Julius Streicher founded and edited the anti-Semitic German tabloid Der Stürmer. At Nuremberg he was convicted of crimes against humanity, and hanged on October 16, 1946.
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 pre-order.
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Julius Streicher at Nuremberg
At first I wasn’t sure, but when the others
Suggested you were Jewish, I could hear it
When you would speak. It’s unmistakable.
For me it’s not a matter of emotion.
All the lawyers on your side are Jewish.
I’ve watched them move; I’ve scrutinized their faces.
I need more time to walk, when I’m allowed
Outside. The guards make too much noise. The meals
Are bland, the chocolate ration is too meager.
Christ was a Jew, of course. They say that God
Created everything, but that’s far-fetched,
Is it not? Who, I ask, created God?
I’d like more marmalade, if that is possible.
I am a Zionist. The Jews should have
A country of their own. Then, other nations
Need have no qualms about expelling them.
The walking fast, out in the prison yard,
Is nothing; just a little nervousness.
Not, I should say, about the trial—I’ve been
On trial before. In my most placid state
An inner agitation drives me on.
My knowledge of the Jews exceeds their own.
I filled the basin, and used this piece of rag.
From top to tail, a careful and complete
Scrubbing. It’s best with cold and soapy water.
I find I need to do it regularly.
This same urge used to wake me late at night,
And I’d give in, I’d bathe there in the darkness.