-Hans Reiter

von am 16. November 2021 um 20:47
Veröffentlicht in: Poetry, Politics, Translations

Hans Reiter
Translated by Herbert Kuhner

Hans Reiter, geboren 1906 in Wien, lebte von 1939-1956 in der Sowjetunion.
Veröffentlichungen in Zeitschriften, Anthologien und Zeitungen, darunter in der Furche.
Er verstarb in Wien 1992.

Hans Reiter was born in 1906 in Vienna. From 1939-1956 he was in the Soviet Union.

Other than sparse publications in journals and anthologies,
his work has been almost totally neglected in Austria. He died in 1992.

 

 

* * * * *

 

WÄNDE/WALLS-H.Kuhner

PROverbis: bilingual, Band 2
Wände …/Walls …
Österreichische jüdische Lyrik/
Austrian Jewish Poetry
Translated by Herbert Kuhner
ISBN 978-3-902838-19-3
272 Seiten, Paperback
Preis: 24,00 €

 

Steine

Und schweigt der Himmel, bleibt er taub,
ich find’ den Ort, wo Steine sprechen,
wo Tränen, ausgehöhlt von Staub –
aus einem steinernen Stein noch brechen
für uns, die Juden dieser Stadt.

Nur Steine rührte unser Sterben.
Weh einer Welt, die keine Steine hat –
weh einer Stadt, wo Unrecht türmt zu Bergen.

 

Stones

Even if Heaven is silent – and deaf,
I’ll find a place where stones speak,
where tears are broken out of stones
and pressed out of dust
for us, the Jews of this city.

Only stones mourned our death.
Woe to a world without stones!
Woe to a city where calumny forms mountains.

 

Leopoldstadt

Da steht vor einem Haus ein Totenwagen.
Vor jedem Haustor müßte einer stehen
und hoch mit Särgen seine Plattform laden,
bis unters Dach müßten die Kisten gehen.

Denn wie wollt ihr die Juden transportieren
die ihr aus euren Lagern habt vergast?
Gas strömt aus ihren früheren Quartieren
solange ihr sie unbeerdigt laßt.

Sie zogen nie aus. Die Toten wohnen weiter.
Und sind die Fenster vor Verzweiflung blind –
sie schauen heraus. Nichts ändert sich seither,
nur daß die Mörder jetzt die Mieter sind.

 

Leopoldstadt

There’s a hearse in front of a house,
but there should be one in front
of every door with coffins piled high
right up to the roof.

How do you intend to transport
the Jews who’ve been gassed to death?
Gas will seep out of every house
until they’ve been properly buried.

They never left. The dead still live here.
And although the windows are blind with despair,
they still look out of them. Nothing has changed
except that the murderers are now the tenants.

 

Die jüdische Welt

Die jüdische Welt ist wie der Mond,
der unsere Nächte bescheint
und auf dem Grund aller Meere wohnt
und von der Sonne träumt,
die aus dem Feuer der Felsen steigt
und wieder ins Feuer fällt.

Die jüdische Welt, sie ist so weit
wie der Himmel, der über uns wölbt.

 

The Jewish World

The Jewish world is like the moon
that lights our nights,
but is in the depths of the seas
and dreams of the sun
that rises from the fire of rocks
and falls back into fire.

The Jewish world is as vast
as the vault of the sky above.

 

Am Friedhof

Ein Nachsterben, eine Menschenklage,
Macht sie die Stunde ungescheh’n?
Heut‘ stehe ich an eurem Grabe,
wer wird vor meinen morgen stehen?

So sprach ich still zu meinem Toten,
die Lieb‘ und Leid geteilt mit mir,
und küßt‘ die Lippen, die sich boten
mir unterm Laub. Schön war es hier.

 

At the Cemetery

Could joining you, could anguish
cancel out all those hours?
Today I stand at your grave.
Who’ll stand at mine tomorrow?

That’s what I silently said to my dead,
those who shared my love and pain,
and I kissed the lips that were offered
under the fallen leaves. It was beautiful there.

 

Sie waren dabei

Sie waren dabei als es um Österreich ging.
Sie waren dabei in Österreichs schwersten Stunden
Und Jahr auf Jahr nach ihrer Hinrichtung verging.
Und langsam heilten Österreichs Wunden.

Sie waren da, auch wenn man nirgends fand ein Zeichen
von ihnen, die geopfert sich für Österreichs Sieg.
Sie waren da. Im Keller der Anatomie lagen ihre Leichen
in den Karbolfässern der Zweiten Republik.

Dort lagen sie. Das ist die Wahrheit, die nicht mehr verstummt auf Erden,
zehn Jahre lang zwischen den Knien ihr abgehacktes Haupt.
Wer weiß, ob nicht Karbolfässer das Denkmal werden,
das für Österreich sich baut.

 

They Were There

They were there when Austria’s fate
was at stake and they gave their all for Austria.
The years passed after their execution,
and slowly Austria’s wounds healed.

