September 6, 1944
Introduction to the content
The poem Reichskommissar Grohe is a scathing portrait of Josef Grohé (1902–1987). Bloch uses highly derogatory descriptions (Nazi bigwig kisser, type primitive swine, piece of crap) for the new Reichskommissar of the occupied territories in Belgium and Northern France, predicting an imminent end to his self-satisfaction in light of current developments.
In the text Han Hollander as a War Correspondent, Curt Bloch imagines the course of World War II as a grand football match, commented on by the most popular sports journalist in the Netherlands. The Jewish Han Hollander, born in 1886, whose caricature also appears on the cover of this magazine, was the first sports reporter on Dutch radio, and was murdered with his family on July 9, 1943, in Sobibor. Curt Bloch only learned of this after the war. This explains the lines, “For Han is … not Aryan, / Be grateful if he’s still alive”.
In German Poetry Today, Curt Bloch mocks poets like Artur Zickler, who dedicate their rhyming verses to Nazi propaganda. This is “the poetry of your downfall, / The poetry just before the end”.
The poor supply situation is addressed in the text The Vegetable Issue. Bloch lists which food items have been taken by the Germans. He writes that one can only bite into the sour apple … But the day will come when the Germans will find themselves without cannons and vegetables.
Wryly, Curt Bloch looks at advertisements in German newspapers – and the fact that Germans can no longer travel by train. By now, the railways are used solely for the war; accordingly, advertisements motivate the readership to take vacations in their own region. The headline of an advertisement for cameras gives the poem its title: “First Win, Then Travel!”.
