Object numberM2003/020
Creator(Rabbi?) Emil Nussbaum (author)
DescriptionPoem in German, handwritten in an ink border with a decorative first letter ‘Z’, signed by the author Emil Nussbaum. Beneath his name he describes himself as "Kriegsfreiwilliger u. Freikorpskampfer" (volunteer soldier/enlister and a fighter against the Freikorps - a right-wing group of soldiers, many of whom later formed part of Hitler's private army), and also a member of the RJF (an organisation of Jewish German WWI veterans who advocated integration of Jews in German society and believed that the fact that so many Jews had fought and died for Germany in the war proved Jewish loyalty and patriotism).
The poem refers to 12,000 dead, the number of Jews who died fighting for Germany in WWI. It refers to 600,000 Jews, the approximate Jewish population in Germany before WWII. The poem speaks of these Jews being denied their home and country and living under the harshest conditions. It urges the reader to remember the 12,000 Jewish victims of WWI in order to curb the rising discrimination against Jews in Germany in 1933. It looks forward to a time when WWI German Jewish heroes will once again be rightly honoured - presumably a time when Jews will be harmoniously integrated into and fully appreciated as part of German society.
The poet juxtaposes the heroic patriotism of German Jews during WWI with the growing segregation and marginalisation of Jews at the time the poem was written in 1933. Nussbaum exposes the irony that a part of the German population which fought and gave their lives for Germany were now being persecuted within it.
The poem refers to 12,000 dead, the number of Jews who died fighting for Germany in WWI. It refers to 600,000 Jews, the approximate Jewish population in Germany before WWII. The poem speaks of these Jews being denied their home and country and living under the harshest conditions. It urges the reader to remember the 12,000 Jewish victims of WWI in order to curb the rising discrimination against Jews in Germany in 1933. It looks forward to a time when WWI German Jewish heroes will once again be rightly honoured - presumably a time when Jews will be harmoniously integrated into and fully appreciated as part of German society.
The poet juxtaposes the heroic patriotism of German Jews during WWI with the growing segregation and marginalisation of Jews at the time the poem was written in 1933. Nussbaum exposes the irony that a part of the German population which fought and gave their lives for Germany were now being persecuted within it.
Production placeGermany
Production date 1933
Subjectpoems, discrimination, war veterans
Object namepoems
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- whole width: 262.00 mm
whole height: 376.00 mm
Language
- German Twelve thousand Jews died a heroic death for Germany,
At enemy hands,
(Now) Six hundred thousand are in the most horrible circumstances,
No longer with a home,
Without a country,
Their pain and tears without measure,
Twelve thousand dead - let them never be forgotten.
One day a time will come,
That we will be able to announce rightly and with honour,
How they fell,
Twelve thousand German Jewish heroes,
By God, the best of them all,
The sorrow and tears beyond measure,
Twelve thousand dead - let them never be forgotten.
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mr Ivan Ban