BertoltBrecht WARPRIMER

BertoltBrecht

WARPRIMERTranslatedandeditedwithanafterwordandnotesbyJohnWillett

ThiseditionpublishedbyVerso2017English-languageeditionfirstpublishedbyLibris1998

OriginallypublishedinGermanasKriegsfibelbyEulenspiegelVerlag1955Translation©StefanS.Brecht1998,2017

Afterword,notesandchronology©JohnWillett1998,2017

Allrightsreserved

Themoralrightsoftheauthorshavebeenasserted

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WARPRIMER

Photo-epigrams

Afterword

Brecht’sWar:AChronology

Notes

Concordance

LikeonewhodreamstheroadaheadissteepIknowthewayFatehasprescribedforusThatnarrowwaytowardsaprecipice.

Justfollow.Icanfinditinmysleep.

‘What’sthatyou’remaking,brothers?’‘Ironwaggons.’‘Andwhataboutthosegreatsteelplatesyou’relifting?’

‘They’reforthegunsthatblasttheirontopieces.’‘Andwhat’sitallfor,brothers?’‘It’sourliving.’

WomenarebathingontheSpanishcoast.TheyclimbupfromtheseashoretothecliffsAndoftenfindblackoilonarmandbreast:Theonlytracesleftofsunkenships.

Theconqueror,GeneralJuanYagüe,kneelsbeforehisthrone-chairatanopen-airmassinBarcelona’sPlazadeCatalunya.InbackgroundistheHotelColon,whosetowerisseenagaininthepicturebelow,atlowerright.BehindYagüeareGeneralsMartínAlonso,Barrón,Vega.YagüeandSolchagamovedofftochaseLoyaliststotheborder.

Thebellsarepealingandthegunssaluting.NowthankweGodwhotoldustoenlistAndgaveusriflestobeusedforshooting.Themobisvulgar.GodisaFascist.

SupposeyouhearsomeoneproclaimthatheInvadedanddestroyedamightystateIneighteendays,askwhatbecameofme:ForIwasthere,andlastedonlyeight.

GreatfiresareblazingintheArcticregionsInlonelyfjordstheclamour’satitsheight.‘Say,fishermen:wholaunchedthosedeadlylegions?’‘OurgreatProtector,protectedbythenight.’

EightthousandstrongwelieintheSkagerrak.Packedintocattleboatswecrossedthesea.Fisherman,whenfishhavefilledyournetRememberus,andletjustoneswimfree.

German assault troops, here emerging from beneath railroad cars to attack theAlbert Canal line, were young, tough and disciplined. In all, there were 240divisionsof them.Butdespite theworld’s idea that the conquestwasmerelybyplanes and tanks, it actually depended on the old-fashioned tactic of a superiormassoffirepoweratthedecisivepoint.

BeforeyoujointhegreatassaultIseeYoupeeraroundtospottheenemy.WasthattheFrench?OryourownsergeantwhoWaslurkingtheretokeephiseyeonyou?

Unblockthestreetstocleartheinvader’sway!Thiscity’sdead,there’snothinglefttoloot.There’sneverbeensuchorderinRoubaix.Noworderreigns.Itsreignisabsolute.

Mayhedielikeadog.That’smylastwish.Hewasthearchenemy.Believeme,Ispeaktrue.AndIamfreetospeak:whereIamnowOnlytheLoireandonelonecricketknow.

SpringhascometoParis.Hereweseeoneofitsmosttypicalsigns–fishingalongthequaysoftheSeinehasbeguninearnest.Thisyeartherearemorefishermenthanever–adirectsignofthefoodshortage.

HereintheheartofParisyoucanseeusTryingtooutwitasneakylittlefish

Fromwhichwehopetomakeameagredish–VictimsofHitlerandofourownleaders.

TheGermanswere‘kind’tothisFrenchman.Theyblindfoldedhimbeforehewasshot.

Andsoweputhimupagainstawall:Amother’sson,amanlikewehadbeenAndshothimdead.AndthentoshowyouallWhatcameofhim,wephotographedthescene.

Lion Feuchtwanger (facing camera) behind the barbed wire in the brickyardconcentrationcamp.ThishithertounpublishedpicturewassmuggledoutofFrancebyMr.Feuchtwanger.

It’struehewastheirenemy’senemyYetonethingtheycouldnotforgive:thatheWasenemytohisowngovernment.Lockuptherebel.Throwawaythekey.

Thepeoplehatethemmorethanaforeignfoe.Shittingthemselves,theybalanceonthefenceAndfearGermanylessthantheyfeartheFrench.BeruledbyGermans?Yes.Ruledbythepeople?No.

GanglawissomethingIcanunderstand.Withman-eatersI’veexcellentrelations.I’vehadthekillersfeedingfrommyhand.Iamthemantosavecivilization.

It’swewhoflyaboveyourcity,womanNowtremblingforyourchildren.FromuphereWe’vefixedoursightsonyouandthemastargets.Ifyouaskwhy,theansweris:fromfear.

TheCityTodayDuringtheblitztheCityofLondonwasreducedtoaruin.ThisviewwastakenfromStPaul’s.

Here’showIlook.SomemenbetrayedtheirdutyAndflewacoursethatdifferedfromthemap.Hopingtoactasfence,Iwasthebooty.Let’scallmyfateatechnicalmishap.

Liverpoolharbour,England’ssecondbiggest,iswellknowntobethetargetofmanyGermanaerialbombardmentsand tookmanydirecthits.Thisphotographgivesaclearpictureof theharbour–thesmokeatthetopshowsthatithasjustbeenvisitedbyGermanbombers.

Iamacitystill,butsoonIshan’tbe–WheregenerationsusedtoliveanddieBeforethosedeadlybirdsflewintohauntme:Onethousandyearstobuild.Afortnighttodestroy.

The‘flyingsharks’:thatwasthenameweboasted.AlongthecrowdedcoastlineswewentflyingWithsharks’teethpaintedonourfighter-bombersAllofussureforoncethatweweren’tlying.

‘BombsAway!’shoutstheobserverashecelebratesasuccessfuldrop.

You’relookingatabastard,andapoorone!‘Ilaughatnewsofothermen’sdistress.Acorsetsalesmanformerly,fromNürnbergAdealernowindeathandwretchedness.’

TherewasatimeofunderneathandoverWhenmankindwasmasteroftheair.AndsoWhilesomewereflyinghigh,theresttookcoverWhichdidn’tstopthemdyingdownbelow.

NewSourceofIncomeThanks to thebombing,London’spoorhavefoundanewsourceof income.Childrengatherround the exits of underground stationswhich serve as air-raid shelters.Theyhave reservedplacesinthesheltersandhirethemout,withbedding,whenthereisanalert.Ourpictureshowsagroupofyoungsterswithmattressesandblanketscarriedinprams.

FarolderthantheirbombersisthehungerThatthey’veunleashedonus.AndtosurviveWehavetoearnthecashtobuyprovisionsSo,forsurvival,gamblewithourlives.

Acloudofsmoketoldusthattheywerehere.Theywerethesonsoffire,notofthelight.Theycamefromwhere?Theycameoutofthedarkness.Wheredidtheygo?Intoeternalnight.

SearchlightdisplayWereproduceapicturefromAssociatedPress,Berlin,showingaGermanfighterplanecaughtinEnglishsearchlights.

Whatyouseehere,caughtinyournightdefencesThesesteelandglasscocoonsforkillingpeopleWithtonsofbombs,arejusttheconsequencesForall,andnotthecausesoftheevil.

BritishBombersoverBerlinIn late summer1940 theRAFmounted several raids onHamburg,Bremen andothermajorGerman townsof industrialandmilitary importance.TheBritishbombedBerlin for the firsttimeon10/11September.ThepictureshowsahouseinBerlinafteraBritishraid.

Stopsearching,woman:youwillneverfindthem

But,woman,don’tacceptthatFateistoblame.Thosemurkyforces,woman,thattormentyouHaveeachofthemaface,addressandname.

Youseemehere,eatingasimplestewMe,slavetonodesire,exceptforone:Worldconquest.ThatisallIwant.FromyouIhavebutonerequest:givemeyoursons.

SuffertheoldwomentocomeuntomeThattheymayglimpse,beforetheirgravescloseo’erthemThemantheirsonsobeyedsofaithfullyAslongashehadgravesleftopenforthem.

On 10 December Hitler gave one of his big speeches in an arms factory near Berlin. Ourpictureshowsthechancellorandsupremecommanderofthearmedforcesonthepodium,tohislefttheleaderoftheLabourFront,DrRobertLey,andPropagandaMinisterDrGoebbels.

PromisingSocialism,therehestands.Listen:aNewAgewillbeproclaimed.Behindhim,seetheworkofyourownhands:Greatcannon,silent.Andatyouthey’reaimed.

ThesaddlerI,whohelpedtheJunkerscumTogetbackintheirseat.I’dnoexcuseButletthembuymeforaprincelysumFrompaupers’savings.Andescapedthenoose.

Iamthebutcher-clowninthisconcern.TheIronHermann,everytimeawinnerAReichMarshal,policemanandthiefinturn:Givemeyourhand.But,first,bestcountyourfingers.

Iam‘thedoctor’,Idoctorwhatgetsprinted.Itmaybeyourworld,butIhavemysay.Sowhat?Itshistorygetsreinvented.Evenmyclubfootseemsafaketoday.

‘Joseph,I’mtoldyou’resayingit’safactIlootthings.’–‘Hermann,looting’snotforyou.Who’dgrudgeyouwhatyouwant?They’dhavemoretact.AndifIsaidit,who’dbelieveit’strue?’

Oswansong!‘Neverseektoquestionme!’Opilgrims’choir!Ofierymagictrick!SongoftheRhinegoldonanemptybelly!That’swhatI’dcalltheBayreuthRepublic.

Here’sthisstonehorseoutsidetheChancelleryWhogazesglumlyatthegloomyfuture.‘What’swrongthen,horse?’‘MyLeaderhadmetryHiseight-yeartreatment,andIfeelnobetter.’

GermanChurchesonWheels.TheCatholicChurchhas38.Berlin,Wednesday.According to reports from Catholic circles, the Catholic Church now has 38 churches onwheels.Theseconsistoflittlealtarsmountedonmotorvehiclessothatmasscanbeofferedtoisolatedand inaccessiblevillages.A furtherdozenof thesemobile churches areonorder, toreach– amongothers – remote armybarracks. In general, thepadre himself drives his ownmobilechurch.

Ahappyheadline:Godisonthemove!Hitlerpushedon,andGodcouldnotkeepup.Well,suchiswar,let’shopeGoddoesn’tloseShouldhetoofindhisoil’sabouttostop.

TencountrieslieprostratebeneathmytreadMyownamongthem.AndthebloodytraceLeftbymyboothasturnedthecountryredFromMülheimanderRuhrtoKirkenaes.

Obrothers,seethedistantCaucasus.ASwabianpeasant’sson,IliebelowKilledwhenaRussianpeasantfiredonus.ImetdefeatinSwabiayearsago.

‘WhatbroughtyoutwotoNorthCape?’–‘Acommand.’‘Don’tyoufeelcold?’‘Chilledtothebonearewe.’‘Whenwillyoutwogohome?’‘Whenthissnowends.’‘Andhowlongwillitsnow?’‘Eternally’.

ButwhenwesightedtheredwallsofMoscowPeopleappearedfromfarmandfactoryAndtheyrepelledusinthenameofeverypeopleEventhepeoplebackinGermany.

FieldMarshal Fedor von Bock, 61 and a Prussian, helped conquer Poland, Paris and theNorthCaucasus.FieldMarshal Hugo Sperrle, 57, Bavarian brewer’s son, commanded air corps in Spain,Poland,Lowlands,France,BattleofBritain.FieldMarshalKarlvonRundstedt,66,plannedandcarriedthroughfamousbreakatSedan,nowhasheadquartersthere.FieldMarshalErwinRommel,50,isslashing,hard-hittingcommanderoftheGermanAfrikaCorpsinBattleofEgypt.GeneralHeinzGuderian,56,aPrussian,hadbrilliant tanksuccesses inPolandandFrance,commandedPanzerdivisionfromaplane.FieldMarshalSiegmundList,62,steelyBavarianmasterofmobility,knifedthroughPolandandFrance.

Herearesixmurderers.Nowdon’tturnawayAnddon’tjustnodandmurmur‘That’sthetruth.’ShowingthemuphascostustothisdayFiftygreatcitiesandmostofouryouth.

Lookatthehelmetsofthevanquished!YetSurelythemomentwhenwecameundoneWasnotwhentheyweresmittenfromourheadsButwhenwefirstagreedtoputthemon.

Whenthe“FoxoftheDesert,”GermanFieldMarshalErwinRommel(left)drankthisprematuretoast,hisAfrikaKorpswasstill“unbeatable.”

Here’stotheFatherlandwithallitsJunkers!TheGermansabre,plusitsdividends!TheGermanPeople,armedandinitsbunkers!ThegreatMisleader–Cheers!–offoesandfriends!

But in his recent flight across Libya, Rommel left behindmany of his batteredforces.FromAlliedattackthisGermanvainlydivedforcover.

Othrillofmarchingbandsandbannersflying!Teutonicmythofswastika-crusadersdying!Tillallobjectiveswerereducedtoone:Tofindyourselfsomecover.Therewasnone.

Ourmastersfighttohaveyou,lovelycreatureTheyracetoseizeyouintheirheadlongcourse.Eachfeelsmostfittobleedyouwhiteinfuture–Mostjustifiedintakingyoubyforce.

Statesmenatwork:ChairmanSolBloomoftheHouseForeignAffairsCommitteedebateswithisolationistHoldenTinkham.Behindthem:HamiltonFish.

Beholdushere,antagonists.SeehowEachangrylookislikeapoisoneddagger.Aworldofdifferenceliesbetweenusnow.Thequarrelis:whoseshare’stobethebigger.

Here’swhatwesent,wepeopleofSpokaneWithabrassièretohelpsupportourCongressIngratitudefortheirdevotedservice.Theyaskedforit.They’llknowjustwhatwemean.

JaneWyman shows hermedals, adorning an ‘RA F. blue’ dress designed by aHollywoodpatriotwhosaysgirls‘shouldgomilitaryinafeminineway.’ThesearereproductionsofoldwarmedalsandwerenotpinnedonJaneforanythingshedid.

AbreastcurvesthroughhermilitarycutHerpartsarehungwitholdwardecorations:It’sHollywoodv.Hitler.Herewe’vegotSemenforblood,andpusforperspiration.

OvoiceofsorrowfromthedoublechoirOfgunmenandthevictimsofthegun!TheSonofHeavenneededSingaporeAndnoonebutyourselfneededyourson.

AnAmerican and the Jap he killed. PfcWallyWakeman says: “I was walkingdown the trailwhen I saw two fellow talking.Theygrinned and I grinned.Onepulledagun.Ipulledmine.Ikilledhim.Itwasjustlikeinthemovies.”

Wesaweachother–ithappenedveryfast–

Ismiled,andbothofthemsmiledbackatme.Andsoatfirstwestoodandsmiled,allthree.Onepulledhisgun.AndthenIshothimdead.

Soyoumayhavewhatyou’vebeenpiningforThissexycarrotmightbringsatisfaction.Apinupforyourtentondistantshores!Theysaysuchpicturesrousethedeadtoaction!

WomanofThailand (Siam)peersoutof a crudebombshelter inSichiengmai atAmericanbomberfromFrenchIndo-Chinacometobombborderhovels.

HopingtokeepconcealedthroughoutthefightingWhilewould-berulerswrestledintheairThefrightenedpeoplelookedforholestohideinAndwatchedtheirmastersbattlingfromdownthere.

Back from thebattlefrontnearBuna inNewGuineacomesablindedAustralianinfantrymanhelpedbyakindlyPapuannative.Bothmenarebarefoot.

AndwhenthebitterfightgrewlessintenseThemanwhohelpedmebackwaskindtomeAndinhissilenceIbegantosense

Nounderstanding,butsomesympathy.

Alas,poorYorickoftheburnt-outtank!Uponanaxle-shaftyourheadisset.

YourdeathbyfirewasfortheDomeiBankTowhomyourparentsstillremainindebt.

InschoolwelearnedofanAvengerwho

Wouldpunishallinjusticehereonearth.Wewenttokill,andmetwithDeath.NowyouMustpunishthosewhoseorderssentusforth.

Besttakeyourenemy’slittlelostbrotherOutofthebattlelinethatyou’vedefended.Thatheandyoursonlivetotelleachother

Justhowitwasthatwarslikethiswereended.

Germanbombsawaituseunderolivetrees.

Workerspolishingtorpedocylinders.

Oolivetree,spreadingyourkindlyleavesToscreenmybrother’skillersfromthesunYou’relikethosewomenstooping,headsinscarves

Toshapetorpedoesforthecommonman.

AnAmericansoldierstandsoveradyingJapwhohehasjustbeenforcedtoshoot.TheJaphadbeenhidinginthelandingbarge,shootingatUStroops.

Andwiththeirbloodtheyweretocolourred

Ashorethatneitherowned.IhearitsaidThattheywereforcedtokilleachother.True.Myonlyquestionis:whoforcedthemto?

REFUGEESWITHOUTREFUGE:ThisJewishmotherandchildwerepickedoutof the sea, alongwith 180otherswho sought refuge inPalestine.But 200weredrowned when the Salvator smashed on the rocky coast of Turkey. And theSalvator wasn’t the first. The Patria exploded with 1771 aboard. The Penttchofoundered on an isle off Italy with 500. The Pacific was forced to sail fromPalestinewith1062andtheMiloswith710.ThenthereistheOdysseyofthe500Jewsonashipforfourmonths,shuntedfromporttoport.TheycomefromalloverEurope, packed like cattle in unseaworthy vessels. Where can they go, these7,000,000EuropeanJews?Palestine’squota is12,000ayear.The freightersandcattleboats carry a newkindof cargo—anewkindof humanbootleg.Last year26,000were smuggled intoPalestine.Butwhat of the 7,000,000?Thebaby canplaywithhisfoot—forhe’shomeinhismother’sarms.Hedoesn’tknowhisfatherwasdrownedintheSeaofMarmora.Onlyhismotherknowsthedouble-deathofdrowninginsightofshore.

Andmanyofusdrownedjustoffthebeaches.Thelongnightpassed,theskybegantoclear.Iftheybutknew,wesaid,they’dcomeandseekus.Thattheydidknow,westillwereunaware.

Alas,ouroverlordshavefallenout.Overourcountry,waterlessandblightedThreeforeignarmiesnowareindispute.Onlyagainstusareallthreeunited.

“Restoringthenormalflowoflife”—AMGofficerssellAmericanflourtoItaliancivilians.

Webringyouflour,andarefurbishedking!Accepttheflourandyoumusttakethemonarch.ThosewhofindlickingbootsisnottheirthingWillhavetosettleforanemptystomach.

In Stark General Hospital, Charleston, SC, A young Japanese-American boy,blindedinItalyatthecrossingoftheVolturnoRiver,sitspatientlyinbed.

Blackoutalltowns,thesea,thestarryheaven.He’llglimpsenowife,noreveryetason.Blackoutthemorningskies,thecloudsatevenAboveJapan–andoverOregon.

Exhausted soldiers, who have spent a day and a half getting into position, arephotographedbyLIFE’sGeorgeSilkastheysnatchabriefnapinthesun.Someofthemdigdeepfoxholesbutothers,whodisregardGermanfire,sleepunprotectedontheground.Whitetapesseeninsomethepicturesabovemarkpassagesthroughminefieldsclearedbyengineersinthenight.

Thoseyouseelyinghere,buriedinmudAsiftheylayalreadyintheirgrave–They’remerelysleeping,arenotreallydead

Yet,notasleep,wouldstillnotbeawake.

AsummerdaywasdawningnearCherbourgAmanfromMainecamecrawlingupthesandSupposedlyagainstmenfromtheRuhrInfactagainstthemenofStalingrad.

Welcome!Butcanwereallycountonyou?Ofcoursethere’scourageinprocrastination.Thinkofthatgent–he’danumbrellatoo–WhowantedHitlerfirsttobeattheRussian.

Herearetwobrothers,broughtinarmouredtrucksToquarrelovertheonebrother’sland!SocruellythetamedelephantattacksHisbrother,theunbrokenelephant.

BlindedGermansoldierinaMoscowhospital.

NearMoscow,man,theystrippedyouofyoursight.Poorblindedman,younowknowwhatwarsmean.YourgreatMisleaderlosttheMoscowfight.Supposehe’dwon,youstillwouldnothaveseen.

TheEnd…CorporalGeorgKreuzberg(86thInfantryDivision)wasfoundlikethisbyRussiantroopson

thebattlefieldofOrel.Hehadgonemad.

I’mlefttosithereholdingmypoorhead:NowtheMisleader’sfleeingfromhistroubles.Thecockthatchokesonallthecornhe’sfed:They’llgoupinbubbles.

FarmwomeninoccupiedRussiaarguewithaGermanofficerovertheconfiscationofgrainandhorses.

Muchmustsurvive,andmuchmustbeforgotMuchwisdom’sneededwherethere’snotmuchfoodMuchmusttakeplace,andmuchhadbetternotBeforesheknowsshe’slostthathorseforgood.

Isayallpity,woman,isafraudUnlessthatpityturnsintoredrageWhichwillnotrestuntilthisancientthornIsdrawnatlastfromdeepinmankind’sflesh.

ItseemstomethatI’ddestroyedyourhomeBecauseitwasmybrother,cursetheday!TherewasnobrighterhourthanwhenIlearnedYou’dconqueredhimanddrivenhimaway.

ThefaceoftheGermanArmyinRussianowappearsfrozen,dazed,exhaustedofwillorpride.Thesewereoncecrack troops, the terrorof theworldof1940and1941butthefarthertheygotintoRussia,thelesstheylikedthecoldandtheampleroomtodiein.However,asthehandyRussiansadvancewest-ward,thewarmeritfeelsandthemoredelightfultheprospectsgrow.

Theseareourchildren.Stunnedandbloody-facedOutofafrozenPanzerseethemcome.EventheviciouswolfmusthaveaplaceTohidein.Warmthem,theyaregettingnumb.

Holdingachild,andwithyourriflegroundedStakingyourlifeonthenewlifeyou’rebuildingLet’sseeyou,oncethisbloodywarisendedSurroundedbyacrowdofGermanchildren.

GreekboyswollenwithhungerisagrimreminderthatonethirdofAthens’childrendiedofstarvation, nine out of ten newbornwere dying.Conditionswere so terrible that theUnitedNationsallowGreekrelieftopassthroughtheblockade.RussianchildrenareamongthosewhohavesufferedmostatthehandsoftheNazis.Besideswitnessingtherapeoftheirhometowns,manyhavebeenwoundedinbattleswhichragelikeprairiefiresacrossthedevastatedRussianplains.A Sicilian lad who saw his parents killed by Germans finds, like other bewildered youngItalians,thatwarhasblottedouthissun.HewilllearnthatAlliedcontrolendssuchinjusticesaschildrentoilinglikemolesinthesulphermines.Frenchchildren–listlesslittleonesstandingsilentlyinschoolyardsatrecesstime,rovingthestreetinsearchofbread–aretootiredandhungrytoplaynormallyorremembertheirlessons.Tuberculosisissteadilyontheincrease.

You,inyourtanksandbombers,mightywarriorsYouthatinAlgierssweat,inLaplandfreezeInscoresofbattlesyouhavebeenvictorious

Seewhomyou’veconquered.Hailyourvictories!

Wornoutbybattle,ifyouonlyhadSufficientstrengthnowforyourselvestofightTheworld,indeath-andbirth-pangs,wouldbegladIttookthepainsthatledtoyourdefeat.

Herearethecitiesinwhichonceour‘Heils!’Acclaimedourwarmachineasitparaded.ButthesearenothingtothethousandmilesOfforeigncitiesthatitdevastated.

Returning to a changed world – French soldiers, released after five years ofcaptivity,marchdownaroadinGermanyonthefirstlegoftheirjourneyhome.

HomecomersbackfrominhumanityTellthoseathomeoflifeamongafolkThattamelyboweditsheadbeneaththeyokeAnddon’tassumethatyouaretrulyfree.

CampaigningfortheLaborParty,Bevinspeaksfromtheproletarianplatformslike these old carts. He ran for Parliament twice before he was elected from aLondon district in 1940. Although he is only 5 ft., 5 in. tall, Bevin gives animpressiveplatformairbuthehastowatchhisweight.Heusedtoweigh250lb.,nowweighs200.

Thisfatmanwantsajob.IbegyouallTovoteforhim;hespeaksforcommonsense!Butvotehimupthattree,wherehe’llstandtall–Notforajob,andnotatyourexpense.

OutsidetheCityHall,beatenandbloodyAGIrescuedme.HewasmyfriendAndshowedmorecouragetherethananybodyAtKiskaorBataanortheArdennes.

IhearthemenofDowningStreetaccuseyouSayingyoustuckitout,soit’syourfault.Theymayberight,butwhendidtheylastchoosetoChidepeople’sstrangereluctancetorevolt?

IthoughtIknewyou,andIthinksoyet.AndI’mnotoneofthosethatblindlypraise:Isayyou’regoodformorethanblindworldconquestInservitudeasslavedriverorslave.

That’showtheworldwasgoingtoberun!Theothernationsmasteredhim,except(Incaseyouthinkthebattlehasbeenwon)–Thewombisfertilestillfromwhichthatcrept.

Iwasthebloodhound,brothers.That’sthenameIgavemyself,theworkingpeople’sson.Theyrecognisedit;thentheNaziscameAndhousedandpensionedmeforwhatI’ddone

IfwecanhavetherighttotouchherupShe’llfindthatwearequitepreparedtospendFromourownpocketorsomeotherchap’s.That’showitstarted.How’sitgoingtoend?

YouwomenbackinPittsburgandTexasD’youreallywantyoursonstolookthatway?Youknowthosesonsarebeingsenttous–Arewetobeattackedbybeastsofprey?

NeverforgetthatmenlikeyougothurtSoyoumightsitthere,nottheotherlot.Andnowdon’thideyourhead,anddon’tdesertButlearntolearn,andtrytolearnforwhat.

AFTERWORD

FromtheFallofBarcelonatotheDeathofHitler

At thebeginningof1940anumberof causes combined to inspireBrecht to anew kind ofwar poetry thatwouldmatch epigrams (in the lapidary tradition)with photographs from the mass-circulation press. A decade earlier he hadbecome interested in the use of photography in the AIZ (Arbeiter-IllustrierteZeitung), the German ‘Workers’ Illustrated’, whose approach he publiclywelcomedin1931(theyearwhenitprintedhispoem‘CoalsforMike’).Later,as an exile from Hitler’s Third Reich, he defended John Heartfield’sphotomontagesforthatjournalagainstMoscow’scriticismoftheir‘formalism’,treatingHeartfieldasapoliticallycommittedinnovatoralongwithHannsEisler,Erwin Piscator, George Grosz and himself. Heartfield’s brother, WielandHerzfelde,becameBrecht’spublisherinCzechoslovakiauntilthecountry’sfallin1939forcedbothbrotherstolookforworkinLondonandNewYork.BythentheAIZ had closed, after changing its name toVolks-Illustrierte. Its publisher,Willi Münzenberg, founder of the GermanWorker-Photographers’ movement,was expelled from the Comintern, interned in France, and mysteriouslymurderedafterhisescape.

InJanuary1940Brechtbeganstickingpressphotographs inhisJournals –the ‘Arbeitsjournal’ that he had started systematically keeping just before theMunichAgreement.Thiswas at a timewhenhis poemswerebecomingmorecompactandconcentrated. In1937hewroteasetofanti-Naziepigramsunderthetitle‘GermanWarPrimer’,whichwerepublishedintheMoscowmagazine

DasWort and impressively setby thecomposerHannsEisler asvariations forunaccompanied chorus titled, AgainstWar. Those epigrams differed from thepresent collection in being unrhymed, irregular in form, and imaginativelyconcernedwithawarthathadnotyetbrokenout.Probablythebestknownis:

ONTHEWALLWASCHALKED:Theywantwar.ThemanwhowroteitHasalreadyfallen.

Like the ‘German Satires’ intended for the underground Freedom Radio,these were included in Svendborg Poems, named after the Danish town nearwheretheBrechtsspenttheirfirstyearsofexile,andpublishedbyHerzfeldeinMay1939undertheimprintMalik-VerlagLondon.ThiswasfourmonthsbeforeHitler’s invasion of Poland unleashed the SecondWorldWar. Before leavingDenmark that spring for thegreater securityofSweden,Brecht alsowrote thepoem ‘Bad Time for Poetry’, which contrasts the beauty of the Svendborgsettingwiththesilenthorrors,andincludesthelines

InmypoetryarhymeWouldseemtobealmostinsolent.

That same year Brecht nonetheless started to write rhymed quatrains,initially as mottoes for Svendborg Poems and the ‘Steffin Collection’ thatfollowed(namedafterhismaincollaboratorofthattime).Inthemiddleof1940Brechtnotedinhisjournalthat‘atpresentall[hecould]write[were]theselittleepigrams,firsteight-linersandnowonlyfour-liners’.Bythen,heandhisfamilyhadleftSwedenforFinland,withtheintentionofmovingontotheUnitedStatesassoonastheirdocumentationwascomplete.Meanwhile,thewarhadbeguntospreadwith theGerman invasionofNorwayandDenmark.Nosoonerhad theBrechtsfoundanapartmentinHelsinkithanHitler’sblitzkriegintheWestwaslaunched. First came the conquest of France, then the steady pounding by theLuftwaffeofEnglishcitiesasapreludetothenextinvasion.

So Brecht now had an ongoing theme for his quatrains, which he couldpursueduring themonths of isolation in the lovelyFinnish countryside,whilejust around the same time a possible focus for the accompanying imageswassuggestedbyAugustOehler’sGermantranslationofGreekepigramsthathissonhadbroughttohim.‘InancientGreekepigrams’,hewroteinhisJournalsontheeve of the London Blitz, ‘man-made utensils are straightforward subjects forlyric poetry’ – illustrating this with cuttings of photographs of an aeroplane

cockpitandthreetypesofmakeshiftgrenadeusedbytheBritishHomeGuard.Compare the German bomber crew in no. 16, or the anti-aircraft gun underwhose shadow Hitler speaks in no. 28. Such pictures added a certainconcreteness to what Brecht termed ‘the linguistic cleanup’ (or laundering oflanguage) thathisverseswereaimedfor, thoughit isnot impossible that therewasanEnglishinfluenceatworkheretoo.Kipling,whoseexampleisknowntohavetouchedBrechtatvariouspoints,wrotesomeFirstWorldWarepitaphsthatprefigure War Primer – for instance the rhymed quatrains ‘R.A.F. (Agedeighteen)’and‘RapedandRevenged’:

Oneusedandbutcheredme:anotherspiedMebroken–forwhichthinganhundreddied.SoitwaslearnedamongtheheathenhostsHowmuchafreebornwoman’sfavourcosts.

