Chin up.

[**The following is taken from a memoir of Irmgard A. Hunt, who grew up in the mountains under Hitler’s Eagles Nest during the Second World War.**] >People in Berchtesgaden reacted in two different ways to his [**her father’s**] death [**fighting in France**] – our friends, relatives, and neighbors with sadness and compassion; the Nazi officials in our lives with pompous, irrelevant condolences. My father’s boss, Herr Adler, who for unknown reasons was not drafted, came by – in his S.A. uniform, no less – a few days after the news arrived and said in an oily voice to my stricken mother, “Chin up [*Kopf hoch*], Frau Paul, chin up. He died for [the Führer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Hitler_portrait_crop.jpg).” >If I were to name a moment when seeds of doubt about the Nazis and our Führer, already strewn by Tante [**German: Aunt**] Emilie, the Reitlechners, and my grandfather, took hold in my rather critical soul, it would be this visit by Herr Adler. He had no right or reason to deny my mother her right to be heartbroken; besides, could he not at least have brought us one of the pieces of porcelain painted by my father that were no doubt still in his atelier? I have hated Herr Adler ever since. __________________________ **Source:** Hunt, Irmgard A. “Early Sacrifice.” On Hitler’s Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2005. 111. Print. ___________________________ **Further Reading:** [Berchtesgaden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berchtesgaden) [Nationalsozialismus (Nationalist Socialism) / Nazism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism) [Sturmabteilung (lit. Storm Detachment) / SA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmabteilung) [Führer (lit. Leader/Guide)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BChrer) [Adolf Hitler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler)