The Taster Quotes
"Now I’m a childless old widow left alone in a house filled with memories as bitter as ashes."
"The secrets I’ve held for so many years need to be released from their inner prison."
"Often he was surrounded by an entourage of admirers, his head bobbing like a buoy on the sea."
"Why didn’t anyone kill Hitler before he died in the bunker? A trick of fate?"
"He mesmerized a nation, inducing euphoric riots among those who believed in the shining new order of National Socialism."
"A cult has grown up around Hitler, in death as large as when he was alive."
"Life has punished me and nightmares hound my sleep. There is no escape from the horrors of the past."
"That’s the problem. We watch everything we say—and now we have to deal with bombs."
"You, and others, taste the Führer’s food. Your body is offered in sacrifice to the Reich in case the food is poisoned."
"Every citizen must be productive. You should be ashamed and so should your parents for raising such a worthless girl."
"Not really. I’m much too young to die. Besides, the Führer is so well protected, who could possibly poison him?"
"Only the best comes from the greenhouses, and it’s always prepared in the most delicious manner."
"Words were as precious as gold these days and should be meted out with equal care."
"The rumors of Germany’s defeat were in opposition to what I saw and heard at the Berghof."
"We were all Marie Antoinette asking the world to eat cake while the earth burned to ashes around us."
"After about two weeks, I finally tasted a meal without some degree of shaking."
"The bucolic scene of Albert Speer’s children in the kitchen asking for apples."
"I believe you knew nothing of this, but you must prove your innocence."
"In an attempt to poison the Führer she has ended her life and dishonored her family."
"Tonight you must taste all the food. Be in the kitchen by seven."
"My nerves were on edge. I wondered if Ursula had spread cyanide in the food as well as the tea."
"I told the Colonel you knew nothing about the incident yesterday, despite what you may have seen."
"Since you've come to the Berghof, I've been unable to think of much else besides you."
"Hitler is wrong about the war; he is lying about how the Reich deals with Jews and prisoners of war."
"We are trapped in a make-believe world propagated by the Reich while all around us battles were being fought, troops slaughtered, and innocents butchered."
"Never trust anyone. You cannot be too cautious."
"To them, there is no sacrifice too great for the Führer."
"The very thought of bringing Hitler down seemed impossible."
"I felt more and more like a captive, even though I worked for the most powerful man in Europe."
"What he was saying was dangerous, even though we seemed to be alone."
"I have to leave. I’m happy that you’re better."
"We need to talk, but it’s better to wait until you’re stronger."
"Life is so uncertain, so unkind, it’s hardly worth living."
"Every day I ask myself why I should endure this torture."
"You’re wrong, Magda. There’ll be no happiness until this evil is eradicated."
"In a few days, there will be a military display at the Berghof. The course of history must be changed."
"In that case you can enjoy them knowing they are not poisoned."
"The number on it signifies your place in the Party membership. Mine is ‘one.’"
"No wonder the German people followed him like sheep."
"The less you are aware of what’s going on the better."
"The burdens I carry are for the Reich. None other, and so it shall be until the day I die."
"The only way I could keep my hands still was to grasp my fingers and keep them planted firmly in my lap."
"The fireplace will be here as long as the Reich stands. It’s made from red marble from the Untersberg."
"I am so overjoyed, my Führer. I can tell you we have planned a summer wedding."
"Once again, providence has saved me." - Adolf Hitler
"My destiny shall be fulfilled." - Adolf Hitler
"We do what we must, no matter the price." - Karl
"If you feel you have nothing to live for, you will die. You must be stronger than they are." - Magda
"How can I possibly win a battle against the SS?" - Katrina
"Think of Erik. Think of him every waking hour and in your dreams. Live for him, if for no one else."
"You will not last long if you waste food. Three days from now you will drink every drop."
"My arms and legs had grown numb with fatigue."
"Remember your husband," I said. "Be strong for him."
"Don't ever walk away from me again unless you are ordered to," Jenny said. "I will not hesitate to shoot you if you disobey me."
"Whatever God there was in heaven had deserted my country, my family, and me."
"I felt sorry for her, but I wanted her to survive."
"If one can live like a corpse, I did so for the next four months."
"The hope, the faint prayer, that existed in my mind of seeing him alive one day was all that kept me from dissolving into tears."
"How could everyone in Germany look the other way?"
"We are surrounded by danger. We must live with it or die."
"I wished I could save her, but to ask such a favor from the Reich would have been impossible."
"In the distance, like sound traveling through fog, men’s voices carried in the air."
"I couldn’t see over the pile of ash and rubble, but I knew what lay beyond it—the bodies."
"The sky was sullen and gray; the Earth, a bleak ball spinning through the cosmos."
"Death would be preferable, the Propaganda Minister said, to the rape and murderous torture perpetrated by the enemy."
"I wanted to find my father and start a new life with him if that was possible."
"Life had been drained from them; they were more desperate than I."
"Every German would know the answer soon enough if they didn’t already."
"I had no choice but to walk on, to run if necessary."
"War is not just the battle on the front; it's the internal battles we fight every day."
"You must come—be a witness. Perhaps my Matron of Honor."
"In reality, all I was thinking about was how to murder Hitler."
"My wedding would be incomplete without a Matron of Honor."
"Men and women were flattered to be part of her social circle."
"They were all monogrammed with an EB on the collar."
"Fight with everything you have got, for the sake of your wives and your children."
"The hours in the bunker vanished in a monotonous litany."
"Life inside the bunker was less of a game for her than for the younger children."
"He was pretending to be a soldier, but his severe tone undercut the playfulness of the game."
"Once Hitler was dead the remaining members of the Reich would spring into action."
"The Russians were only a few blocks away from the Chancellery now and the shelling was constant."
"This doesn’t shoot bullets, but my father said he would give me a real gun if I needed one."
"Your leader is amongst you. He and his colleagues will remain in your midst."
"Who would have the courage to lead such a movement but me?"
"The battle for Berlin must become the signal for the whole nation to rise up in battle."
"I’d ended Hitler’s life, something I had dreamed of, but never dared believe would come true."
"Nothing you can say will dissuade me," Hitler said. "You have the choice of leaving or staying."
"I screamed, but I might as well have been screaming into the wind."
"There’s no need to be afraid. I’m on the run—like you."
"I can sense these things," he said. "You can feel the vibration in the air."
"Let’s go then. I was told I need to cross the Havel. How far is it to Spandau?"
"About eighteen kilometers. We can cross the bridge before dawn."
"Spandau lay abandoned before me, its streets lifeless, drained by war."
"I was happy to be alive, but deeply saddened for my country."
"How much could I tell the Americans who held me? Who would believe me if I told them I killed Hitler?"
"The secrets I held so long inside needed to be released from their inner prison."
"The sun warmed me and, for the first time in months, I felt like a human being."
"The vile stench of rotting cattle and horses rose into the air."
"I went on with my life and never remarried. No man could replace Karl."