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No, Kotler was afraid of those who were in command. For example, Kotler didn't want to talk about his father who'd left Germany for Switzerland. Bruno notes that this upsets Father, who suspects Lieutenant Kotler's father had "disagreements" with the way the country was headed in 1938, lumping him in with the "traitors" and "cowards" who had left to avoid the Nazis (147). Lieutenant Kotler makes a point of distancing himself from his father in the Commandant's eyes, insisting that "[we're] not close, my father and I" (146).