Wilde studied the man. Despite his prison diet and the looseness of his clothes, he had the soft aspect and smooth skin of a man who was used to living well. More than that, there was something feminine about him. Was this truly the founder of the Hitler Youth, the organisation designed to turn boys into manly fighting machines? He did not look a good role model. And yet the boys had apparently loved him. Wilde changed tack.

‘Tell me, Herr von Schirach, why did you choose Germany over America given your dual nationality?’

He shrugged as if the question was ridiculous. ‘I believed in Hitler, of course. But he fooled us all, and it was the worst mistake of my life.’ His face broke into a momentary half-smile, more a tic than a true expression of good humour. It vanished as soon as it arrived.

‘It seems it took you a very long time to discover your mistake.’

‘Professor Wilde, how could I have known twenty years ago that there would be extermination camps, massacres, hostage shootings, invasions? No one knew. Statesmen and royalty throughout the civilised world believed in Adolf Hitler. When I first met him at the theatre in 1925, I found him to be a man of great culture with a wide knowledge of music. My mother was extremely impressed by him and perhaps she helped cast a spell over me. I was just one of many taken in by his vision and his oratory. We believed we were building a magnificent new Germany. I taught my boys – my Hitler Youth – about hard work and loyalty. I did not teach them cruelty.’

‘But somehow they learnt it.’

He nodded sadly. ‘My country has paid a heavy price, and so shall I.’ That half-smile again, there one moment, gone the next.

‘And the Jews, they paid the heaviest price of all. You deported sixty thousand of them to their deaths when you were Gauleiter of Vienna.’

‘Nein, that was the SS. I had no say in such things. Kalten-brunner assured me they were to be given homes and work and food in a safe place, far away from the anti-Semitism of Vienna. I thought they were heading for a better life. When I tried to make further inquiries, I was told it was none of my business.’

‘They were heading to their death.’

‘How could I have known that? Himmler and Hitler did not tell me these things. And there was no reasoning with a man like Kaltenbrunner. Ask him, he’s here in these cells.’

‘I have no interest in him. Anyway, you were the top man in Vienna, you should have stood up to him.’

Schirach let out a long slow breath. ‘That’s easily said, but it was less easy to do. Those who defied the SS and the Gestapo were likely to end up against a wall. Anyway, I am ashamed of myself, and I am ashamed of my country for what was done.’