Edith Cavell and her Legend by Christine E. Hallett

Author:Christine E. Hallett
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781137543714
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK

CAVELL:

Quite true.

CHAPLAIN:

They put pressure on you? They drew false conclusions from what you said?

CAVELL:

No. I answered the officers’ questions frankly and sincerely. I think they misled me by telling me that they knew everything already. That wasn’t true. – Of course, I don’t know all they said at the court-martial because I don’t understand much German.

CHAPLAIN:

Then it wasn’t a fair trial.

CAVELL:

I expect they think it was.88

Diana Souhami offers a fairly detailed analysis of what is known of Cavell’s interrogation at the hands of Lieutenant Bergan, Head of Espionage; Sergeant Pinkhoff, Chief Officer of Criminal Investigation; and Sergeant Neuhaus. She points out that questions were asked in German by Bergan, and responded to in French by Cavell, with Pinkhoff translating and Neuhaus taking notes. The statement she was later told to sign, and which was presented to the court, was in German, a language of which she had hardly any knowledge.89

Several authors suggest that Cavell’s interrogation at the hands of the Secret Police was highly likely to have employed either direct coercion or trickery in order to prise more details and names from her than she might otherwise have divulged. Elisabeth Grey’s 1960 biography written for “young people” offers a fictional narrative relating the means used to push Cavell into admitting that the men she had “returned to the enemy” did, indeed, reach their homeland:“Do you think these men were grateful for what you did?” There was a sneer in the voice of her inquisitor. “Do you think for one moment they gave another thought to the woman who risked her life for them?”

“I know they were grateful,” Edith replied, stung by the suggestion.

“How?” There was a barely-concealed eagerness in the man’s voice.

“They wrote and told me that they had arrived safely at their destination and thanked me for the help I had given them.

A sigh went through the empty room; a sigh of mingled triumph and incredulity. Could any woman be so foolish as to knock the nails into her own coffin with such a confession? Only a very simple one, their contemptuous glances seemed to say. But in that respect Edith Cavell was very simple. She did not understand the tortuous twists and turns of the Prussian mind. Even after the experiences of the past year, truth and right were still, to her, immovable, intransmutable [sic] and eternal. If she broke the laws of the Germans, they might punish her body. If she broke her own laws, and those of God, she would destroy her soul.90

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.