On Friday afternoon, Wendy Lower, the author of Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields, participated in an interactive interview with The Atlantic’s Jennie Rothenberg Gritz. Lower had discussed her process of researching and writing Hitler’s Furies, now a National Book Award Finalist, then they turned to the online audience for questions.

An elderly woman popped up onscreen via webcam. “Can you suggest any strategies to take care of the emotions?” she asked in accented English. “Sometimes I manage and sometimes I don’t.”...