But there’s no evocation of those who sacrificed
themselves for Austria’s sake. They are stored
in containers of carbolic acid in the basement
of the Anatomical Institute of the Second Republic.

That’s where they were. It’s the truth and cannot
be denied. For years their decapitated heads
floated between their knees. Perhaps carbolic acid
is the memorial that Austria built for itself.

 

 

 

 

 

Der neue Holocaust

Im Mittelalter lebte in Deutschland ein Jude
namens Pfefferkorn. Er trat aus der jüdischen
Religionsgemeinschaft aus, wurde Mönch und
beschuldigte die Juden, sie hätten die Brunnen vergiftet.
Und, in ganz Deutschland brannten die, Scheiter-
haufen und tausende Juden starben in den Flammen.

In unserer Zeit gibt es in Österreich einen Juden
namens Kreisky. Er trat aus dem Judentum, wurde
Bundeskanzler und beschuldigt Israel, die Brunnen
des Friedens, und der Versöhnung zu vergiften.
Welches Schicksal ist unserm Volk beschieden,
wenn ein Atomkrieg ausbricht und die, Überlebenden.
aus den Trümmern kriechen und schreien:
„Die Juden sind schuld am Untergang der Welt.“

Kreisky bestätigt, daß er im Jahre, 1973
drei Tage vor dem Ausbruch des Jonkippuhrkrieges vom
ägyptischen Überfall auf Israel durch den
ägyptischen Tourismusminister, der in Wien war,
informiert wurde. Kreisky bestätigt, daß er
Israel nicht gewarnt habe.

 

Johann_Pfefferkorn   † 22. Oktober 1521

 

The New Holocaust

In the Middle Ages, a Jew named Pfefferkorn
lived in Germany.  He withdrew from the Jewish
religious community and became a monk.
He accused the Jews of  having poisoned the fountains.
There were auto-da-fés in all of Germany
and thousands of Jews died in the flames.

In our time there is a Jew in Austria
named Kreisky. He withdrew from the Jewish community
and became chancellor and accused Israel of poisoning
the fountains of peace and conciliation.

What fate would be in store for our people
if there had a nuclear war and the survivors
had crawled out of the ruins and shouted:
“The Jews are to blame for the end of the world.”

Kreisky confirmed that three days before
the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in 1973,
when Egypt invaded Israel,
the Egyptian Minister of Tourism,
who was in Vienna,
informed him of the immanent attack
and he did not warn Israel.

 

– Herbert Kuhner

 

 

-Whiteface

von am 14. Oktober 2021 um 0:04
Veröffentlicht in: Polemics, Politics

Whiteface

The guy at the tranquil Capitol assemblage of January 6th
with “Camp Auschwitz“
emblazoned on his t-shirt
is a member of Antifa
and Black Lives Matter.
He was wearing “whiteface”
and had grey whiskers pasted on his face.

 

– Herbert Kuhner

 

 

-Speaking German in a Dream

von am 30. August 2021 um 13:48
Veröffentlicht in: Allgemein, Biographic, Text

Herbert Kuhner

from -Felled by Friendly Fire
A Memoir Consisting of
Autobiographical Short Pieces

aus -Sorglose Tage und Jahre in der Heimat
The German version of the Memoir
is forthcoming by Edition Tarantel, Vienna

 

 

Speaking German in a Dream

Herbert Kuhner, the writer, is in a sense a historian.
His life story runs parallel to history and illustrates that history
is too serious matter to be left exclusively to bona-fide historians.
“In 1935, the year of his birth, the Nuremberg Laws were imposed
in Germany. In 1938, when he was three years old, “The doorbell rang
and I ran to the door and opened it. My mother swept me away
as two men in street clothes entered. One of them, I remember clearly,
wore a brown suit and limped. The other was thin and balding
and wore a grey suit. They searched the apartment. The brown-suited man
shoved my grandmother, who was eighty-three away from the sideboard
in order to ransack it. And indeed it contained her shopping money.”
– Peter Malina, historian, Mit der Ziehharmonika, No.1, May, 1995

 

Mit der Ziehharmonika/Zwischenwelt Nr. 1 Aug. 2006

 

 

 

Erasing It

I cannot extract myself from the past.

I tried to erase it.
I did not want to have the identity
of being a victim,
but of course it could not be erased.

It is unbearable,
but it has to be borne
so that it can be told.
Telling it is a necessity.

For years, in order to keep going,
I had tried to bar thoughts of specific situations
of the past from my mind.
The other day, when I saw my Aunt Leni
and my Uncles Fritz and Heinrich
in a packed boxcar, I broke down and wept.

 

My cousin Karen Sanders (kisanders@sbcglobal.net)  is researching the fate of family members.

