(on the title page)
They played the Eroïca,
The Egmont Overture,
And for many who witnessed the state ceremony,
It felt as if they sensed,
That what was done wrong in ‘14
Would soon be corrected,
Germany rose from the deepest night
And became the power of the world.
They honor those who in the previous war
Died for the greatness of Germany,
And those who, even though they didn’t achieve victory,
Still earned eternal glory.
The leader is enthroned on the balcony
As a national deity,
And the elite collection
Occupies the neighboring seats.
From the unknown, he rose
To become the German Dalai Lama,
Thus began fate’s course,
And so the drama began.
One sees the nutcracker figure
Of the old von Mackensen,
A mummy in full attire,
With many decorations shining.
And Hermann Göring’s moon-like face
Shines cheerfully and content,
No, back then, he didn’t know yet
What fate awaited him later.
And beside him in a gray uniform
Sits Adolf’s deputy,
The well-known Rudolf Hess,
Who later flew to England.
And rather unrepresentative
Goebbels sits in the corner,
He is not very decorative
For such state occasions.
He looks like a choirboy
With a meager countenance
In this magnificent opera house,
In this entourage.
But Joseph Goebbels does more
Than his appearance suggests,
He is the director of the mood
Behind the Hitler stage.
He must construct the mental palace of lies
For the Third Reich,
The people must see the future
As blue, rosy, and golden.
Yes, in the opera building of Berlin
They sat Unter den Linden,
And Adolf Hitler thought cunningly,
The rest will reveal itself.
We will thoroughly correct
Germany’s position,
You will see, I will lead you
To power and greatness.
Back then, the Third Reich
Was still in its infancy,
And clever people said right away,
Adolf will fail.
Yes, Adolf made a serious mistake
And you have to bear the consequences
And after the delusion of the early years
You are now suffering the damage.
Back then, you honored your leader
With long torchlight processions,
Now you can amuse yourselves with incendiary torches
From the R.A.F.
The German people hoped for much
After Adolf’s overture,
But Adolf Hitler’s heroic play
Turned out to be – bad acting.
Post-Editing: Sylvia Stawski, Ernst Sittig
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