple Fine by me.

Iben turns to Malene and suggests that they work on the delegates handouts for the conference about the ethnic cleansing of East European Germans between 1945 and 1950. Iben goes to sit next to Malene so that they can go over her draft together. Iben, who has brought her mug of coffee along, takes a sip and starts scanning Malenes text.

The heading strikes her as being in poor taste: Welcome to the International Conference on Ethnic Cleansing of Germans 194550.

Reading on, the very first sentence also seems odd and inappropriate given the subject matter. The next sentence sounds so heavy you just want to run away. She turns to the next page. Its no good either. Then she abandons the second page too. This is hopeless.

Iben tries to recall what she thought of Malenes previous draft. As far as she can remember, it seemed all right. Why does it look so different now? What can she say?

She tries to find something positive before she starts to criticize it.

Iben looks up and sees her best friend watching her. Does Malene sense how Iben feels about their friendship today? Probably not. For the last few months Iben has felt uneasy about it, but Malene appears not to have noticed. But then, why should she? Its not as if Iben has actually said anything.

Luckily, Iben finds something on the last page of the conference papers that works. Now she can praise it with sincerity.

Malene, I really like this pa.s.sage at the end. Its so inviting. Friendly.

I did try to write as if I were writing to a friend.

They smile.

Iben is back at her own desk, preparing to review a new book about Yugoslavia for the the DCIG Web site, but once again she has trouble concentrating.

She creates a new file for notes to herself. Her comments might be part of the groundwork for another article in her series on the psychology of evil.

At least now shes not wasting her time at work. Besides, its the only subject she can focus on.

EVIL, PSYCHOL III.

Just about everyone must have heard a friend praising her great relationship with a lover only to say, soon after breaking up, that she knew from the start that it wouldnt last. She will insist she knew, even when they had bought an apartment or had a child together.

The interesting point is the friends claim to have known all along while acting as if she did not. This might be something to bear in mind when trying to understand people who have committed terrible acts that they at other times in their life have claimed they could never possibly commit. It could be that we should stop trying to see every human being as a consistent whole. A better image of the human psyche might be a bunch of grapes: each grape is a set of characteristics, worldviews, and moral codes. Subconsciously, we pick one grape or another at different times.

Without being an actual clinical case of split personality, individuals are simultaneously able to hold contradictory beliefs, each one developed and honed by years of experience. This, despite the person being aware of only one state of mind at a time.

Iben adds an NB: Is this too early to insert references to research into DID? Do I have any other examples to base this argument on? There must be something but where?

This interpretation of how people function could explain, for instance, why many Serbian schoolteachers in Bosnia were able to take an active part in the killing of their pupils and their pupils parents. Parents who survived in most cases declared themselves unable to grasp how the teacher could bring himself to do what he had done. He had always seemed to be very caring toward the pupils. The only explanation seemed to be that he had been lying to them for years.

But he didnt lie. When the war started, he moved to another grape in his bunch. And when the war ended, he went back to the old one. This movement might explain why so many war criminals are without remorse. They resume their prewar life, and everything concerning their actions in the war is hazy. They feel as if it was someone else who went wild, killing innocent children and adults.

Another NB: Do I lack a good lead-in here? Maybe the next bit should be a different article? Or The Psychology of Evil IV? Its at this point that the perspectives open out.

In G.o.d, Gulliver, and Genocide, the author Claude Rawson (professor of English at Yale) has a.n.a.lyzed Hitlers prewar speeches. They are very vague on the subject of what should be done about the Jews. Should they be deported to Madagascar, or some other course of action? Superficially, the Germans were unsure what it was that Hitler wanted and yet, at the same time, they knew. Hitler was able to obfuscate the appalling implications of his policy while making its advantages crystal clear to non-Jewish German citizens.

Similar patterns can be observed in the Rwandan radio broadcasts and the propaganda aimed at German soldiers. No one utters the words kill or murder outright. But everyone knows what is really going on, and the underlying message is clear beneath all the vague and circuitous language that dehumanizes the victims. Expressions such as exterminating the vermin or cleaning up a village allow propagandists to consign the very real suffering of the victims to a partly unconscious mind grape.