These have the structure, thoughnot quite the substance, ofmuch that can befoundinthisbook.

At the same time, Brecht’s step-by-step progression had something incommonwiththesequenceofscenesinFearandMiseryoftheThirdReich,thedisjointedepisodesthathehadstrungtogetheronachainoftwenty-sevenversessoastoadduptoaformalparade(ormarch-past)ofNaziGermanyontheeveofwar.Both that play andWarPrimer could be comparedwith a still greaterprecursor:Goya’sDisastersoftheWar.

Thefirstbatchofphoto-epigramsstartswithHitlerinvisionarymoodbeforethemicrophones,followedbyoneortworeferencestowhatmanyregardasthefatalprelude, the Spanish Civil War. The Polish campaign is almost ignored, theRusso-Finnishwar ofwinter 1939–40 entirely so.The conquest ofNorway inspring1940isfollowedbyHitler’sdrivethroughtheLowCountriesintoFrance,culminating in that country’s capitulation in late June. Up to this point theRussians are un-mentioned, having been dubiously alliedwithGermany sincethefirstdaysofthewar;indeed,Brechthasnothingtosayaboutthemtillmuchlater,exceptprivatelyinthepagesofhisJournals(whichareoftendevastatingonthissubject).Themaincentreofinterestforhiminthosetwenty-oddpoems,rather,istheBlitzasseennotonlyfromthesky,butalsofromthesheltersandfrom thepointofviewof thoseusing them.HowfarBrechtcould sympathisewith those in the shelters is not always clear, but we get glimpses in theJournals,withtheirfeelingforEnglishliterature.UntilJune1941,BritainunderChurchill represented theworld’sonly substantial resistance toHitler, and this

wasnotconcealedintheSwedishillustratedmagazinesonwhichBrechtatfirstalmostentirelydepended–supplementedofcoursebythelittleradiosetaboutwhichhewroteamoving(eight-line,rhymed)poeminthecourseof1940thatisinhis‘SteffinCollection’.

Inspring1941,astheBritisharmybecameengagedwiththeAfrikaKorpsinLibya, the Brechts’ American visas came through and they left Finland forMoscow, the Trans-Siberian Railway, and Vladivostok, where they boarded aSwedish ship forCalifornia.Margarete Steffinwas too ill to continue beyondMoscow, and died there of tuberculosis under the care of theWriters’ Union.Then, only nine days after they sailed, Hitler launched his massive attack onSovietRussia, surroundingLeningradbySeptemberbeforebeingbrought to ahaltnearMoscow.Thissuddeninvasionentirelychangednotonlythecourseofthe war, but also the Communist interpretation of it as a conflict betweenimperialistpowers(whichBrechthadonthewholeaccepted).Atthesametime,the move to the United States and the loss of his key collaborator had aparalysing effect on his will to work, so that he made only a few sporadicadditionstoWarPrimeroverthenexttwoyears.Thenintheautumnof1941hewrote‘TheChildren’sCrusade’,alongpoeminmemoryofSteffin.Attheendof the year came another long poem, ‘To the German Soldiers in the East’,written, he noted, ‘after much talk about sending material to Moscow’,presumablyforitsGerman-languagebroadcasts.Hewasnowabletotakemostof his picture cuttings from Life magazine, which seems to have been onlyfitfully available to him in Finland, and starting in August of that year, heillustratedhis journalalmostentirelywithphotographsconcerning theRussianfront.

ItwasnotuntilmidwaythroughhissecondyearintheUnitedStatesthatheoncemorebeganseriouslycollectingWarPrimerphotographs.Thiswasduringhis first visit toNewYork. Startingwithin a few days of arriving in the city,Brecht first concentrated on images of America’s Pacific War, hithertounrepresentedinthesequencealthoughithadbeengoingonforsomeeighteenmonths.TheonlysuchimageintheJournalsmeanwhilewasthepictureofthe‘silent scream’ from Singapore, which appeared as no. 48 inWar Primer. Ofcourse it is seldompossible to saywhenBrecht first conceived any particularepigram, but this batch of pictures dating from February 1943 is linked toquatrainsnowattributed to1944(whichmayonly represent thedatewhen thepage in questionwas ready). There are fifty such epigrams in addition to thetwenty-five or so written before leaving Finland. Some are linked to earlierphotographs, and several couldhavebeendraftedbefore theendof1943.Theonly clear indication given by Brecht himself is a Journal entry made in

CaliforniasoonafterhesentoffthefirstversionofTheCaucasianChalkCircle.Thisreads:

20jun44workingonanewseriesofphoto-epigrams.asilookovertheoldones,which inpartstemfromthebeginningof thewar, i realise that there isalmostnothingineedtotakeout(politicallynothingatall),proofofthevalidityofmyviewpoint,giventheconstantlychangingfaceofthewar.therearenowabout60quatrains,andalongwithFEARANDMISERYOF THE THIRD RIECH, the volumes of poetry, and perhaps FIVEDIFFICULTIES IN WRITING THE TRUTH, the work offers asatisfactoryliteraryreportonmyyearsinexile.

‘Satisfactory’, that is, fromthepoliticalpointofview, though thatwasnotall.ThoseyearshadalsoseenthewritingandfirstproductionofMotherCourage,theGood Person of Szechwan and the first version ofGalileo, although it iscuriousthatBrechtdoesnotmentionthese.

Clearly somethinghadhappened to turnBrecht’sattentionback to theproject,and it seems likely that this took place in NewYork (where he would pay asecond visit in winter 1943–44). There he renewed contact withmany of hisBerlin friends and colleagues, notably thosewhom he knew from the theatre:ErwinPiscator,KurtWeill,LotteLenya,hisoldimpresarioErnstJosefAufricht,as well as Elisabeth Bergner and Peter Lorre, who he socialized with inHollywood.With Piscator’s support, a ‘Brecht evening’ was held at the NewSchoolStudioTheatreon6March1943by‘DieTribüne’,ananti-fascistwriters’group organised by Friedrich Alexan. There were readings and songs withBergnerandLorre,whileAlexan’sfriendthecomposerPaulDessauplayedthepiano. He impressed Brecht at rehearsal, and when his singer dropped out,BrechtmadehimsingasongfromSaintJoanoftheStockyards.This,itseems,persuadedthewritertoinviteDessautoCalifornia,wherehewoulddulybecomepart of the extended Brecht family. Some weeks later there was a repeatprogramme at the Heckscher Theatre on East 104th Street, where the actorHerbert Berghof read from something called Brecht’s ContemporaryPicturebookaccompaniedbyprojections.ThiswasalmostcertainlyaselectionfromWarPrimer.

DessautoldBrechtthathewashopingtowriteabigchoralwork,aGermanrequiem, but more of a lament than Brahms’s work with that title: ‘a vast

Miserere,aGermanworkportrayingtheimmensetragedyofourfatherland’,hewould tell Hans Bunge in 1958. Brecht put the epigrams at the composer’sdisposal, along with other, earlier poems, and the two men intermittentlydiscussedprogressuntil1947,when theworkwasfinished.Afurther factor intherealisationoftheepigramswasBrecht’smeetingwithElisabethFreundlich,artseditorof themonthlyAustroAmericanTribune,whohewas introduced toBertholdViertel.Shepublishedthefirstthreeofthephoto-epigramstoappearinprint,startingwithno.70inherFebruary1944issue.Onewayoranotherit isevidentthatBrechthadfoundenoughencouragementtomakeasubstantialbookofthem,andbythelatesummerhehadcollectedseventyormore.Thenitwasamatter of getting them duplicated and provisionally bound. Ruth Berlau, withwhomhehadbeenlivingwheninNewYork,hadtakenaphotographycourseinthatcitybeforecomingtoLosAngelesinthesummer.Thereshestartedmakingphotographic copies of the ‘Poems in Exile’, the ‘Studies’ (i.e. the literarysonnets), War Primer, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Schweyk in the SecondWorldWar and a number of otherworks thatwould be deposited in theNewYorkPublicLibrary on 21March 1947.War Primer (inGerman,Kriegsfibel)wasreadyforpossiblepublishers.

As things turned out, it would not be published anywhere until 1955, tenyearsaftertheGermansurrenderandonlyayearbeforeBrecht’sowndeath.Thereasons for this, and the shabby story of the work’s various submissions andrejectionsafterBrecht’sreturntoEurope,willbedealtwithbelow.Itreflectsadifferent kind of war, for which no primer has been written. There would bemomentswhenthepoetspokeofcompilinga‘Friedensfibel’or‘PeacePrimer’,andquatrainslikeno.84(whichdatesfrom1950)weresupposedlytobepartofthat.Thefineepigramtothepictureonthebackofthedustjacket,no.85,withits worker-students at their desks, would be set to unconvincingly optimisticmusicbyEislerasa finale tohisBilderausderKriegsfibel (Pictures fromtheWarPrimer),anotherwisemasterlycomposition(seep.93below).TheideaofaColdWarPrimerwasnevermentioned.

FromCapitulationtoPublication

Thoughthewarhadendedin1945, theBrechtsspentanother twoyears in theUnited States before returning to Europe. Hardly anything was added to theseventy-onephoto-epigramsthatmadeupthewould-bebook.Dessaucompletedhis German Miserere in 1947, but it was eight years before it would beperformed. The first approach to aGerman book publisherwas onlymade in

autumn1948,whenBrechtwasbasedinZurich,stillwonderinghowtoarrangehisnewlife.Then,RuthBerlauofferedittothepublisherKurtDesch,ofMunichin theUS occupation zone,whowas also negotiating for thePoems in Exile,which he thought of copublishing with Wieland Herzfelde and the Soviet-licensed Berlin firmAufbau-Verlag. But Desch turnedWar Primer down andreturnedthescriptinNovember1948.

