MEIN BRUDER WAR EIN FLIEGER

Mein Bruder war ein Flieger
Eines Tags bekam er eine Kart
Er hat seine Kiste eingepackt
Und südwärts ging die Fahrt.

Mein Bruder ist ein Eroberer
Unsern Volke fehlt's an Raum
Und Grund und Boden zu kriegen, ist
Bei uns ein alter Traum.

Der Raum, den mein Bruder eroberte
Liegt in Guadarramassiv
Er ist lang einen Meter achtzig
Und einen Meter fünfzig tief.

Bertolt Brecht, 1938.

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

MY BROTHER WAS AN AVIATOR

My brother was an aviator
One day he came with a map
And baggage he had done
And he headed South.

My brother is a conqueror
Our people needs space
Ground and soil for fight
It has been always our ancient obsession

The space that my brother conquested
Is in Guadarrama's mountains
It is one-metre-eighty long
And one-metre-fifty deep.

I know my English transaltion is not perfect because two reasons: One, my English is not good and two, I did not translate literally, but its meaning.

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

I also like Brecht's 'What Did The Soldier Send His Wife' written about the Ostfront.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Martin. Have you got any info on Bertolt Brecht? What was he? Did he participate in the war? I just knew he was a German writer who did not like the regime very much...

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

Berthold Brecht 1898-1956

Left-wing writer and playwright. Served in the German army in WWI 1917/18. In 1928, co-operated with Kurt Weill to write the 'Beggar's Opera' for which he is best known today. This was first performed in Berlin. In 1933, one day after the Reichstag fire, Brecht was exiled from Germany, moving to Switzerland, France and then Denmark. In 1940, when Denmark was invaded, he moved to Finland and then (in 1941 ) arrived in the USA where he worked until 1949, when he returned to East Berlin via Switzerland. He died from a heart-attack in 1956.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Thanks Martin. I knew he was a "red". I took this poem from a book my Literature teacher had about "Civil War Poetry", nearly all the poems support the republican cause. I will try to buy that book. It has a lot of poetry in original languages and their respective translations to Spanish.

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun