Envoy in Audience with Her Majesty the Queen
The Hague, 26th August 1939. The government press service announces: „Her Majesty the Queen received the German envoy in audience today, in the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Count von Zech Burkersroda conveyed to Her Majesty information regarding the attitude of the German Reich towards the Netherlands, in the event that a war should prove inevitable. The German Reich will under no circumstances violate the inviolability and integrity of the Netherlands and will at all times respect the Dutch territory. In return, the expectation was expressed that the Netherlands will observe absolute neutrality towards Germany and extend the same respect to third parties. Following this, Dr. Goebbels describes the leadership of the Führer, saying, among other things: „When there exists on the field of national and state leadership a divine giftedness that instinctively grasps what is right and necessary, and when this, together with an unwavering insight into what is expedient at all times, constitutes the highest historical leadership, then he is the chosen bearer thereof.“ – 20th April 1944
They chased culture to the devil
And prattle constantly about culture
But without a doubt, they mean
Only their own reign of terror.
They know they are hopelessly lost,
And would still like to be preserved,
The circle of Nazi matadors
Shudders at the impending journey to hell.
They feel that it has probably been
The longest time for them,
Now a thousand anxieties torture them,
For this continent has had enough
Of being oppressed any longer,
Pushed down to a slave-like level,
The Brotherhood of Noble Races
Of the Nazi bosses want it that way.
They degraded you under the swastika
To a tribe of ,
And everything you do, like blowing your nose,
Is closely controlled today.
And Adolf is a Zulu king,
The chief in the Kaffir kraal,
You all serve him submissively,
Or else you‘ll end up on the martyr’s stake.
He called you to the war dance,
Waving the swastika totem,
And put an entire nation in a trance,
His madness became a global problem.
Like the great Zulu chieftains of old,
Shaka and Dingane did,
Who thirsted for the blood of victims,
He brought you into delusion,
That this crazy shedding of blood
Benefits the German fatherland,
That it brings you a time of joy,
A future that will never come.
He has exactly the same traits;
The mentality of a scammer,
He possesses the deception and lies
Of a Zulu authority.
He sits with the cunning of a dumb farmer,
And with mean treachery,
And you thought that this is the new
Diplomacy of the future,
Making contracts to the right and left,
Readily giving every guarantee,
Making promises, concluding pacts,
But never keeping them.
The world should feel safe,
That nothing will happen to it,
It had no idea of your goals,
They guaranteed its territory.
This way of acting was familiar to him,
It was his political instinct,
But when you act like that too often,
It happens that it no longer succeeds.
At first, the world considered the German idol
To be somewhat less primitive
Than he actually is, and its horror,
That Germany called this man
To determine his well and woe
Was naturally of great importance,
And for now, you won’t get rid
Of the stench of the Hitler era.
When one looks at Hitler’s skull,
One wonders how you could be so wrong,
For nothing is good and nothing is noble,
The fleeing criminal forehead
would be worthy of a cannibal,
And in the end, he is nothing more than that,
You will have to pay the price
And this blood guilt weighs heavily on you.
Yet you let him continue to carouse,
And bear it with patience and silence,
But this inertia will take revenge,
As your bill keeps growing.
Post-Editing: Sylvia Stawski, Ernst Sittig
Did you notice an error in this transcription or translation, and would you like to send us a corrected version? Or have you created a lyrical translation that captures rhyme and rhythm of the original? Please feel free to send us your version. We appreciate voluntary support for this memorial project, and we regularly review the messages we receive.