An important avenue for future research might be to examine if this obscurity of language in the days leading up to genocide is something more than linguistic. Usage might reflect the dynamics of a central psychological mechanism that is essential to the catastrophic final result. Could it be that genocide simply would not happen without a critical ma.s.s of indistinct expressions to support a convenient distribution of mental processes into appropriate grapes? That is, the process culminating in genocide depends on the coordination of several perceptions at the same time on parallel thinking along multiple lines rather than the single-mindedness we usually believe to be the rule in making life decisions.

Such research could also tell us about the way people think and arrive at their decisions more generally not just in the realm of genocide.

Iben leans back in her chair. She feels much better now. There is no telling if this piece will ever be published in the magazine, but at least its safely stored away in the computer.

Malene is staring at her screen and Paul is wandering around their office again. It seems he has decided he should show his face more often and chat to his staff. He wants to be inspiring and supportive, but he does have a tendency to pick the wrong moments.

During lunch he asks Iben what she has been reading recently. Of course, he means articles relevant to her work at the DCIG, but she cant resist mentioning the clinical texts about DID again and tells him about the embryonic article she has just written. After a while she stops, suddenly feeling self-conscious about talking for too long.

But Paul is appreciative. Fantastic! I mean it, Iben! Thats just the kind of discussion we should be having. Its wonderful for you to explore entirely new lines of thought.

He follows up his comments with a series of criticisms, but constructive ones. His aim is to clarify the bunch-of-grapes hypothesis. How well does it fit actual facts? What are the possible applications?

When the break is over, he asks Iben to join him in his office. This makes Iben nervous. Paul sits down and gestures for her to sit opposite him. As he leans back on his chair, she notes that he is growing a small potbelly. The door to the Winter Garden is open behind her. It cant be anything serious or he would have closed the door, she tells herself.

Look, I hate to say it, but I believe that Robert Jay Lifton has already written something similar to what youre proposing in his book The n.a.z.i Doctors.

Iben smiles happily. Clearly all Paul wanted was to carry on talking.

In it Lifton introduces a concept he calls doubling to describe what happened in the minds of doctors who would spend their days doing experiments involving the torture and mutilation of living human beings, and then go home after work and behave normally, playing with their children and so on.

Iben is familiar with this. But Paul, Liftons theory of doubling is different. It states that under pressure of the special conditions in concentration camps, the doctors developed just one separate personality. And this other was independent of their normal selves, which made them perfectly capable of immersing people in boiling water Her voice grows louder than it probably should in a conversation with her boss.

What Ive tried to figure out is if the situation is more complex than just the splitting of a personality. You see, my grapes are not mental strategies created under pressure. They already exist inside all of us.

Paul doesnt reply. He puts his hands behind his head and then removes them again. Iben is afraid that she has said something wrong.

At last he speaks: Im not sure I agree with you, but thats not the point. I want you to know that, should we come under Morten Kjrum and shuffle across the road, Ill make it my business to fight to keep you. We mustnt lose you. Taking into account that youre an information officer and not a paid researcher, I must say that youre exceptionally talented. And we need talent. I will emphasize that point to everyone.

Iben feels both relieved and proud. At the same time, shes very aware of the open door; the others are undoubtedly listening.

Thank you thank you very much. Its kind of you to say that.

The whole morning Paul has tried to create a good feeling by praising each of them in turn, but his declaration to Iben proves that she is now at the top of his list.

She walks back to her desk. Her foot hurts less now and its easier to move without a limp. Camilla, who is right outside Pauls door, must have heard everything he said. She doesnt let on, though. Iben tries to catch her eye; Camilla is gazing intently at her computer screen.

If there is a merger, Malene, as project manager, would almost certainly be the first in line to be laid off, even though she has been in her post the longest time. The look on Malenes face now reminds Iben of Cathys, back in that filthy hut, when she realized that Iben had become friendlier with Omoro than the rest of them had. But unlike Cathy, Malene doesnt say anything conciliatory.

Instead, she mimes: Are you coming?

They go to talk in the small storage room where, only two and half months ago, they and Rasmus had played around, hunting for Anne-Lises pa.s.sword.

Malene sits down on the old chair and looks at Iben. Did you truly believe that we were talking about Anne-Lise?

Yes, but you were.

Of course we werent.

But Malene interrupts her. Anne-Lise is hallucinating. And you didnt seem all there yourself. Like you hadnt slept all night. Are you positive about what you did and didnt hear?

Someone walks past in the corridor. Anne-Lise? Iben and Malene are silent until the sound of footsteps has disappeared.

You arent sure, are you? I can see it in your face.

Yes, I am sure.