Earlythenextyear,followingtheepoch-makingBerlinproductionofMotherCourage, Brecht and Helene Weigel settled in East Berlin, where theyestablished their Berliner Ensemble. There,War Primer was sent to an EastGermanpublisher,VolkundWelt,underthedirectionofMichaelTschesno-Hell,formerlytheeditorofajournalforexileslikehimselfwhohadbeeninternedinSwiss labour camps. Suggestions at this stage included the discarding of thepicturesofEbert(no.29),thefirstPresidentoftheWeimarRepublic(tactlesstotheSocialistcomrades),Goering(no.30)(tooflattering),ErnestBevin(no.77)andpossiblyRommel(no.42)(whohadeventuallyturnedagainstHitler).Butitstillhadtobesubmittedtotheofficiallicensingauthorityofthenewlyfoundedstate, the German Democratic Republic. In March 1950, its publishingwatchdog, the ‘KulturellerBeirat für dasVerlagswesen’, found that itwas too‘broadlypacifistinitsoppositiontothewar’,andfellshortofBrecht’ssupposedintention‘tomakeacontributionagainsttheimperialistwarmongers’.

InthenowdominantcontextoftheColdWar,where‘warmongers’meanttheAmericansand theirallies,KurtPincusof theBeirat thought itwise toget theopinionoftheex–SocialDemocratPremierOttoGrotewohl.On13March,twodaysafterreceivingPincus’sletter,thismantookagreenpencilandwroteinalargefirmhand:

Senditback.Ientirelyagreewithyourview:totallyinadequate.Gr.

19.3.50

HisrejectionwascommunicatedtoBrechtaweeklaterbyStefanHeymannofthe Socialist Unity Party (SED). Having been its director of Culture andEducation since the beginning of 1949, Heymann now told Brecht that thebook’sfinalwarning(no.81)aboutarebirthofNazismwouldbeweakenedbyitsfocusonHitler.Thisappliedtotheopeningaswellastotheclosingimage;BrechtshouldinsteadbeshowingHitlerasanagentofthearmsmanufacturers.Heymannalsodisliked theconclusionof theSpanishWarquatrain(no.4) that‘God is a Fascist’; the idea of nothingness (‘eternal night’) in no. 23; the

characterisationofNoske(no.82)(whowassubstitutedforEbert,no.29)as‘theworkingpeople’sson’;thesuggestionthattheChinese‘watched…fromdownthere’ (no. 51) when in reality they were directly involved; and finally theinsultingidea,inno.65,thata‘RedArmyfighter’couldbeportrayedalongsidea ‘fascist soldier’ so as to ‘sweepunder themat the significanceof theSovietUnion’sGreatPatrioticWar’.Allthesepoints,hefelt,couldstillbecorrectedinsuchawayastogreatlyincreasethevalueofthebook.

ThereisatypedresponsebyBrecht,unsigned,whichmayormaynothavebeensent.InithecontestedallthesepointsexcepttheoneconcerningtheneedtoshowtheforcesbehindHitler.Hedidthinkhehadsomediscardedquatrainsthatmightdo this, andwould try to find them.Aboveall,however,hearguedthatthebookhadbeenfinishedin1945,attheendofthewar,andtherefore‘hadto be taken historically’; it would be a falsification if hewere tomakemanychanges.Allthesame,herealisedthatitmightbeagoodideatoaddnotesattheend of the book to ‘avoid misunderstandings and clarify the documents’.Thereafterthescriptappearstohavelaininthedrawerforthenextfouryearsorso,duringwhichBrechtwasconcernedinanumberofconflictswiththeculturalauthorities,notablythecontroversyoverhisLucullusoperain1951,thedebatesabout Stanislavsky’s somewhat retrograde ideas of Realism, and the disputesover Faust – both the Berliner Ensemble’s Potsdam production and HannsEisler’s radical opera libretto,which had to be abandoned as a travesty of the‘culturalheritage’.TherewerejustsomesmallalterationstoWarPrimer,andacommentarywasappendedattheend,writtenapparentlybyRuthBerlau,whosequality can be gathered from its suggestion that Rommel’s reinforcement ofMussolini’s North African army in 1941 was designed to extend the Italiancolonialempire.

AmongBrecht’sclosestdisciplesintheGDRwasthepoetGünterKunert,whowas barely twenty years old when the Brechts came to settle there. He hasdescribed how he went to see Brecht – it must have been well after thedemonstrations following Stalin’s death in 1953 – in his Chausseestrasse flat,whenBrechtsuddenlyturnedtoacupboardwithshallowdrawersformapsandprints,and tookoutaclosed foldercontaining largeblacksheetsofcard,eachwithanewspicturecutfromthepress,andaquatrainbeneathit.‘Whatdoyouthink,Kunert:canthissortofthingbepublished?’

That was his question, and having looked through the pages I repliedwithafairlyenthusiastic‘yes’.Asto‘how?’wediscussedforsometime,

andIundertooktorecommendittothepublishersoftheEulenspiegel.IwouldberesponsibleforthetranslationoftheEnglish-languagecaptionsanddraftsomesortof‘historicalpointers’.

Thismusthavebeenin1954,afterBrecht’scultural-politicaldifficulties in theGDRhadbeguntodisperse,followinghissincereenough(butshrewdlytimed)declarationofloyaltyon17June1953.ThusnotonlywastheBerlinerEnsembleat last allotted its own theatre but the whole cultural administration wasoverhauled, with the well-established Communist poet Johannes R. BecherbecomingtheministerandBrechtoneofhisadvisers,aswellasbeingelevatedto vice president of theAcademy of theArts.Kunert,whowas thenwith theEulenspiegel, anofficiallyhumorousmagazine,persuadedhis colleagues theretomake a contractwithBrecht on 1 September 1954, the day the folderwashanded in. Their first report was favourable: there were one or two minorchanges to make, but in their view the book’s approach was not merelydocumentary–

BertBrecht isalreadyindicatingthedangers thathavecomeaboutasaresultof the imperialistvictorsof theWestspeculatingonanewwar–oneforwhichtheyalreadysecuredstarting-pointsinthecourseofWorldWarII.

By 16 October it had been put on the firm’s publishing programme for theremainderof thatyear.ThenKunert, asoneof theeditorial readers, suggestedgetting recommendations from Becher and the critic Johanna Rudolph, andadvisedsomechanges.Anunsignedlettermentionedanewphoto-epigramwiththe slogan ‘Heil IG Farben’ to follow no. 6, as well as an amended D-dayquatrain(no.63),andadeletionofthecrudewordfor‘parts’intheJaneWymanquatrain (no. 47). Brecht apparently had accepted these, though he rejectedanotherproposedcut,sayingbluntlythat‘theauthor’sopiniondoesnothavetobethegovernment’s’.

Thentheformer‘CulturalAdvisers’steppedin, in theirnewguiseas‘AmtfürLiteratur’,theOfficeforLiterature.Thesepeoplehadlearnedofthebook’srejection some five years earlier, and the premier’s horror when he read it;moreover, it had been described as ‘a collection of cuttings from Englishnewspapers’, amounting to ‘the purest pacifism’. So they demanded that it beresubmittedtothem.ThishappenedinDecember,justasitwasannouncedthatBrechtwastobegiventheStalinPeacePrizebytheRussians–animpeccableaccolade.Intheircongratulatorytelegram,theEulenspiegeleditorstoldhimthat

theyhadnowgot the long-awaitedpermission toprinthisbook.Towhich thepoetreplied,thankingthemandsayingthathehadjustinformedtheOfficeforLiteraturethat,asamemberoftheAcademyofArts,hehadtherighttogivethatpermission himself. A month passed, and he asked the Office for a writtenexplanationof theircontinuedretentionof thematerial. It isnotknownif theyreplied,buttheprintingarrangementsweremysteriouslydelayed,andaslateasthe end ofAugust 1955 therewas a confidentialmeeting ofOfficemembers,whereitwasdecidedthat‘thistitlecouldnotmakeanypositivecontributiontoour literature, and should really not be allowed to appear’. The only practicalsuggestionwas that thedistributionof thegreater part of the editionmight beheldup.AlastappealtoBrecht’sfinerfeelingswasmadeinSeptember,butinthe end, four days before Christmas and just a year since he had asserted hisrights,theoppositioncavedin.Thefirsteditionoftenthousandwasalreadyoutandslowlyselling.

This whole story says a good deal about the seesaw problems of a greatEuropeanpoetinthe1940sand’50s,anditisamazingthatitshouldendsowell.Howeverstrangeitmayseemtotheshelteredoutsider,itisevidencenotonlyofBrecht’swillingness to stick out his neck in politically sensitive situations butalsoofhis obstinacy in refusing tobow to anymanagement that he couldnotrespect.In1956,theyearofhisdeath,hiscollaboratorHannsEislersetthirteenof theepigrams(alongwithonefromtheputative‘PeacePrimer’)forsoloists,men’s chorus and an orchestra of brass, woodwind, two double basses andpercussion under the title Bilder aus der Kriegsfibel (Pictures from the WarPrimer). It is a masterly work, a uniquely epigrammatic use of music, and aconvincing introduction toBrecht’s photo-epigrams (as he termed them).*Buthowhad thework sufferedunder the interventions and amendments of a longchainofadvisers,arbitersandeditors?Todayonecangetatleastsomeideaofthechangesmadefrom1940on,alongwithanyensuingeffectsonthethrustofthewholebook(seetheNotes,pp.100–103).Brechthimselfwasalwaysabletomake somedebatable judgements, and also to changehis ownmind.This lastwasanabilityhewaspositivelyproudofasapractitionerof‘dialectics’.

WecannowseehowrightBrechtwastoinsistthatthebookcametoahaltwith the end of the Second World War and must accordingly be seen as areactiontoitstime.Sincethen,theColdWar,whichdominatedthemindsofhisEastGerman critics, has ended too, allowing the attitudes ofCommunists andtheiropponentstobedispassionatelyjudged.Wecanseewhattheyweregettingat–howevershort-sightedly–whentheyarguedthatcertainquatrainswereno

longervalidinthemid-fifties.It is truethatmostof thosewhowouldreadthebook in the GDR had been supporting the Nazis and their generals a decadeearlier, and the suggestion by Brecht’s would-be mentors that some citizensmightwant tocutout theportraitsof theirold leadersanduse themaspinupswasnotsosillyasitnowsounds.TheirpersuasionofhimtoreplaceFriedrichEbert,thefirstSocialDemocratpresidentoftheWeimarRepublic,withGustavNoskeisperhapsevenmoreunderstandable,giventhatthenewSEDwishedtoappeal to former Social Democrats who had opposed the Nazis. OutstandingamongthesewerePremierGrotewohl,whohadsosharplyrejectedthebookin1950,andthemayorofEastBerlin,whowasPresidentEbert’sson.

