Many a boy has said,
“I want to know more about it.”
Obsessed with adventurism
He therefore found it not bad at all
To join the Krauts,
To share in their triumph,
Influenced by propaganda words
And by so many splendid stories.
“With us” you won‘t be bored,
You’ll live happily and cheerfully here,
So he played being a soldier,
Everything seemed fine and dandy.
But once he had signed up,
It came out differently from what he expected,
What a miscalculation I made,
Many thought to themselves.
The service in the army was very disappointing,
Without mercy, they were drilled,
They got something totally different,
Than what they originally wanted.
He received his training,
Until a frightening image arose:
He saw with fear and saw with trepidation:
I am just German cannon fodder.
And then he had to march to battle,
To Russia for the Third Reich,
There he may die and perish,
That’s what the German lords believe.
He gave his blood for them,
He died for them the “hero’s” death,
Through the adventure, he lost his life,
For Germany, he bit the dust.
He wanted to know more about it,
The Germans said: My friend, sure,
He was killed in action and became forgotten,
Now he knows everything about it.
Post-Editing: Sylvia Stawski, Ernst Sittig
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