‘What happened to you?’ he said hoarsely. ‘Where did they send you?’

‘To Ravensbrück. And then to Sachsenhausen.’ She licked her lips, trying to come to terms with the fact that for over three years Hugo had thought himself a widower.

‘And were you always treated this badly? Were you always so ill fed? And if you were, how did you survive?’

She wondered how it was possible he could be so shocked by her physical condition. He was a man who socialized with high-ranking Nazis. Surely he knew what kind of atrocities took place in the camps? Surely he knew what kind of conditions she and her fellow prisoners were presently enduring in the camp they’d been moved to half a mile or so from the factory?

‘I was given work in the Camp Commandant’s kitchens,’ she said, knowing now was not the time to tell him about the killings and the torture and the medical experimentation that had taken place at Ravensbrück. Knowing that if she told him now he simply would not believe her. Knowing that no sane, rational person could possibly believe her. ‘And in the kitchens I was relatively safe.’

‘Then that’s what we must do!’ At long last he was able to move. With sudden certainty he strode towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders. ‘I will appropriate you for kitchen work, Hester. Kitchen work not here at the factory, but domestic kitchen work in the house on Unter den Linden.’

Relief that he had no intention of sending her back to Sachsenhausen in order to prevent their relationship from coming to light flooded her with such intensity that if it wasn’t for his hands on her shoulders, she would have fallen.

When she could speak, she said unsteadily, ‘And what about the other women, Claus? How can I move into the house on Unter den Linden when they are living in conditions not fit for animals?’

‘I’m rectifying all that,’ he said swiftly. ‘I’ve already got arrangements in hand for black-market bread to be delivered to the factory to supplement the soup. I’ve made it clear to the Armaments Inspectorate that the workers sent here from Sachsenhausen will be treated as regular House of Remer workers are treated.’

She swayed slightly, appalled at his lack of understanding. ‘I’m not talking about working conditions. I’m talking about our living conditions in the factory camp. I’m talking about bunks with no pallets, some women with no bunks at all. A single water tap. Lack of toilets. No medical supplies.’

She saw the expression on his face and knew he hadn’t known.

‘Visit it,’ she said. ‘See for yourself.’

‘I’ll visit it,’ he said, through clenched teeth.

The knowledge that things were going to change, that things were going to become bearable, was too much for her. Tears began to stream down her face and drip onto her dress.

Gently, almost reverently, he put his arms around her.

‘When you’ve been assigned to me as domestic labour, you’ll be safe, Hester,’ he said quietly. ‘The authorities will forget about you until this hellish war is over.’