Elements of the postwar antagonism between Russia and the West hadalreadybeeninthewartimeair:see,forinstance,thenoteonBrecht’schangingof his D-day quatrain (no. 63) in 1954 so as to strengthen this by its newreferenceto‘themenofStalingrad’.TheinclusionofHitler’sclosestassociates(nos 30–33) came after the original twenty-odd pages; an IG Farben epigram(addedintacitresponsetoStefanHeymann’scriticismsabove)wasinlinewiththepostwarWarCrime trials, thougheventually itwasomittedfromthebook,ostensiblyforlackinganadequateillustration.ClearlyBrechtwasmovedbythebombing ofEngland in 1940, yet he later set aside theChurchill page of thatyear (no.15),whenBritain stoodaloneagainst theGerman forces, inorder touse it in a more ‘imperialist’ context following the portrayal of Africa as abeautifulvictim(no.44).ThefirstactualmentionofaBritishwareffortisintheoriginalGermaneditorialnotesonNorthAfrica(nos42and43);theseattributedthe Sicilian and Italian landings to American forces alone (no. 59), and theoriginalcaptiontothepictureoftheNormandylandings(no.63)mentionsonlyUSforces.Yetdespitethisdoctoringofhistory,andforwhateverreasonitwasdone,thecompressedpowerofthepoemsisbarelyaffected.

ThefinalorderoftheEulenspiegeleditionisabitconfusing,withBrecht’safterthoughts and the later editors supplementing his original selection withpreviously unpublished photo-epigrams, irrespective of chronology, after thefinal image.Wehave thereforemade a fewminor changes in theorder of thequatrains, absorbing some of the supplementary itemswhere they seem to fit.ThuswehaveputEbertbackwhereheoriginallybelonged(no.29),relegatingthepatheticNosketotheend.Noske,knownforhisremarkthat‘somebodyhasto be the bloodhound’, was the Social Democrat minister of the interior whousedtheReichswehrandits irregularaides inBerlin tosuppress theSpartacistRevoltof1919.EbertwasthefirstpresidentoftheRepublic,fromthatyeartillhisdeathin1925.He,notNoske,wasthemanwhoBrechtinitiallyincludedaspavingthewayforthenationalistreactionandtheriseoftheNazis.

InpreparingthefirstEnglish-languageeditionofBrecht’sWarPrimerwehavedepended all along on the detailed criticisms and suggestions of NaomiReplansky,who recallsarriving inSantaMonica,California,whenBrechtwasworkingtherewithCharlesLaughtonontheEnglishtranslationofGalileo.Thatwasin1946and,byherownaccountinTheBrechtYearbook,No.20(Madison,WI, 1995), she already felt ‘an affinity of influence’ thanks to her interest inShakespeare,Villon,translationsfromtheChineseandJapanese(notablyArthurWaley’s) and the Loeb bilingual edition of theGreek Anthology, along withEnglish-language‘songsandballads;spiritualsandblues’.Brecht,shefound,

readEnglishsubtlyandwell…Wewouldgo throughtheoriginalwordby word, making sure I got the exact meaning. We digressed; Brechtwalked up and down the narrow workroom, gesturing with his cigar,opentocriticismanddisputation.

I would then take the original home and try (often obsessively) tocarryoveritspoeticstrengthintoEnglishandtokeepatleasttwooftherhymes.

ManyofBrecht’sepigrams‘hadaconcentratedpower’,andshetranslatedthosethat appealed to her.At the same time, shewasmoved to use the same formherself,asinher‘Epitaph:1945’:

MyspoonwasliftedwhenthebombcamedownThatleftnoface,nohand,nospoontohold.Onehundredthousanddiedinmyhometown.Thiscametopassbeforemysoupwascold.

Weareluckytohavehadherpatientandself-effacingcollaboration.For material in this afterword and the notes (pp. 100–103), we are much

indebtedtotheGermanpoetGünterKunert,whowaslargelyresponsiblefortheoriginal Eulenspiegel publication a decade after the fall of the Third Reich.Some of his ‘late thoughts’ about his friendBrecht can be found in the sameBrecht Yearbook, andwe owe to him a firsthand insight into the problems ofproducing a book that was so hard to reconcile with the Stalinist doctrine ofSocialistRealism.Documentaryevidenceofthedifficultiesputinitswaybythepoliticians has also been generously supplied by the Bertolt-Brecht Archiv inBerlin under its director ErdmutWizisla, who has helped and encouraged usthroughout.ThanksarealsoduetoGunnBrinsonwholocatedtheoriginaluseofmanyof the photographs inScandinavian andUSnewspapers andmagazines.Wemustnowhopethattheseandothersupportersofthisrelativelylittle-known

Brecht work will be happy at the result of its introduction to the English-speakingworld.Onehundredyears since thepoet’sbirth;half a century sincetheendofourwar.

*Eisler’s cantatawascomposed in1957, afterBrecht’sdeath,using fifteenof the epigramsandprojectionsofthecorrespondingphotographs.Itconsistsofanintroduction(no.71),i(no.4),ii(no.18),iii(no.21),iv(no.25),v(no.34),vi(no.37),vii(no.54),viii(no.56),ix(no.39), x (no. 41), xi (no. 73), xii (no. 75), xiii (no. 79), and xiv (no. 85). The music too isepigrammatic,andthewholeworktakesjustovertenminutes.

BRECHT’SWAR:ACHRONOLOGY

Prelude

TheBrechtshadbeenlivingasexilesinDenmarksincetheendof1933,theyearthat Hitler came to power in Germany. In 1935, the Nuremberg Race Lawsmarkedthebeginningofofficialanti-SemitisminHitler’snewlyinstitutedThirdReich. (Brecht was not Jewish, but his wife Helene Weigel was.) TheCommunist International decided to join forces with the Socialists and anyothers prepared to resist German and Italian Fascism; the result was PopularFront governments in France and Spain. The Spanish Civil War started insummer1936asarevoltagainstthesecondofthesebytheSpanisharmyunderGeneralFranco.AslinksbetweenGermany,ItalyandtheSpanishrebelsbecamecloser, with Japan as an anti-Communist ally, Stalin in Russia launched amassivepurgeofhisCommunistParty,duringwhichanumberofGermanexileswerebanishedtocampsorkilled.

By early 1937 Brecht had written most of his earlier (unrhymed,unillustrated) ‘GermanWar Primer’ poems, which were included in his bookSvendborg Poems the following year, along with the ‘German Satires’, theliterarysonnetsandsuch longer itemsas ‘Spring1938’, theLao-tsepoemand‘ToThoseBornLater’.

In 1938 Hitler annexed Austria and the German-speaking areas ofCzechoslovakia. The rest of that country fell to him in spring 1939. Europe,includingBritain,beganlast-minutepreparationsforwar.

TheBrechts had two children in exilewith them, a son in his teens and a

daughternotquiteten.ThehouseholdincludedhisBerlinsecretaryandassistant,MargareteSteffin,andonleavingScandinaviawasjoinedbyhisDanishmistressRuthBerlau.

TheWarYears

1939 Photographnos4,31

23April TheBrechtsleaveDenmarkforSweden.

28May The fall of Madrid marks the defeat of the SpanishRepublic,endingtheCivilWar.

23August Nazi-SovietPactsignedinMoscow.

1–3September Germany invadesPoland.Britain andFrancedeclarewar.StartoftheSecondWorldWar.17September RussiansinvadePolandtoo.PartitionofPolandfollows.

by27September BrechthasstartedwritingMotherCourage.

5to11November Following that, Brecht writes The Trial of Lucullus forradio.30November RussiansinvadeFinland.

1940,firsthalf Photographnos1,5,6,15

12March Finnish-Russianpeacesettlement.9April GermanyinvadesNorwayandDenmark.

mid-April BrechtsmovetoFinland.

May Brecht invited to teach at the New School for SocialResearch,NewYork.

10May GermanslaunchblitzkriegthroughtheLowCountriesintoFrance.ChurchillsucceedsChamberlainasPrimeMinister.29May BritisharmystartsevacuationviaDunkirk.

mid-June Mussolini declares war. Germans take Paris. Frenchsurrender, formnewrumpstateruledbyPétainandLavalfromVichy.

byendofJune BrechtcompletesTheGoodPersonofSzechwan.

1940,second Photographnos2,3,7,8,10,16–19,21–23,25,28,34,36,

half 44,56

TheBrechtsstaytillearlyOctoberwithHellaWuolijokiathercountryhouse.9July RAFnightbombingofGermany.

LuftwaffebombardmentofBritain,climaxofdayraids inmid-August,followedbynighttimeBlitzonLondon.

27August Brecht hears that his old friend the author LionFeuchtwanger has escaped from French internment viaPortugaltotheUS.

September WritingPuntilawithWuolijoki.

December British Eighth Army advances into Libya, reachingBenghaziby6February.

1941 Photographnos13,24,32,51,66

February GermanforcesunderErwinRommelarriveinLibya.10March–12

April BrechtwritingTheResistibleRiseofArturoUi.

9April MotherCouragepremiereinneutralZurich.7April Rommel’sAfrikaKorpspushesBritishbacktoTobruk.

15May TheBrechtsleaveHelsinkiforMoscow,wheretheytaketheTrans-Siberian railway on 30 May, leaving MargareteSteffininhospital.

4June DeathofSteffinfromTB.

13June The Brechts sail from Vladivostok on a Swedish ship,arrivinginLosAngeleson21July.22June GermansinvadeUSSR.FinlandandHungaryjointhem.27July JapaneselandinIndochina.

bymid-October Germans are sixty miles from Moscow and besiegingLeningrad.

November NowsettledinSantaMonica,Brechtwrites‘TheChildren’sCrusade’.Ata‘Jewishclub’FritzKortnergivesreadingoftheearlier‘GermanWarPrimer’epigrams.

7December JapanattacksPearlHarbor,bringingtheUSAintothewar.

November–December

RussiansbeatoffattacksonMoscow.

25December SurrenderofHongKongtotheJapanese.

1942 Photographnos47,69.Brechtincludes40,46,48and70inhisJournals.

January Brechtwrites‘TotheGermanSoldiersintheEast’.12February SingaporesurrenderstoJapanese.

9April sodoesBataan(inthePhilippines).20April HannsEislerarrivesfromNewYork.

May RuthBerlaumoves toNewYork towork for theOfficeofWarInformation.endofMay–mid-

December Brecht working on Fritz Lang’s film Hangmen Also DieabouttheassassinationofReinhardHeydrichinPrague.

