January 29, 1944
Introduction to the content
Adolf’s Monument Preservation is a satirical poem about the supposed protection of valuable buildings by the National Socialists. Curt Bloch initially praises the alleged concern of the Dutch Nazis for the town hall in Leiden, the abbey, and the town hall in Middelburg against the Soviet troops. But then he reminds them that the “saviors of culture” once blew up Rotterdam. This refers to the heavy bombing of the port metropole by the Germans in May 1940, during which the historic city center was completely destroyed.
Anyone who no longer believes in the Wehrmacht’s victory or even resists the German authorities is doomed “To Die!” according to the Minister of Interior, Heinrich Himmler. The “spreading of defeatism” would be ruthlessly eradicated, as stated in a related press release. As an example, a newspaper article mentions the resistance fighters Kees Schalker and Ko Beuzemaker, who were executed in early 1944. Bloch knows that this is meant to frighten those who are fighting for freedom. But all those who collaborate with the Nazi henchmen will soon be held accountable – and then a death sentence awaits them.
In Apology of a Father-In-Law, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini apologizes to his daughter for having her husband killed. Galeazzo Ciano was involved in the fall of the “Duce” and was executed after a show trial on January 11, 1944. Despite the urging of his eldest daughter Edda, Mussolini refused to pardon her husband. In Curt Bloch’s poem, the Italian dictator presents it as if Hitler had forbidden him to grant amnesty to his son-in-law. Therefore, Ciano had to die.
Four people in Germany are sentenced to death for spreading just one satirical poem about Adolf Hitler, the war, and the NSDAP. After being reported, they are arrested for “anti-state activities.” Dorothea Fonden, Fritz Pahnke, Johann Dombrowski, and Fritz Grosspietsch are sentenced to death by the 1st Senate of the People’s Court on October 4, 1943, and executed in Berlin-Plötzensee a day later. The fact that “Four lives for just one poem” were ended preoccupies Curt Bloch, “what would happen to me, I have almost four hundred.” His poetry is like “dynamite” meant to hit the granite structure of the Führer’s building. Bloch’s rhymes do follow the Goal to “ventilate” the minds of the Germans and “remove Goebbels’ propaganda filth.” Then, one can probably correct “many errors.” Bloch hopes that the German people will become “a nation of humans.”
