Here in Germany, the 9th of November is a day to remember - just like the 11th is for the People of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, the US, Belgium or France.
In these autumn days in 1918 ended the war that should end all wars.
As you all know - it should turn out differently. Warmongers and right wing revanchists remembered too - vowed Revenge to “enemies” and “traitors” - and the consequences are well known.
But I don't want to preach or politicize.
I ask you to lend an ear to a German Songwriter: Hannes Wader.
He edited a famous English anti-war song.
No man’s land (a.k.a The green fields of france) by Eric Bogle...
Here is a touching live Version of the Original.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-38PB_5ozc
And here you find the German Version...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfPH0sEf9bk
And here my translation of the German Lyrics:
Far in the Champagne in the midsummer green, where poppies bloom between grave crosses, the grasses whisper and sway slightly in the wind that gently sweeps over the burial ground.
On your cross - dead soldier - I don't find your name. Just numbers and somebody painted on it the number 1916 - and you weren't even nineteen years old.
Yes, they lied to you too, just as they still do with us today. And you gave them everything - your strength, your youth, your life.
Did you, dead soldier, ever love a girl? Certainly not, because only where there is peace tenderness and trust can flourish. You were a soldier to die, not to be young. Maybe you thought: I am going to fall soon, take my pleasure as it comes, by force. You were determined to do this, but then you were ashamed of yourself and never did it.
Soldier, did you go to your death in faith and willingly? Or were you desperate, bitter, brutalized and didn't recognize your real enemy until the end? I hope you got a clean shot. Or did a bullet tear your limbs apart? Did you scream for your mother until the end? Did you keep running on your stumps? And your grave, does it hold more than a leg, a hand?
The only trace left of your life is the cross. But hear my oath. To fight for peace and be vigilant. Because - if humanity falls for lies one more time - then soon it can happen, nobody will be alive to bury the billions of dead.
But more and more people have long since found themselves ready to prevent this war.
A warm thank you to my dear friend and muse Kitty for her support!