Dat Leed van den Häftling Nr. 562
Oswald Andrae| Original | English Version as written and sung by Iain Mackintosh |
| DAT LEED VAN DEN HÄFTLING NR. 562 En halv Dusend un fief Dutzend un denn noch twee mal Een. Kind, mien Kind, tell dat tosamen, denn hest de Tahl, de ik meen. Is en Tahl blots, is en Tahl blots. Schriev se up. Kind, hest sehn? Disse Tahl, dat weer de Nummer, weer de Nummer, de ik meen. Weer en Nummer, blots en Nummer. Van ganz veel weer't man een. So veel Nummers up de Jacken van de Minsken de ik meen. Weren Minsken insperrt Minsken. Hitler harr't Regiment; man se glöwen, wat se glöwen, - foltert, slaan, vergast, verbrennt. Männich Christ und Kommunisten, Sozial- demokrat, Jöden, Zentrum, Pazifisten: "Schutzhaft", KZ, Moorsoldat. In't KZ van Esterwegen, - Kind, nümms kann't nu verstahn! -, Hebbt se Carl von Ossietzky elennig to- samenslaan. Nägn-tein-hun-nert- acht-un-dar-tig. veerten Mai in Berlin: ünner Upsicht van d'Gestapo schräwen se sien Dodenschien. Fief-hun-nert-un- twee-un-seß-tig weer sien Nummer mal wään. Den Nobelpries för den Fräden krääg de Häftling, de ik meen. Gegen Unrecht harr he sträden. Mien Kind, vergäät dat nicht: Waak wään, handeln för den Fräden, denn dat Woort al- leen helpt nicht. Waak wään, handeln för den Fräden, denn dat Woort al- leen helpt nicht. | PRISONER 562 Half a thousand, half a hundred Six times two, pick up your pen Child, my child, count it up now That's the number that I mean It's a number, just a number Write it down, child, while you can Understand it and remember That's the number they gave a man It's a number, just a number One of hundreds, a sign of shame Each man's jacket had a number Men had numbers, none had names Hitler's system took their freedom Took them prisoner one by one For the courage of their convictions They were tortured, gassed and burned They took Communist, they took pacifist They took social democrat Jew and Christian all were prisoner In the concentration camp To the camp of Esterwegen Listen, child and understand They took Carl von Ossietzky They broke his body, not his mind In Berlin upon the fourth of May Nineteen-hundred and thirty-eight The Gestapo with its treatment Signed his death certificate Five-six-two, his prison number Listen, child, I beg you please Keep in mind, always remember He got the Nobel Prize for Peace In the struggle against injustice He fought hard and he fought long Child, remember Ossietzky Peace won't come by words alone |
