for Kriemhild

The half-century nightmare
Again I see the sunken eyes
The emaciated ghosts
Marching to Buchenwald
Death on my doorstep
I watch from behind my curtain
My forbidden act of courage
Struggling to free myself
From the fear which paralyzes me

I hear the footsteps in the hallway
Do they come for me this time?
I hear my friends, my neighbors cry
I remain silent in terror
The terror which I now breathe
It feeds me, it is familiar
Always there

I must survive to see the terror and
I will do anything to survive to see the terror end

But it never ends
We pass it on to our children
And they despise us
They say it will end when we die
They ask the question

Where were you, what did you do to stop it?
Again we remain silent
We must teach the vow of silence
The only way to end the terror

But in reality the terror lives
The ghosts are everywhere

We must never forget say the children!
No, we will never forget
Those of us who still breathe the terror
We will never forget
We scream the deafening silence
We are afraid to be proud
Afraid to speak the truth
We the despicable Germans
The good Germans who said nothing

If the world ever finds the courage to forgive us
We will find the courage to speak into the silence
And we the silent victims will say
We forgive you too“