Christian Jungersen - The Exception

When Tatiana was a student of psychoanalysis, she laid the foundations for a theory about the therapeutic management of children who had been imprisoned in concentration camps and subjected to torture or forced to watch their close relatives being tortured or murdered. Tatiana developed her theory from her analyses of camp children’s drawings and her research led first to a doctorate and then to a tenured post in the Department of Psychology at Copenhagen University. She has also become an associate of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, or IRCT, a highly regarded organisation.

Anne-Lise still doesn’t feel close to Tatiana. What she knows about her she learned mostly through Tatiana’s friend and assistant Lea. Anne-Lise and Lea met at the Bosnia conference and, during a lunch together, Lea spoke glowingly about her boss.

The doorbell rings. The image on their computer screens shows Tatiana waiting outside on the landing. Anne-Lise keys in the security code and goes to meet her visitor; she wants to usher her through to the library before the others have a chance to descend upon her. But no sooner does Tatiana step into the Winter Garden than Malene and Iben are by her side.

‘You must come and see the new photos we’ve put up,’ Iben says, smiling.

They turn and lead the way to the notice board, Tatiana between them. She steps forward, catches sight of Anne-Lise and calls out: ‘Anne-Lise! I’m just going to have a peek at their crazy pictures!’

Of all the people she has met in this place, Anne-Lise has found Tatiana to be the nicest. Her impulse is to protect Tatiana from her venomous colleagues, but then, she knows that Malene and Iben won’t want to show their ill will in front of the esteemed guest.

Tatiana exclaims at one of the new pictures. ‘Oh, look! It’s your old librarian! How sweet of you! Do you miss her?’

She is looking at a photograph of the woman whose emails showed just how intensely she detested working at DCGI. Some time last week, Iben had scanned an old photograph of their ex-librarian and printed an enlarged version to pin up on the wall.

‘We do. But have a closer look. We have lots of pictures of our favourite people.’

Tatiana takes Malene’s prompt and moves closer to the board. She puts on her reading glasses. ‘No … it’s me! I look so odd. It’s Rome, isn’t it?’

‘That’s right. Ole gave it to us. He was there too.’

Tatiana is amused. She puts her coat on Malene’s chair and leans forward to examine the picture.

‘It was at the conference. God, I look completely sozzled.’

At this, she glances quickly at Anne-Lise, apparently alarmed, but with a hint of compassion. Anne-Lise doesn’t understand what her expression means.

Iben comes closer to Tatiana. ‘Never! You wouldn’t drink too much at work!’

She smiles at Anne-Lise now, but continues to address Tatiana. ‘No one would ever think that about you. It’s just the heat and the bright light. You look a bit flushed, that’s all. And your smile is great. Everyone can see you’re happy.’

Anne-Lise tries to get a word in with Tatiana too. She finds it hard to sound relaxed and friendly, sensing Iben’s and Malene’s intense desire for her to disappear.

Iben is very good at entertaining visitors and Malene is excellent. A quarter of an hour later the little group is still chatting in front of the notice board.

Iben mentions the plan to merge DCGI and DIHR, sounding troubled as she explains.

Tatiana is sympathetic. ‘Yes, I see. Such a shame. Are you really worried about it?’

‘Yes, we are.’

Tatiana nods sympathetically and looks concerned. ‘I understand, believe me. This is such an efficient office and so very pleasant too. It’s a great pity. But don’t worry, you’re sure to keep your present jobs inside the new organisation too.’ She goes on to talk about her experience of other institutional mergers. ‘I suspect Paul will be the most put out. After all, he’ll have someone else as his boss.’

Iben keeps stepping from one foot to the other. ‘We were wondering about Frederik’s role on the board once his senior post in Human Rights is announced. Now that it’s no longer in his interest to keep this place independent, it could be problematic, couldn’t it?’

Anne-Lise doesn’t think they should be discussing this with another member of the board, but Iben is so much more knowledgeable about the rules and what’s acceptable, in terms of the politics of the organisation.

Tatiana, however, sounds surprised. ‘Iben, it’s not problematic in the slightest. Frederik can easily put on different hats at different times. We all do, you know. And he’s very professional.’

Malene looks intently at Tatiana and edges forward until she is in front of Anne-Lise. ‘So you don’t think there will be a conflict of interests?’

‘No, I don’t. Absolutely not.’ Tatiana picks up her coat, ready to get on with library business. ‘I wouldn’t worry about that. Truly. Trust me. But have you spoken to Paul about it?’

Anne-Lise can’t think what the correct way of dealing with this straight question about the Centre’s director might be.

But Malene doesn’t hesitate. ‘No, we haven’t raised it with him. You’re right, we should.’

‘Yes, you really ought to. Paul attends the board meetings and can tell you how everything works. I’m sure he will confirm that there’s no problem.’

Then, at last, Anne-Lise gets to escort Tatiana into the library. She shows her the results of her search, a collection of reports from the Portuguese Foreign Office staff, written in Portuguese and full of details about the Indonesian genocide of 200,000 civilians, roughly a third of the population of occupied East Timor.

Looking through books with someone else brings a special sense of intimacy, like having your hair washed by the hairdresser.

Later Anne-Lise and Tatiana sit at Anne-Lise’s computer and search for references to East Timor in international on-line magazines. The library also holds French investigations that are not yet entered into the database and Tatiana wanders off in search of archive material. Anne-Lise sends an overview of the articles they have selected to the small printer in the Winter Garden.

When she goes to collect the printouts, Iben and Malene are talking. They clearly know that Tatiana can no longer hear them and Iben’s voice is low and relaxed.

‘Malene, we simply haven’t had time to finalise the texts you need for the exhibition posters. So much has been going on these last few weeks, since Anne-Lise sent us those emails.’ Her tone is so matter-of-fact.

Anne-Lise would prefer to say nothing and retreat to her own space, but she realises that the remark will be left hanging in the air, ready to hurt her later. Once more they have forced her to join their little game.

She sighs, because she knows what will come next, and speaks quietly. ‘I didn’t send the emails.’

The anticipation of the hunt makes their eyes shine. Malene takes over. ‘Oh yes you did.’

‘You know it wasn’t me. It was that Serb. The one the CIA arrested.’

Iben sounds amused. ‘You’ve sent lots of emails, to us and other people.’

Anne-Lise tries to be firm. ‘Of course I’ve sent emails, but not threatening ones.’

‘But I wasn’t talking about them.’

Malene sides with Iben. ‘That’s not the point at all. We didn’t even mention any threats.’

She pauses and looks at Anne-Lise, her expression now registering amazement. ‘Why on earth would you assume that we were talking about those emails?’

Anne-Lise feels her insides cramp up. ‘That’s ridiculous! What was I supposed to think? Which emails do you mean?’