My personal task is to justify a psychic condition [resentment] which has been condemned by moralists and psychologists alike. The former regard it as a taint, the latter as a kind of sickness …

[But] when I st and by my resentments … I still know that I am the captive of the moral truth of the conflict. … The Flemish SS-man Wajs, who – inspired by his German masters – beat me on the head with a shovel handle when-ever I didn't work fast enough, felt the tool to be an extension of his hand and the blows to be emanations of his psychophysical dynamics. Only I possessed, and still possess, the moral truth of the blows that even today still roar in my skull … my resentments are there in order that the crime become a moral reality for the criminal, in order that he be swept into the truth of his atrocity …

Anger drained away, in its place came a welling of compassion for both Nagase and for me, coupled with a deep sense of sadness and regret. … Forgiveness became more than an abstract idea: it was now a real possibility. … I began to appreciate how damaged he must have been by what he had done. … Nor was his concern to make reparation an occasional thing; it was truly almost a way of life. …

He looked up at me; he was trembling, in tears, saying over and over “I am very, very sorry”. […]