The only German to voluntary testify at the Nuremberg trials was Herman Graebe, who also organised a safety net to rescue as many Jews as he could after being horrified witnessing the mass extermination of Jews at Dubno, in Ukraine. This poem is based on his account.
I listened to this testimony and the words of the Chief Prosecutor, Sir Harley Shawcross, repeating it in his closing speech, on BBC Radio 4’s archive hour.
https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-human-behavior/hermann-graebe-testimony-nuremberg
I listened to this testimony and the words of the Chief Prosecutor, Sir Harley Shawcross, repeating it in his closing speech, on BBC Radio 4’s archive hour.
https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-human-behavior/hermann-graebe-testimony-nuremberg
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00100rd
Remember Dubno
A closing statement by Sir Hartley Shawcross:
Remember the brutality, remember the loss,
Of Graeber’s witness, of what he saw that day,
In bleak October, the clouds cold and gray;
Seeing a young boy, fighting back his tears,
A father holding his hand, to allay his fears,
Speaking softly, pointing upwards to the sky,
Stroked his head, knowing they would die;
Together, among many others, a naked crowd:
Beaten, demoralised, enslaved and cowed;
All forced to strip themselves, clothes in piles,
The ending of a journey, such harsh trials;
The SS soldier, seated, looking on in scorn:
Men, women, children, old and newly born,
Into the pit they filed, one by one, they go;
And shooting starts, blood begins to flow:
More come, and fall on top of those shot;
The Tommy gun fires again upon this spot,
And they lie there, dead and dying, lost;
Twitching or motionless, the final breath:
Their lives were swallowed up by death;
And the SS man lights another cigarette,
All in a day’s work: he doesn’t even sweat;
And now the statement comes at the trial:
Prisoners in the dock, a defence of guile,
Excuse of just obeying orders, that’s all:
Until at Nuremberg, at last, they fall;
Orders in a command, a linked chain,
That ended in Dubno, with such pain,
And death; twelve thousand perished:
All lived and loved, and were cherished,
Rounded up, taken to the deep trench,
And shot: a guilt that came to drench
The accused in blood, this evil stain:
Remember Dubno, the Jews, the pain.
Remember Dubno
A closing statement by Sir Hartley Shawcross:
Remember the brutality, remember the loss,
Of Graeber’s witness, of what he saw that day,
In bleak October, the clouds cold and gray;
Seeing a young boy, fighting back his tears,
A father holding his hand, to allay his fears,
Speaking softly, pointing upwards to the sky,
Stroked his head, knowing they would die;
Together, among many others, a naked crowd:
Beaten, demoralised, enslaved and cowed;
All forced to strip themselves, clothes in piles,
The ending of a journey, such harsh trials;
The SS soldier, seated, looking on in scorn:
Men, women, children, old and newly born,
Into the pit they filed, one by one, they go;
And shooting starts, blood begins to flow:
More come, and fall on top of those shot;
The Tommy gun fires again upon this spot,
And they lie there, dead and dying, lost;
Twitching or motionless, the final breath:
Their lives were swallowed up by death;
And the SS man lights another cigarette,
All in a day’s work: he doesn’t even sweat;
And now the statement comes at the trial:
Prisoners in the dock, a defence of guile,
Excuse of just obeying orders, that’s all:
Until at Nuremberg, at last, they fall;
Orders in a command, a linked chain,
That ended in Dubno, with such pain,
And death; twelve thousand perished:
All lived and loved, and were cherished,
Rounded up, taken to the deep trench,
And shot: a guilt that came to drench
The accused in blood, this evil stain:
Remember Dubno, the Jews, the pain.
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