“Pioneers of Labor”
The Führer has distinguished some prominent men from the German labor life by appointing them as „Pioneers of Labor.“ Among them are various workers. The recipients are: Reich Minister Dr. Dorpsmüller, member of the Trade Council Dr. Hermann Roechling, Dr. Albert Voegler, Prof. Dr. Claudius Dornier, Ing. Helmut Stein, the lathe operator Ernst Becker, the master watchmaker John Schwarzer, the driller Peter Kuesters, and the workshop supervisor Eugen Weiczorek. – 1-5-44
They, who always reduced your wages
And increased your working hours
Plunged you comrades and metal proletarians
Into ever deeper poverty,
Those who only kept you in check
By delivering you to fascism,
Do you still remember the old
Representatives of capitalism?
Indeed, you will still recognize them,
The gentlemen and their crimes,
When you hear the name Röchling mentioned,
Then you think of the mines of the Stumm brothers
In the Saar region and the sufferings
The miner must endure there,
Mr. Röchling called you ungrateful
You were not hungry without complaints.
And Vögler, the head of the steel barons
In the Ruhr region, also let you starve
And ultimately left you to loiter
Without income in the streets.
And with their
Socio-political „merits“
Today the Führer makes these men „Pioneers
Of German labor,“ well-regarded.
They are exploiters and oppressors
In Adolf’s beautiful miracle state,
They are even honored as bringers of people’s happiness
And their praises are sung loudly.
These are the new “socialists”
Who vouch for your future,
The masterminds of the fascists,
Who strangle welfare, freedom, life.
They are the pioneers of misfortune,
Who cause unhappiness, hardship, and death,
How long will Germany endure their
Criminal tyranny?
Post-Editing: Sylvia Stawski, Ernst Sittig
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