September 23, 1944
Introduction to the content
On September 14, 1944, the liberation of the Netherlands begins, as Maastricht becomes the first Dutch city to be liberated. Then the Allied advance is halted. From his hiding place Bloch shares the joy of the “Aryans and the non-Aryan race” who feel happiness for the first time in many years. He also expresses hope that the liberation of Enschede will soon follow. Alas, Bloch will have to wait for more than half a year for his own liberation
In the second poem, Curt Bloch responds to a newspaper article comparing the current situation on the Western and Eastern fronts to the situation in the years 1939/1940. Bloch wryly notes a small difference: the German eagle is now “much less powerful,” while its enemies are far stronger than ever before. Now, five years later, they will “put an end to you.”
The poem The Fears of Driekruis addresses the concerns of Dutch journalist Maarten van Nierop. (He often signed his contributions with three crosses, which is why Curt Bloch gives him the name Driekruis, which literally translates to “three crosses”.) As the editor-in-chief of the National Socialist-controlled Twentsch Nieuwsblad, Driekruis fears that chaos will ensue when German troops withdraw. Further that the Dutch may have to serve as “auxiliary troops” for the “new occupiers” from Britain and the U.S. and fight against Bolshevism. He has already taken his family to safety, “but he must stay, that’s bad luck.”
On August 23, 1944, a coup succeeds in the Kingdom of Romania, led by King Michael I. His victory marks the end of the military regime of Marshal Ion Antonescu whose military regime had supported the Nazis. Romania has joined with the Allied forces in the war. Bloch summarizes these events and their impact on neighboring countries a month later in a poem titled Balkan Twilight.
Curt Bloch suspects, “The war suffering will soon be over” imagining the angels quarreling about how soon peace will arrive. The optimists predict it will be a matter of hours, pessimists speak of weeks, skeptics of days. But whenever peace does arrive, the peace angels really must rehearse. The war has lasted so many years that they have forgotten all their songs. If you hear them practicing now, it sounds “wonderful in our ears.” Whenever it does take place, Bloch hopes “that their performance will be a success.”
The German V2 (Vergeltungswaffe 2) was developed under the designation “Aggregat 4,” the world’s first operational short-range rocket with liquid fuel. Nazi propaganda referred to the V2 as a decisive war weapon. Bloch is unaware that these rockets have claimed more than 8,000 lives when he questions this boastful view of the weapon. In the face of the fleeing German army he wonders why “One sees nothing of the V two yet”. (Among its developers was Wernher von Braun, who later played a leading role in the construction of launch rockets for NASA missions.)
