The two characters I found most repulsive while reading this book were the journalist Tötges and the priest in the passage above. I will leave Tötges aside for now and focus on my thoughts about the priest.
This is my second time reading the book, and the priest seems just as disgusting and hypocritical to me now as he did the first time. He is not simply someone who commits injustice and spreads hatred while bearing the title of “priest”; there is something more insidious about him. The person he claims “smells like a communist” is none other than Katharina Blum's father. What is absurd is that he has no evidence whatsoever. Relying solely on his supposed sense of smell, he declares the man a communist and gives the Zeitung material with which to destroy Blum's reputation. When Blorna questions him, the priest invokes his religious position and the fact that Blorna is Catholic to silence him. It is an extreme act of unfairness and injustice. He assumes that Blorna, being merely a believer rather than a priest, must submit to his authority. This, too, is a form of invisible violence.
Of course, it may seem ridiculous to judge a fictional character so fiercely. But the problem is that traces of this behavior exist, however faintly, within us all: the willingness to discriminate or commit injustice for our own benefit, even when we know better. I am no exception. I will not list every part of myself that might fit this description, but what matters is recognizing that such tendencies exist. I do not understand myself completely, either. I simply hope to develop the maturity to reflect on them honestly.