German George

Told me how, as a schoolboy
Back in 1933, he saw Brownshirts
Threatening his music teacher,
Heard him shout defiantly, “To Hell
With you and Adolf!” only to be found
Dead a few days later without an
Unbroken bone in his body.

Then the arrests began
And it seemed like every day
Someone else was gone: a Jew,
A Red, people who asked questions,
Their jobs and houses confiscated,
Their names forbidden.

So now people need to remember
Not just the ending
But how it began
Because if memories blur
And morality fades

It’ll happen all over again.

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Kevin Patrick McCann
Picture Neil Freese

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