Brunhilde Pomsel described herself as an 'apolitical girl' and a 'figure on the margins', but, employed as a stenographer during the Second World War, she worked closely with one of the worst criminals in world history: Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. She was one of the oldest surviving eyewitnesses to the internal workings of the Nazi power apparatus until her death in 2017.

Her biography, however, not only provides us with extraordinary new insight into a seminal moment of history. Her life, mirroring all the major breaks and continuities of the 20th century, also illustrates how far-right politics, authoritarian regimes and dictatorships can rise and what part political apathy and passivity of the masses can contribute to democracy's erosion.

Compelling and unnerving, The Work I Did forces us to ask how we could have acted in such a situation and leads to the disturbing and enduring question: how reliable is our own moral compass?