I cant stand the way we always have to put up with Anne-Lises paranoia. Weve been reasonable. Unlike her, weve acted professionally and done our best to make this place work properly. We tried to help her, even though she shouted at us and Paul refused to give her sick leave.

While Malene speaks she presses the tips of her fingers against the wrist of her other hand. The last time Iben saw her do this was once when they were in Malenes apartment. Malene was lying on the sofa, propped up by a lot of cushions. She had just said, When Im resting like this, I can hear my bones crumbling, all on their own.

I simply dont understand why youre encouraging her by saying that we were talking about her when we werent.

But you were talking about her.

I dont want to talk about it anymore. Its not too hard to work out what youre up to.

What do you mean?

You dont want to admit it, do you?

Well, youll have to tell me what you mean first All this with Paul and jobs and cooperating with Anne-Lise.

What are you saying? Malene, you mustnt think You know, what that e-mail said about you is absolutely true. Ive always thought so. You are self-righteous.

They are back at their desks. Iben isnt sure that they are friends any longer. She watches as Malene types away on her ergonomic keyboard. How can she concentrate? How is she able to write? Like Iben, she must want to go home. But Malene is a survivor too.

What next? Iben has visions of a future when she will be free to spend time with Gunnar. They will have dinner together, their heads close together, her hands in his, intimate.

Iben starts to leaf through the ma.s.sive pile of doc.u.ments.

Malene is obviously capable of believing that she hasnt said something she really did say. What other things might she do without remembering them afterward? Pour blood into a box file? Send e-mails full of threats?

Iben watches her old friend. She has no idea of whats going on inside Malenes head. Malene feels Iben is looking at her and ignores her. Instead she seems to be engrossed in a couple of folders that are next to the bulletin board.

It couldnt possibly be Malenes voice that Iben heard on the staircase just before Rasmus fell. Until now, Iben thought it was out of the question.

malene.

chapter 41.

One of the first times Iben and I went to the cinema together after she had started at the Center, we were walking across the square in front of city hall and she said, Isnt our city hall unbelievably similar to the main SS guardhouse at Auschwitz-Birkenau? And a little later, Did you see that dog? Its just like the dog that belonged to the a.s.sistant commandant at Treblinka.

Iben hadnt worked long for the DCIG, but she was already thinking constantly about genocide and its psychology. I dont think she has the mental stability you need to work in a place like this; shes too sensitive. Unlike the rest of us, she cant keep her cool. I shouldnt blame her she is who she is. But it drives me absolutely crazy when she stares at me like she thinks Im some kind of n.a.z.i officer about to subject Anne-Lise to the Final Solution. What can you do with a friend who thinks that about you?

She hasnt said it straight out, but she keeps insinuating it. I get so angry with her. What shes saying makes a mockery of people who have experienced real genocide. How can she draw a parallel between their suffering and a spoiled librarians failure to understand why people dont like her? How can Iben see me in terms of a genocidal killer? I think she might be close to a nervous breakdown.

As you may have figured out, I cant help but suspect that its actually Iben who sent the e-mails and exchanged my pills. Im certain shes weird enough to hide The phone rings. Malene gets up from her computer and looks around. She realizes how dark the room has become while she has been writing. Positively gloomy. Sh.e.l.l switch on some lights after she deals with the phone call.

Its Malenes mother. Malene, you really must change the message on your answering machine.

Oh, Mom, I know. I know.

It gives you such a shock, hearing his voice.

I know. Its just one of those things Malene rubs her face with the knuckles on her left hand. You know, I still get bills addressed to him. Like hes still using his cell phone and its awful.

But Malene, changing the voice message isnt just for your sake its about being considerate to other people.

Ill do it. I promise.

Should I really spend money on another answering machine? she thinks. She knows she cant bring herself simply to erase Rasmuss voice. Some nights she plays his recorded greeting repeatedly. She might drink a bottle of white wine, sliding slowly into oblivion as she presses the b.u.t.ton over and over again.

Her mother cuts into her thoughts. It matters to people who call you.

Sooner or later there might be a power cut, Malene thinks. Or someone might fiddle around with the cables and then Id lose his message anyway. I should definitely buy a new machine.

Her mother says that she b.u.mped into a few old friends in Kolding. Theyd heard about Rasmus and expressed their sympathy for Malene.

You must let us know if there is anything that Dad or I can do for you. Anything at all. We worry about you so much.