Every Jew is secretly a little bit in love

[PrinceMyshkin]

You cut away a third of us, Mr. Hitler,
but the remnant
will expand
to incorporate the genius
and, yes, the flaws
of the untimely dead.

Like a master surgeon
you wielded your armies
and all the instruments of state
to carve the rot
from the German body politic

History
has been slicing and dicing us
from the beginning
and we, and the world,
are tired of our kvetching.

To be a Jew
is never to be whole
but a remnant of the remnant.

Every Jew, I sometimes think,
is secretly a little bit in love
with Hitler, who never lied to us.

[Helga]

good and surprising ending, very different from poems about WWII, at least the ones I've read... but I like it...

[MANICHAEAN]

Did God pardon Hitler?
It is His trade.

[Delta40]

wow, I don't know what to say. he added more history to the history.

[MorpheusSandman]

This is a fascinating piece; especially in its conclusion. It really forces the question of the value of honesty, and even how that relates to how 'whole' one feels within their religion or background.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Did God pardon Hitler?
It is His trade.

Or perhaps more pertinent did the Jews. Poles, Communists, Gypsies, homosexuals and mentally "defective" murdered during the Hitler era pardon God?

Did the millions killed under Stalin pardon Him?

[MANICHAEAN]

Man was not created simple. But even if one cannot love, I see no reason to hate. During the horrors you mention, for that is what they were, too many sat and talked about man's responsibility & Free Will as if this was an excuse for everything (God's alibi?). Was evil made by man, or Satan, or God? If he made us in His image, then our evil is His evil too.
In evolution, sometimes whole generations of men slip backwards to the beasts. It is a long struggle and a long suffering evolution. Presumably God is suffering the same evolution, but perhaps with more pain.
Please do not think that I am being anti-semitic or anti anything. Its just that moral theology is the bugbear of every seminary. You learn the rules and then find they invariably dont apply to any human case.

[qimissung]

I, too, am taken by the ending. The lot of the outcast is never easy; I like that you point out the usually unacknowledged and intimate bond between bully and victim. But the aching part of your poem is the one before, "To be a Jew is to never be whole, but to be a remnant of the remnant..."

[jikan myshkin]

wow, i love that. are you, yourself jewish mr myshkin? one of my great regrets is once in school we were able to go to the local holocaust centre and after the tour speak to a camp survior and my innane 13/14 year old question was 'did you hate hitler from the start' to which she replied 'yes'

[JacobF]

I really like the metaphor of Hitler as a surgeon because of it's haunting accuracy. When he came into power he was revered as a savior, someone who would heal Germany's economic blight. Then he betrayed not only the German's but the world's trust, using his power to push his anti-semitic agenda, and the world didn't even realize it because they were so spellbound by him. Just like a surgeon who anesthetizes a patient then destroys their insides with a scalpel, precisely and without the patient knowing. At least, that's what I seemed to interpret it as.

In general the poem has an air of satire about it, shown by the line "the world is tired of our kvetching" and the addressing of "Mr. Hitler," yet it comes off as sincere and true.

[jikan myshkin]

I come to you now master
With a fresh bouquet of ash and gold fillings
That was sold to me as a fertilizer for my dreams
Of a unified nation
The cost was never explained to me
The label said ‘the end always justifies the means’
Could this be true? Could the world be saved?
I know you tried your hardest
But were thwarted by a lack of courage
‘One of the greatest socialist leaders’
Is what the burnt texts did say
The ones that anticipated your victory
But I am not a gypsy
And I am not a Jew
I am one who cried when I heard the game was through
So now I join in the line of children who dare to dream
And present you with this humble bouquet of ash and gold fillings
You, leader of the people, Hitler thy name

[HAPPY-DAY]

Coming to know great men is not a fantasy,rather an edge into what is noble and right.Though generations come and go with abilities attached with those that come with it,I believe that life is what one make of it based on inclination and exposure-either adaptation or experience.I give thanks to generation that brought me and would aspire to be like them.Ndukwe

[Virgil]

I do think this a remarkable poem Prince, not the least for its psychological insight. And the profoundity of it really does grap me in the gut. The word "remnant" takes on an incredible power. When a word seems to grow in meaning through the poem you know you have a winner of a piece. The first and last two stanzas are absolutely top notch, as good anything published by any major poet. I do have reservations about the second and third stanzas though. They echo with cliches: "instruments of state," "wieliding of armies," "slicing and dicing." Actually the second one nears a mixed metaphor that is somewhat confusing: surgeon intertwined with wielding armies. I like the surgeon metaphor and it gives justification to and softens the "slicing and dicing" phrase. I guess as I'm thinking out loud here, it's really the second stanza, the weilding of armies and instruments of state that rings off for me. Perhaps some tweaking on that second stanza might make this poem perfect. But whatever you do, it is a fine work.

[Lynne50]

Prince, I loved this poem too. Virgil When I read the line...
Like a surgeon you wielded your armies and all the instruments of state...what came to my mind, was an operating room with all the gruesome instruments lined up on the tray just like an army troop in formation. I think that image will stay with me for awhile. What do you think, could that be a valid interpretation?

[PrinceMyshkin]

Man was not created simple.

This statement of your belief is going to colour my entire response, because I don't accept that there is any satisfactory explanation, scientific or theological, as to how let alone WHY man was created.

The explanation that is premised on Genesis is already cantilevered out from some earlier cultures and documents. Did a "God" ever manifest Itself to man? When and where? Then, from the intial cantilevering we have a succession of well-meaning men and women - mystics or theologians - who extend that cantilever a little further and a little further... How many theologians can dance on the head of In the beginning?

But even if one cannot love, I see no reason to hate. During the horrors you mention, for that is what they were, too many sat and talked about man's responsibility & Free Will as if this was an excuse for everything (God's alibi?). Was evil made by man, or Satan, or God? If he made us in His image, then our evil is His evil too.
In evolution, sometimes whole generations of men slip backwards to the beasts. It is a long struggle and a long suffering evolution. Presumably God is suffering the same evolution, but perhaps with more pain.

Without meaning to offend you, surely there is equal reason to assert that God may be suffering a devolution in synch with our rush to destroy the earth as an habitation for God's creations?

Please do not think that I am being anti-semitic or anti anything. Its just that moral theology is the bugbear of every seminary. You learn the rules and then find they invariably dont apply to any human case.

I see nothing in what so you have said that would lead me to think you anti-Semitic! On the contrary, I read you as a thoughtful and temperate person, for which I thank you.