memories

[Seamus Fermanagh]

The first verse of the "Dachaulied," the Dachau song (J. Soyfer & H. Zipper):

Stacheldraht, mit Tod geladen,
ist um unsre Welt gespannt.
Drauf ein Himmel ohne Gnaden
sendet Frost und Sonnenbrand.
Fern von uns sind alle Freuden,
fern die Heimat, fern die Fraun,
wenn wir stumm zur Arbeit schreiten,
Tausende im Morgengraun.
Doch wir haben die Losung von Dachau gelernt
und wurden stahlhart dabei:
Sei ein Mann, Kamerad,
bleib ein Mensch, Kamerad,
mach ganze Arbeit, pack an, Kamerad,
denn Arbeit, Arbeit macht frei!

Barbed wire, loaded with death
is drawn around our world.
Above a sky without mercy
sends frost and sunburn.
Far from us are all joys,
far away our home, far away our wives,
when we march to work in silence
thousands of us at the break of day.
But we have learned the motto of Dachau
and it made us as hard as steel:
Be a man, mate,
stay a man, mate,
do a good job, get to it, mate,
for work, work makes you free!


Most Germans were not and are not monsters. Most people are not monsters, make decent neighbors, and worry about their families and getting through the week -- just like you. In each of us lurks, however, the potential for evil. We must not forget this, and we must never rest in seeking to curtail that potential.

My prayers for all those victims of the Holacaust, for all those who a haunted by it to this day, and for all those who suffer in the continuing eddies washing out from this moment of evil.