Baldur von Schirach Interviewed at Nuremberg
Baldur von Schirach Interviewed at Nuremberg
It must be something living in our nature:
To strive for the ideal; not to rest
Content with imperfection; and to reject
Half-measures, incomplete solutions.
The Hitler Youth was meant to replicate
The perfect State in miniature. Without
Living traditions, passed from old to young,
The fabric of a people will dissolve.
Through discipline, each boy was taught his function,
And learned the pleasures of participating
In something bigger than himself. The wild
Among them could be tamed with mild corrections.
Indoctrination? An easy criticism.
Show me a nation that has no ideals.
No, their complaint is really that my program
Was well designed, and secretly admired.
You point to individuals, but the real
Causes were harsh conditions even you
Would find intolerable: shortages
Of food, high unemployment, grinding debt.
The Jewish population had been culled
Before I became Governor of Vienna.
I admit that it might be called a crime
To be in charge when all the rest were sent away.
At the Nuremberg Trials Baldur von Schirach was convicted of crimes against humanity. He served twenty years in prison.
This poem is part of the series Interviews With Vampires. For more on the Nuremberg Trials, see Controlled Experiments on Social Pathology
If you like this poem, you might enjoy American Independence in Verse, now available for purchase.