Trudel Hergesell, Née Baumann

Separated from Anna, Trudel Hergesell is locked with the spiteful, tale-bearing Frau Hänsel and lives for Chaplain Lorenz's visits and his news of Karli. Through him she meets the Gospel of Matthew, unmoved by doctrine but drawn to Lorenz himself, while Hänsel accuses her of throwing herself at him. When news of Karli stops coming, Trudel understands what it means; one night Lorenz confirms he has died. She faints, wakes in his empty cell, and tricks the chaplain into walking her back to her block, claiming she needs a photograph. On the way a warder jibes about the chaplain 'comforting' her, and before either can stop her, Trudel climbs the railing and jumps. Her scream sets off a prison-wide riot of shouting, truncheons and alarms. Lorenz is later charged with abetting her suicide but dies of a haemorrhage before he can be arrested; his successor tells Anna nothing, and she learns of both deaths only at the trial.

Trudel's death is staged as contagion: one body falling triggers a riot engulfing the prison, the clearest image of the suffering the system holds beneath its silence. Lorenz's death, arriving just ahead of arrest, spares him the fate his kindness earned, and denies Anna that knowing.