Opernplatz, Berlin – 10 May, 1933
“Johannes, Johannes” he heard his mother cry
“You are always late, I often wonder why”
He put on a clean shirt and a pair of leder hosen
It was Spring, so there was little chance of getting frozen.
“I have put a sandwich in your pocket” she shouted up the stairs
He slipped on his jacket, no need to share his worldly cares.
“I have agreed to meet Agnes at half past six”
His words were almost drowned as the kitchen clock ticked
“She likes me to be punctual; I know I’m always late
I think she’ll forgive me, we’re not going on a date.”
“Hansi, please be careful, I know not what you do
But I’ve heard the rumours, please look after you”.
“Of course I will Mama; there is no need to fret,
You can’t get rid of me that easily. At least, not yet”.
He left the comfort of his warm and friendly home
walking along empty streets: at first, all alone.
By the time he arrived at Ludwig Strasse there was quite a crowd
Agnes was on the corner. They had to speak quite loud.
“Hansi where have you been? I was getting quite concerned,”
“You know what I’m like mein chatz no need to be alarmed.
Are the others here? Where is Michael? Where is Peter?”
Michael’s in the square, Peter’s coming later.”
Searching for their friends they strolled around the square
Student chapters from their college had gathered there
Some carried banners, some students looked bemused
Others shouted slogans, young ones looked confused.
As darkness fell, the numbers had grown beyond all expectation
The excitement was quite palpable, the strength of a new nation
Forty thousand people were there to witness an event
That by and large was organised by right wing University student
They had raided shops and libraries – to burn books was their intent
To destroy the Jewish culture; to air hatred and give vent
To views that were accepted, they were strong and they were meant.
Hansi and Agnes were agog at such conviction
Not in their wildest dreams had they envisaged such destruction.
Books, those founts of knowledge and delight
Were thrown onto a bonfire, ten thousand set alight
Goebbels, from Propaganda, delivered an address:
“We will burn away corruption and destroy all decadence
We will embrace decency, morality have faith in family and state
Agnes looked at Hansi, what were they doing out so late?
“At this midnight hour you are doing the right thing
German men and German women, gather together, let us sing!”
The Deutsche Volk drew in their breath and sang national songs of old
They would always remember this moment: what a story to be told.
The books piled high, the flames reached even higher
Thank goodness for the weather, it had kept the platz much drier.
The book burning was happening right across the land
“The age of Jewish intellectualism was coming to an end.”
When they left home that evening our two youngsters did not know
The events that they had witnessed – to the whole world would show
That the works of Einstein, Ernest Hemingway and Helen Keller
H.G. Wells, Heinrich Mann and all Jewish best sellers
Were un-German.
Books by traitors, Marxists, pacifists and many more were verboten
If Agnes had any doubts, at that moment, they were unspoken.
The fire oaths, the songs, the music loud and clear
Filled them with a strange emotion: they realised it was fear.
The heat of rhetoric stung like sparks from the blazing fire
Hansi thought that Mein Kampf should be atop this funeral pyre.
What had been started here – there was no going back
Their minds and hearts, like the burning books, were turning black.
As the flames reached up into the bright, starlit sky
Many will have realised that this was goodbye.
Goodbye to their old lives.
As the flames died down on that feverish May night
Hansi knew that one day he would have to leave home and fight
With the smell of smoke in his hair, the taste of ash on his tongue
He realised he was not ready, he was still very young.
But, one day, when freedom came to those who’d been interred
The Nation would have to swallow its pride and eat its very own words.
© October, 2015
Chapter and Verse 