‘I can’t see how one can forget. I am not of the Jewish faith.’

‘And some people find they are of the Jewish race, without ever having known it, even if they are not of the Jewish faith. It comes as quite a shock to them, I can tell you. The laws of 3 October 1940 and 2 June 1941, drawing on the juridical experience of the Nuremberg Laws, state clearly who is of the Jewish race. You are a Jew if you adhere to the Jewish faith, evidently. But even if you are a Christian, and your parents were Christian, you are a Jew if, for example, you have three Jewish grandparents. You are a Jew, even if you are a Christian, if you have two Jewish grandparents and you are married to a Jew or a half-Jew. Moreover, a half-Jew is a Jew, even if he is a second-generation Christian, if he is married to a half-Jew, even if she is Christian.’ His face with suffused with triumph. ‘Can you now say that you know you’re not Jewish?’

‘I am not Jewish, and I still don’t understand what it means to be of the Jewish race.’

He frowned at her stubbornness. ‘If you persist in your denial, I shall delay your registration and hand your case over to the Office of Personal Status.’ He flipped her papers into a tray, to indicate he had done all he could for her. ‘You will have time to produce a proper attestation of your ancestry, so that your case can be judged accurately.’

‘One moment.’ She forced an ingratiating tone into her voice. ‘Can I ask, how is it that you decided to ask for my Aryan credentials? I can’t believe that everyone in the region is being subjected to such meticulous scrutiny.’

A sly smile came over his features and he glanced down. ‘Oh, no, you couldn’t expect me to reveal the contents of confidential files to you.’

A denunciation. Who could it have been? Someone with whom she was familiar, whom she met every day, every week in Lepech or Montfefoul?

‘But on what grounds? You can at least tell me the basis of your demand.’

‘Let me be frank. According to my information, you arrived in the region at the time of the invasion; you have a Jewish maiden name, Wolff, I believe, and,’ here he played his trump card, ‘you don’t attend mass.’

Ariane could no longer contain herself and spoke with open irritation. ‘I came here in 1939 when I had just married someone from this region. My name is Strasbourgeois. My family comes from Alsace-Lorraine and I am Protestant. Is that sufficient to explain your strange accusations?’

He looked as full of distaste as if she had admitted his original accusation that she was Jewish. ‘You will have to provide a file of attestations, as I said. Your parents’ marriage certificate, the religious one, of course; their baptismal certificates and those of your grandparents are the usual documents required.’