1June HeavybombingofCologneinitiatesRAFraidsonGermantowns.

endofOctober Americans land in Algeria. Eighth Army’s defeat ofRommelatElAlameinleadstohiswithdrawalfromLibyabyFebruary.

November Brecht and Feuchtwanger start work on The Visions ofSimoneMachard.

19November German defeat at Stalingrad leads to General Paulus’ssurrenderinJanuary.

1943 Photographnos37,49,50,52–55,57–59,71,72,80

4February GoodPersonofSzechwanpremiereinZurich.12February BrechtjoinsBerlauinNewYorkforthreemonths.

6March ‘Brecht evening’ at Piscator’s New School theatre startsBrecht’scollaborationwithanewcomposer,PaulDessau.

29March EighthArmybypassesMarethLine (inSouthernTunisia)andadvancesintoTunisia.

20April Warsawghettomassacre.

24April BrechteveningatHeckscherTheatreonEast104thStreet,NewYork,with readingof epigramsandprojections from

hisContemporaryPictureBook.12May GermanarmyinTunisiasurrenders.

26May Brecht back in Santa Monica; writes Schweik in theSecondWorldWar.26June Hamburglargelydestroyedbybombing.29June USlandsinNewGuinea.

10July British and Americans land in Sicily. A fortnight laterMussolinifalls.

3September Allies invade Italy,whose government surrenders.Naplesistakenonthe30th.9September Galileo(firstversion)premiereinZurich.19November BrechtrejoinsBerlauinNewYorkforfourmonths.

5December Hewrites toAuden proposing collaboration onWebster’sTheDuchessofMalfionwhoseadaptationandtranslationhehasbeenworkingwithH.R.Hays.

1944 Photographnos50–64,74,78

Epigrams ascribed to this year comprise those whichBrechtwrotetoaccompanymostofthephotossofarlisted,plus9,11,12,14,26,30,38,39,42,43,60,62,65,67,68,73,75,80,and81forwhichdatesof thephotographsaremoreuncertain.

20January 2,000-tonbombraidonBerlin.

February–June Firstpublicationofthreeepigrams(nos70,71and78)intheAustroAmericanTribune(NewYork).

mid-March Brecht returns to Santa Monica and starts work on TheCaucasianChalkCircle.Firstversionfinishedby5June.4June FallofRome.6June D-day.AlliedlandingsinLowerNormandy.

20June Brechthasstartedadding to theepigrams.Therearenowsixtyofthem.

endofJuly Dessau in SantaMonica setting some of the epigrams aspartofhisGermanMiserere.Count Stauffenberg tries to blow upHitler. TheRussiansenterPolandandtakeBrest-Litovsk(28th).WarsawRising

20July (1August)isnotsupportedbytheRussians.

25August AlliesrecaptureParis.1September BrechtcompletesrevisionofCaucasianChalkCircle.

earlySeptember Birth and death of Brecht’s son with Ruth Berlau, whoremainsinLosAngelestillthefollowingspring.24November AlliestakeStrasbourg.

December

Berlau has been studying photography and now makesarchive photos of Brecht’s poems, including the WarPrimer. Brecht starts work with Charles Laughton ontranslationandadaptationofGalileo.

1945 Photographnos33,43,56,58

3January With the defeat of the German counteroffensive in theArdennes(BattleoftheBulge)thewarintheWestisnearlyover.

20January DessauplaysBrechtsomeofhisepigramsettingsoverthephone.12April DeathofRoosevelt.30April Hitler’ssuicideinBerlin.8May SurrenderoftheGermanarmedforces.

22May BrechttoNewYork,joinsBerlau.UnsuccessfulproductionthereofPrivateLifeoftheMasterRace(adaptedfromhisFearandMiseryoftheThirdReich).

18July ReturntoSantaMonicaandworkwithLaughton.6August ThefirstatombombdestroysHiroshima.14August Japansurrenders.EndoftheSecondWorldWar.

Aftermath

At the end of 1945RuthBerlau had a bad breakdown inNewYork, andwastakentoAmityvillehospitalforelectricshocktreatment.Bythattimetheworkwith Laughton on Galileo was finished, and he and Brecht were pursuingvarious possibilities of production. Influenza preventedBrecht fromgetting toNewYorkbeforeFebruary,buttheninMarchBerlauwasreleasedintohiscare,

andhebroughtherbacktoSantaMonicainMay.Forthenextyearandahalf,inaddition toplanninghis return toGermany,hewasconcernedmainlywith theAmericanproductionsofTheDuchessofMalfi (September–October1946)andGalileo (May–July 1947), not to mention the beginnings of the Trumanadministration’s anti-Communist witch hunt via the FBI and the House Un-AmericanActivitiesCommittee.BeforeheleftforEuropeattheendofOctober1947,Brecht depositedmicrofilm copies of a number of hisworks, publishedandunpublished,intheNewYorkPublicLibrary.

WarPrimerwasnowineffectfinishedandwouldbereadyforsubmissiontopublishersassoonasBrecht,withBerlauasagentforit,hadfoundhisfootingback in aGerman-speaking country. Thiswas at first Switzerland, then, from1949on,intheSoviet-controlledportionofGermanyitself.Thewarwasover.Likethesoldiersinno.71,ithadgonecold.

NOTES

In the notes below, dates of poems (as for no. 1 below) are Brecht’s own asmarkedonhisscripts.DatesofattributionarefromtheeditorialnotesinVolume12 of Bertolt Brecht, Werke, edited by Werner Hecht, Jan Knopf, WernerMittenzweiandKlaus-DetlefMüller(BerlinandFrankfurt,1988).Theepigramsfallintoroughlyfourgroups:thefirsttwodozenorsoassembledbeforeleavingEurope in spring1941; a handful addedover thenext twoyears; then anotherthirty inAmerica from1943–44; finally the half dozen or so additions beforeBrechtlefttheUnitedStates.Manyareascribedto1944,whenBrechtfirstputmostofthismaterialtogether,butsometimesthephotosdatefromearlier,sothatthebasicideaofthepoemsmayalreadyhavebeenthere,perhapseveninadraftversion.

Anumber of the epigrams from the ‘Anhang’ (orAddendum) of the 1994German edition have been shifted to what seem to be their logical orchronologicalplaces;twoothersseemrepetitiousorotherwiseunassimilable.

1. AdolfHitler.Poemdated14.3.40.ThewordsrecallHitler’sspeechon15March 1936: ‘I take the path that fate dictates with the assurance of asleepwalker.’

2. PhotofromLife, 30December1940.Captionappears to relate to theUSsteelindustry.Poemattributedto1944.

3. Poem dated 9.10.40. Brecht was making notes on the English-languageGermanmagazineSignals.Heattributed thepicture to1936, firstyearof

theSpanishCivilWar.4. Photo from Life, 20 February 1939. Caption gives the subject as the

Spanish Nationalist General Yagüe attending an open-air mass to markFranco’scaptureofBarcelonaattheendoftheCivilWar.Poemattributedto1944.

5. PhotofromaSwedishmagazine,June1940.Poemattributedtothatsameyear.TheGermaninvasionofPoland,citedintheoriginalGermanedition,tookplaceinthepreviousSeptember.Brechtfirstusedthepoemaspartofhis ‘Memorial Tablets for Those Fallen inHitler’sWarAgainst France’,writteninJune/July1940.

6. Poem dated 3.5.40. Photo from a Swedish magazine, June 1940. TheGerman invasion ofNorway andDenmark began on 9April; theBritishtroopspulledouton2May.

7. Poem written in 1940. Photo from an unidentified Swedish magazine.SkagerrakandKattegataretheseasoffnorthernDenmark.GermanlossesintheNorwayoperationweregivenas5,300.

8. Photo from Life, 30.12.40. The German army reached the Albert Canalbetween Antwerp and Liège a few days after invading Holland andBelgiumon10May.

9. Arelatedcuttingisdated17July,followingtheFrencharmistice.RoubaixisonthefrontierwithBelgium.Poemattributedto1944.

10. Photo from an unidentifiedAmericanmagazine of late 1940. Poem firstused as part of ‘Memorial Tablets’ together with no. 5 above. The‘unknown’victimhereisclearlyGerman.

11. Photo by ‘Weltbild’, Berlin, showing the Seine in Paris. Caption inSwedish.Poemattributedto1944.

12. PhotofromanunidentifiedAmericanpaper.Poemattributedto1944.13. Photo from Life of unknown date. A differently trimmed and captioned

versionisinBrecht’sJournals,22July1941.ThesubjectishisoldfriendandCalifornianeighbour,thenovelistLionFeuchtwanger,who(asnotedinBrecht’sJournals for 27August 1940) escapedviaPortugal afterFrenchinternment.Poemattributedto1944.

14. Photoofunknownorigin,showingPétainandLaval, leadersof theright-wing Vichy government recognised by the victorious Germans. Poemattributedto1944.

15. Poem dated 20.5.40. Photo of Winston Churchill from unidentifiedSwedishmagazineofJune1940.

16. Poem dated 26.9.40, during the Luftwaffe’s Blitz on London and otherBritishcities.

17. PhotofromunidentifiedSwedishpaper.The‘coursethatdiffered’:i.e.notthe one awaited by the pre-war Right, which they had expected to beagainsttheSovietUnion.Poemattributedto1940.

18. Poem dated 2.10.40. Photo from an unidentified Swedish paper showsLiverpooldocks,centringontheLiverBuilding(black,withtwintowers).

19. Poemdated4.8.40.PhotoreputedlyfromanunidentifiedSwedishpaperof20January1942 (bywhich timeBrechtwas in theUS).Brecht’scollageresembles those in theJournals,wherehenotedon10August 1940 that‘theringofsteelisclosingroundbritain.theaeroplane,thenewweapon,isshowing itself tobemore terriblynewthanwhen itwasemployed in thelastwar.’HewastheninFinland.

20. Poem dated 6.11.40. Photo of observer in a day bomber, from anunidentifiedGermanpublication.

21. Poemdated23.11.40.PhotoofunknownoriginshowsAldwychStationontheLondonUnderground,inuseasanair-raidshelterduringtheBlitz.

22. Poemdated3.12.40.PhotofromanunidentifiedSwedishpaper.23. Poemdated6.11.40.Airphotoofunknownoriginshowseffectofbombing

of oil installations; cf.Brecht’s Journals for 21 September 1940. Picturefrom Berliner Illustrirte of 19 September, under the heading ‘DeutscheBaumeister’(GermanMasterBuilders).

