Echo

Friedrich Schmidt prepares to head to the harmonica factory where he works. It is his father Martin’s first day of retirement, so he will no longer protect Friedrich from the people who stare at the large birthmark on Friedrich’s face. His father, a cellist, is looking forward to starting a chamber music ensemble, and hopes his daughter Elisabeth will play piano when she returns from nursing school. Father and son speculate on whether or not Elisabeth miss them, and they agree that she must.

Friedrich heads to the harmonica factory. On his walk, he thinks about the Nazi demand for a “pure German race” and experiences he’s had because of his birthmark. On his walk, he passes the music conservatory that he hopes to attend in the fall, and wonders, which would be worse: “to be accepted or to be refused” (47). He runs into his Uncle Gunter, who escorts him to work.

This chapter relays how Friedrich, at twelve, came to apprentice at a harmonica factory rather than attend school. At eight, he walked to school conducting; his sister Elisabeth warned him not to draw additional attention to himself, and risk nicknames such as “Monster Boy” (50).