Geheimnis und Schatten (Secrets and Shadows)

How do we forgive ourselves if the world won't forgive us?
This folk song looks at how the legacy of guilt and responsibility for the Second World War has been passed down to the younger generations in different ways depending on whether they grew up in the West or in the former East Germany.
Has this contributed to the rise of Neo-Nationalism in Germany?

Secrets and Shadows (George Olsen..Feb 2004)
My name is Werner
Not Tommy or James
I was born in the West
Of a divided State
Technology and Science
Got drummed into my brain
A holy alliance
To conquer my shame

My mama was busy
And tidy at home
My daddy he taught me
That stealing is wrong
My teachers they told me:
Keep the economy strong
But nobody showed me
How to belong

Chorus:
Just what was it that couldn't be said?
How many soldiers? How many dead?
What is this numbness I feel in my head?
I've been robbed of my memories
And got secrets instead...

My name is Suzanne
Not Helga or Jane
I was born in the East
Of a divided State
I learned I was special
At an early age
For my life from the grasp
Of the Fascists was saved

My mama and my papa
They both had careers
The privilege of serving
Their comrades was theirs
In school we were taught
To be Good Pioneers
To ensure from the Imperialist
Empire we were spared...

Chorus repeat:

They paid me with money
To keep my mind shut
They re-wrote my history
And made something up
But this silence is loud
And it deafens my ears
And it casts a long shadow
Of un-nameable fears

Chorus repeat and fade...

Category:

Music

Tags:

• music
• germany
• war
• hitler
• nazi
• guilt
• folk
• song
• glamfakir
• olsen

[glamfakir]

Well, I'm glad the video evoked some kind of response in you but you don't actually make any comment on it....just your own rather skewed version of 20th Century history...By the way, you forgot to mention the pre-meditated extinction of an entire people.

Hindsight is supposed to be 20/20...get your eyes tested..

[TigerMilitia]

i Respect Germany 100%,there is nothing to be sorry about it wasn't their fault and i don't see why the world is still prejudice and discrimination against Germany. perhaps they are fearful that the idea were correct and are scared of the inevitable?

[glamfakir]

Hello TM. Thanks for your comment. I'm curious to know what you think is 'inevitable' and which particular ideas were correct, in your opinion. You're not very specific.

G.

[deicide89852]

very interesting video thanx for the english translation as im from new zealand

[glamfakir]

Thanks for your comment. I'm glad you've enjoyed it. If you want to hear it sung in English then it's on this site under the name 'Secrets and Shadows'.

[zeitenwind]

Slavery, world war 1-2 both over dont forgetall said but also dont dwell over the past.  Hmmmmm. common sence?

[zeitenwind]

Zweimal assgekicked nuf said! Brauchs meher?

[loirinhasv]

6. Eisenhower created concentration camps for German POW's and killed about 1 million of them through starvation, torture; American soldiers pillaging, and abusing German civilians; etc.

I'm not making excuses for what went on under the Nazi regime, but to think that the Allies were a bunch of princes on white horses coming to the rescue is of an abysmal naiveté.

[loirinhasv]

4. Brits invented concentration camps. During WW2 they had colonies all over the world, where they beat, killed and tortured natives.

5. When WW1 ended, Germany lost a lot of its territory. England gained a lot from this. Guess what territories the Nazis had taken before the Brits said "hey, that's too much", and decided to declare war on them?

[loirinhasv]

1. Economical interests (Americans colossal profits from going into war) and hidden-agenda misleading info (Russians admitted to a tremendous amount of misleading propaganda. Plus they raped and killed German civilians).

3. Dresden bombarded by the Brits in one of the most appalling acts of war against civilians ever. Plus, pulverization of 250 thousand people at once in a large atomic explosion - "Americans bringing freedom to the world!"

[glamfakir]

Hello cw..The video is an empathic observation, not a criticism..Thanks for your comments. Mach's gut! G.

[cw810510]

???

[rolficus]

i vill not rest unzill the verld is charman(german)

[frenchinvasion]

same here... Sieg Heil!