(on the anniversary of the Badoglio coup, July 25, 1943)
Rome, July 26 (DNB)
Mussolini has resigned. The King-Emperor has appointed Marshal Pietro Badoglio as his successor.
A year has passed since my downfall,
Particularly not a beautiful year,
Today I see, it’s almost over,
That is quite clear.
The Führer did indeed release me,
But it seems to me in my mind,
That today, in true essence,
I am Adolf’s captive.
I no longer play the grand role,
Today, I’m a mere extra,
If I don’t show obedience to him,
They throw me on the dung heap.
I am political scrap metal,
And my time has long passed,
Once I wanted to devour the world,
And made a lot of noise
And had grand ambitions,
I was the idol of my time,
And played with countries and crowns,
This game delighted me.
Like other men play bowling,
I played with war,
Even if Italy’s sons fell,
I felt comfortable.
And today, I am a mere pawn,
In Adolf Hitler’s game of chess,
This game is only of short duration,
And he will never win it.
He constantly gets fewer pieces,
And his field becomes smaller and smaller,
And despite traces of downfall,
He acts as if he’s holding on.
But today, I am full of pessimism,
That’s because: I feel and I see,
The swastika and fascism
Are definitively passé.
The Axis powers are losers
And it’s rapidly going downhill,
The future for me and for the Führer,
Today only holds – the grave.
Post-Editing: Sylvia Stawski, Ernst Sittig
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