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LITERATURE SELECTION Poemsby Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) was a German playwright and poet in the yearsbetween the wars. Like other postwar writers, he was disillusioned by the vio-lence and destruction caused by World War I. He strongly opposed the Nazis.Brecht wrote his poems and plays to criticize corruption, hypocrisy, and theabuse of power. What do the following poems say about the political climate ofGermany during the crisis years?

Section 3

Germany, You Blond PaleCreatureGermany, you blond pale creatureWith wild clouds and a gentle browWhat happened in your silent skies?You have become the carrion pit of Europe.

Vultures over you!Beasts tear your good bodyThe dying smear you with their filthAnd their waterWets your fields. Fields!

How gentle your rivers onceNow poisoned by purple anilin1

With their bare teeth children rootYour cereals up, they’reHungry.

But the harvest floats into theStinking water.Germany, you blond pale creatureNeverneverland. Full ofDeparted souls. Full of dead people.Nevermore nevermore will it beat—Your heart, which has goneMouldy, which you have soldPickled in chili saltpetre2

In exchangeFor flags.

Oh carrion land, misery hole!Shame strangles the remembrance of youAnd in the young men whomYou have not ruinedAmerica awakens.

Song of the S.A. Man1

My hunger made me fall asleepWith a belly ache.Then I heard voices cryingHey, Germany awake!

Then I saw crowds of men marching:To the Third Reich, I heard them say.I thought as I’d nothing to live forI might as well march their way.

And as I marched, there marched beside meThe fattest of that crewAnd when I shouted ‘We want bread and work’The fat man shouted too.

The chief of staff wore bootsMy feet meanwhile were wetBut both of us were marchingWholeheartedly in step.

I thought that the left road led forwardHe told me that I was wrong.I went the way that he orderedAnd blindly tagged along.

And those who were weak from hungerKept marching, pale and tautTogether with the well-fedTo some Third Reich of a sort.

They told me which enemy to shoot atSo I took their gun and aimedAnd, when I had shot, saw my brotherWas the enemy they had named.

Now I know: over there stands my brotherIt’s hunger that makes us oneWhile I march with the enemyMy brother’s and my own.

So now my brother is dyingBy my own hand he fellYet I know that if he’s defeatedI shall be lost as well.

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Years of Crisis 61

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Report From GermanyWe learn that in GermanyIn the days of the brown plagueOn the roof of an engineering works suddenlyA red flag fluttered in the November windThe outlawed flag of freedom!In the grey mid-November from the skyFell rain mixed with snowIt was the 7th, though: day of the Revolution!1

And look! the red flag!

The workers stand in the yardsShield their eyes with their hands and stareAt the roof through the flurries of icy rain.

Then lorries2 roll up filled with stormtroopersAnd they drive to the wall any who wear work

clothesAnd with cords bind any fists that are callousedAnd from the sheds after their interrogationStumble the beaten and bloodyNot one of whom has named the manWho was on the roof.So they drive away those who kept silentAnd the rest have had enough.But next day there waves againThe red flag of the proletariatOn the engineering works roof. AgainThuds through the dead-still townThe stormtroopers’ tread. In the yardsThere are no men to be seen now. Only womenStand with stony faces; hands shielding their

eyes, they gazeAt the roof through the flurries of icy rain.

And the beatings begin once more. Underinterrogation

The women testify: that flagIs a bedsheet in whichWe bore away one who died yesterday.You can’t blame us for the colour it is.It is red with the murdered man’s blood, you

should know.

from John Willett and Ralph Manheim, eds., Bertolt BrechtPoems 1913–1956 (New York; Methuen, 1976), 57–58;191–192, and 245–246.Footnotes:Germany, You Blond Pale Creature:

1. anilin: oily, poisonous liquid used in manufacturing.2. saltpetre: salt used in making gunpowder.

Song of the S.A. Man:

1. S.A. Man: member of the brown-shirted Nazi militia.

Report From Germany:

1. the Revolution: the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.2. lorries: trucks.

Activity Options1. Drawing Conclusions With a group of your

classmates, take turns reading these poemsaloud. Then discuss the picture of postwarGermany that Brecht creates.

2. Developing Historical Pespective Pretendyou are Brecht. Write a letter to a friend inwhich you express your opinions about Germanyafter World War I. Share your letter with classmates.

Name Poems continued

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