Reconciliation #43

We were immediately impressed. Manilos was clearly a much respected personality in the town judging by the copious handshakes from fellow diners and glances of recognition. He was in fact a local councillor, it later transpired, who had his community’s interests at heart, patently not perceived as an arch Nazi collaborator.
He wrapped his arms round Thomas as if embracing a long lost son. He talked frankly and emotionally about his complicated relationship with Carsten, Thomas’s father, and the colossal tensions in those times. Never before had I experienced firsthand how a nation must feel to be so brutally invaded.