24. Poemdated4.3.41.PhotofromanunidentifiedSwedishpaperofJanuary1941,showingtheThamesinLondonwithTowerBridge.Likeno.19thisresemblesacollagefromtheJournals.

25. Poem dated 24.12.40. Photo from an unidentified Swedish magazine ofOctober1940.

26. Poemdated15.10.40.Thisandno.27faceoneanotherintheJournalsforthatday.

27. Poemdated15.10.40.28. Poemdated12.12.40.PhotofromanunidentifiedSwedishmagazine,later

used in Life of 23 December 1940. Hitler is shown speaking at theRheinmetall-BörsigfactoryinBerlinon10December.

29. FriedrichEbert.Thisimageandquatrainwerereplacedbyno.82(GustavNoske)intheGermanedition(seeAfterword,p.93).

30. Photofromunknownsource.Poemattributedto1944.31. Photo from Life, 20 March 1939. Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of

Propaganda, who had a club foot, was a Doctor of Philosophy. Poemattributedto1944.

32. Photo from Life, 3 February 1941. Goebbels (left) was Josef, GoeringHermann.Poemattributedto1944.

33. PhotofromLife,12February1945,originallytakeninFebruary1938atan‘InternationalAutoMeeting’,herecaptionedsoastosituatethethreeNazileadersattheBayreuthOpera,homeofRichardWagner.Poemattributedto1944. Its referencesare (in line1) twice toLohengrin, then(in line2) toTannhäuserandWalkyrie,andfinally(line3)toRheingold.

34. Poemdated2.12.40.Photoofunknownorigin.35. CuttingfromanunidentifiedSwedishpapercarryinganewsitemdatelined

BerlinfromtheGermanagencyDNB.Poemattributedto1944.36. Poem dated 12 December 1940. From an unidentified American paper.

Described by the German editors as an ‘industrial plant in Katowice’ inPolishSilesia.KirkenaeswasaGermanairbaseinnorthNorway.

37. Photo from Life, 16 August 1943, showing a sand-table model of thebattlefield of that summer where the Red Armymade crucial advances.Poemattributedto1944.

38. Photo of unknown origin. Poem attributed to 1944. North Cape is thenorthernmostpointofNorway,wellwithintheArcticCircle.

39. Photo from unidentified source, titled by the German editors ‘SovietPartisans’.Poemattributedto1944.

40. Photos fromLife, 12October 1942. Clockwise from top left: vonBock,Sperrle,vonRundstedt,List,Guderian,Rommel:allFieldMarshalsbutforGuderian(General).SperrlewasLuftwaffe,therestArmy.Poemattributedto1944.

41. Poem attributed to 4 June 1940, when the accompanying photo showedFrenchhelmets.Amendedversion1954,afterwhichthepresentphotowastakenofGermanhelmetsfromtheBerlinerEnsemble’swardrobe.

42. Photo from Life of unknown date. Left: Rommel, whose Afrika KorpslandedinLibyainMarch1941,advancedtowithinEgyptandwaspushedbackattheBattleofAlameininOctober1942.Poemattributedto1944.

43. PhotofromsamepageofLifeasno.42.Poemattributedto1944.44. Poemdated15.12.40.Photoofunknownorigin.45. Poemdated8.10.41.PhotofromLifeofunknowndate.46. PhotofromLife,2March1942,presumablyfromthesamesetasthefour

photographs included in theJournals for25February1942withBrecht’snote: ‘congressvoted togive itselfapension,amovementwasstarted tocollect gift parcels for starving congressmen.’ One of these is shown toconsist of onions, with a label saying ‘Let’s all CRY!’. Spokane is inWashingtonState.Poemattributedto1944.

47. Poemattributedto1944.PhotofromLife,19January1942,showsthefilmactressJaneWymaninan‘RAFblue’dress.

48. Photo inLife, 23March 1942, without its heading, gummed in Brecht’sJournalfor5April,withprintedcaption‘AftertheBombing(Singapore)’.SingaporehadsurrenderedtotheJapaneseon15March.Poemattributedto1944.

49. PhotofromLife,15February1943.Poemattributedto1944.50. PhotofromLife,25October1943,whoseeditorhadappealedtoitsreaders

for photos that would cheer up the US troops in the Pacific. Poemattributedto1944.

51. PhotofromLife,17March1941.Poemattributedto1944.52. PhotofromLife,8March1943.Poemattributedto1944.53. Photo fromLife, 1 February 1943. ‘Domei’was the name of the official

Japanesepressagency.Poemattributedto1944.54. PhotofromLife,15February1943.Poemattributedto1944.55. PhotofromLife.Poemattributedto1944.56. GermanphotosfromanunidentifiedSwedishpaper,1940.Poemattributed

to1944.57. PhotofromLife,15February1943.Poemattributedto1944.58. PhotofromLife.Poemattributedto1944.59. PhotofromLife,30August1943.Poemattributedto1944.60. Photo from an unidentified American journal, showing how ‘American

MilitaryGovernmentofficerssellAmericanflourtoItaliancivilians’.AftertheItaliansurrenderon3September,ChurchillwasanxioustopreservethemonarchyagainstthewishesoftheResistance.Poemattributedto1944.

61. PhotofromLife,7February1944.Poemattributedto1944.62. PhotofromLife,29May1944.ApageofpicturesofexhaustedAmerican

soldiers,takenpresumablyduringtheAlliedassaultinItalythatledtothefallofRome.Poemattributedto1944.

63. Photo from Life, 19 June 1944, taken during the Allied landings inNormandy.Poemattributedto1944,revisedin1954.Thelastthreelinesoftheearlierversionread:‘ThemanfromdistantEssenontheRuhrsawtheman from distant Maine rising from the sea at daybreak, and didn’tunderstand.’

64. Poemattributedto1944.BerlinagencyphotomarkedasshowingChurchillwithMontgomeryontheoccasionofhissecondvisittothefrontfollowingD-day. An umbrella had been the companion of Churchill’s precursorNevilleChamberlain,whostoodfortheappeasementofHitler.

65. PhotosofaGerman(left)andRussian(right)soldier,respectivelyfromtheAssociatedPressandtheNewYorkTimes.Organofpublicationunknown.Poemattributedto1944.

66. PhotofromLife,27October1941.Captionby theeditorsof theGermanedition.Poemattributedto1944.

67. Poemattributed to1944.Thebattleof theOrel salientwas in July1943.PhotofromanunknownGermansource.

68. Photo from unidentified American paper. Swing and Davis: thecommentator Raymond Gram Swing and Joseph Davis, the USAmbassadorinMoscow.Poemattributedto1944.

69. Photowas‘pictureoftheweek’inLife,4May1942.Accordingtothelongcaption it shows two parents identifying the dead body of their son atKerch in the Crimea, where the German Commandant had ordered over7,000civilianstobeshotbeforetheRedArmyrecaptureditthatFebruary.Poemattributedto1944.

70. Poem published in the Austro-American Tribune, New York, February1944.PhotofromanunidentifiedAmericanpaper,January1942,gummedinJournalsfor5Junewithcaption:‘ARussianfamilycomesbackhome.TheGermanshadbeenthereandhadleft–underfire.’

71. PoempublishedintheAustro-AmericanTribune,March1944.PhotofromLife,22February1943.

72. PhotofromLife,22February1943.Poemattributedto1944.73. Photos from an unidentified American paper (possibly Life). Poem

attributedto1944.74. Photo from the Saturday Evening Post, October 1944. The soldiers are

German.Poemattributedto1944.75. PhotofromanunidentifiedAmericanpaper.Poemattributedto1944.76. PhotofromtheNewYorkTimesMagazine,15April1945.Poemattributed

to1945.77. Photo fromLife of unknown date shows Ernest Bevin, Churchill’s anti-

Communist Minister of Labour, who became foreign minister in 1945.Poemattributedto1944.

78. Published in theAustro-AmericanTribune, June1944.PhotoLife, 5 July1943. There is a caption which says this shows US soldiers rescuing ayoungBlack froma racistmob indowntownDetroit.Kiska (anAleutianisland), Bataan (in the Philippines) and the Ardennes were all recentbattles.Poemattributedto1944.

79. PhotofromLife,26March1945.IncludedbyBrechtinaletterofthattimetoRuthBerlau.Poemattributedto1945.

80. Life,14June1943.Poemattributedto1944.81. Photo from an unidentified American periodical. 20 April was Hitler’s

birthday.Hekilledhimselfon30April1945.Poem,attributedto1944,is

almostidenticalwiththelastfourlinesoftheepiloguetoBrecht’splayTheResistibleRiseofArturoUi.

82. Poemsupposedlywritteninlate1946,whenthepicturewaspublishedinBerlin on the occasion ofGustavNoske’s death. InteriorMinister of theSocial Democrat–led Republican government charged with directing thesuppressionoftheSpartacistrevoltin1919,Noskehadturnedtotheright-wingFreeCorps,precursorsof theNazis. In1939Hitlerarrestedhimonsuspicionofresistancecontacts,butthecasewasneverproved.

83. FromunidentifiedUSpaper.84. Poemdated1950.ThecollageisincludedintheJournalsfor10June1950,

following Brecht’s return to East Berlin. The helmet bears the name‘WOLF’.

85. Photo from unidentified East German archive. This epigram alsoconstitutesthethirdstanzaofBrecht’spoem(c.1955)‘TotheStudentsoftheWorkers’ andPeasants’Faculty’; a note in the one-volume editionofBrecht’spoetry(Frankfurt,1981)ascribesittotheprojected‘PeacePrimer’(cf.no.84).

CONCORDANCE

Thesequenceofphoto-epigramsinthiseditiondiffersfromthatintheGermanedition (seeAfterword,p.93). This concordance showswhich numbers in thesecond (1994) German edition correspond to which photo-epigrams in thisedition.Numbers1through14areinthesameorderandposition.

Thisedition German1994edition

15 3816 1517 1618 1719 8220 1821 1922 2023 2124 8625 2226 8327 8428 2329 7030 71

31 2632 2733 2834 2935 3136 3237 3338 3439 5440 3041 5742 3543 3644 3745 8546 7947 7748 3949 4050 4151 4252 4353 4454 4555 4656 7257 4758 4859 4960 5061 5162 5263 53

64 8065 5566 5667 5868 7469 5970 6071 6172 6273 6374 6475 6576 6677 7578 7879 6780 6881 6982 2483 8784 8885 backofjacket

Nos25,73,76and81intheGermaneditioninvolvealternativephotographstoepigrams15,30and41inthisedition.