 

 

The Golden Anniversary of the Annexation

At the unveiling of the monument commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, speeches of regret were read by political luminaries, Church dignitaries, public figures and high-ranking military men. Poets read epics about the slaughter of the victims and an oratorio was played and sung for the occasion. While those present vowed that what had happened must never happen again, a Jew was beaten by thugs in the midst of the ceremony. No one could hear the blows or his cries due to the chorus of raised voices. Nor could the beating be seen since the bystanders’ sight was blurry from the tears that were being shed.

 

 

Speaking German in a Dream

 

I dream in English.
I daydream in French.
My nightmares are in German.

 

Of all the mishaps and misadventures I have experienced in my literary career, the following takes the cake.

On June 28, 1983, there was a presentation of Hawks and Nightingales: Current Burgenland Croatian Poetry at the Croatian Academic Club. Dr. Albert F. Reiterer, then Editor-in-Chief of Braumüller Verlag composed a three-page invitation for the occasion on which the names of neither the editor nor translator were to be found. When queried about the omission, Dr. Reiterer stated that it was intentional and that it was not the publisher’s policy to give such credit.

On November 10, 1983, a presentation of Hawks and Nightingales was slated to take place at the America House, for which I had acted as an intermediary. Presentations of Carinthian Slovenian Poetry and Austrian Poetry Today (Schoken Bookswere to follow. And a reading tour featuring poetry from all anthologies was planned.

However, on November 9th, a day before the presentation, Cynthia Miller, the United States Cultural Attaché received a letter from Dr. Reiterer withdrawing from the presentation. Dr. Reiterer wrote: “I would like to convey to you, that due to recent events, our publishing house will not be able to send a representative to the reading that you have planned.”

(The “recent events” were allegedly the invasion of Grenada.)

The buffet was delivered and set aside. The guests were sent home and all other events were cancelled. That was the end of my relationship with the America House. I may not have been to blame for what had happened, but I had made the unfortunate connection with the publisher. Anti-Climax insert that if it hadn’t been for the participation of the United States in World War II, the Third Reich would still dominate Europe.

When I called Dr. Reiterer, he in informed me that he had achieved his intentions. That was the end of my relationship with the America House. I may have not been to blame for what had happened, but I had made the connection with the man who had caused the cancellation.

After our brief phone conversation, I received a bill for complimentary copies of Hawke and Nightingales dated November 23, 1983, which I had distributed for publicity and funding purposes. I quote, “Regretfully we cannot agree to having the book presented to people such as Peter Rath, who is the owner of a glass and chandelier company that has absolutely no connection with our publishing house.”

Peter Rath of Lobmeyr happened to be one of the sponsors of Austrian Poetry Today and received credit for his generosity in that publication.

It could not be said that my fellow editors twiddled their thumbs during this confrontation since they sat on their hands.

On December 20, 1983, I received a letter from Dr. Reiterer informing me that Herbert Gassner of the Croatian Academic Club had purchased 50 copies of Hawks and Nightingales on condition that Dr. Reiterer desist from harassing me with bills for complementary copies.

I quote Reiterer:“We regret that an uninvolved third party has entered this situation.” In other words harassing me with bills was more essential to him than selling copies of the book.

 

 

A Perpetrator Speaks

“Always remember, others may hate you,
but those who hate you don’t win
unless you hate them,
and then you destroy yourself.”
– Richard M. Nixon  (Wise words from a man I do not admire.)

 

 

Semi-Climax

Not too long ago, I had a dream, which can be described as a nightmare. I was attending a symposium at a university. As I was walking on the campus, I saw the publisher in question. I approached him and threw a German expletive in his face. The word is Drecksau! (Apparently, there is no English word to match it.) After having said it, I immediately woke up. That’s the complete dream.

I cannot remember ever having spoken German in a dream since leaving “Ostmark” in 1939. At that time you didn’t have to have nightmares.

 

– Herbert Kuhner

-Bush… Afghanistan

von am 22. August 2021 um 23:06
Veröffentlicht in: Polemics, Politics

Bussing Bush

Michelle will never forgive the Birther-in-Chief Trump for calling the location of his predecessor’s birth into question.
Right-on!

She grabbed her husband’s predecessor and planted a kiss on his sallow cheek. He’s the man who invaded a Middle-Eastern country to displace a dictator and establish democracy there. George Bush fils set off the Sunni-Shia Song and Dance. It was the Dance of Death for four thousand Americana and hundreds of thousands Iraqis. Yes, he’s a real sweetie pie!

You might as well buss Henry the Kiss-of-Death Kissinger

 

Divine Commands

God told Abraham that Isaac had to go, before sending an assistant with wings torenege. Bush fils also got commands from above, but there was no reneging: “God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did.”
(Thus spoke George W. who went AWOL during the Vietnam War.)

G.W.Bush: „working for America“

 

The Advisor in the Sky

In Iraq I, George Bush, père encouraged the Iraqi Shiite majority to revolt against the Sunni minority who were running the country. Then he left them in the lurch. They were massacred.

Iraq II, George Bush fils invaded and attempted to correct his father’s mistake.

Bush fils, concerning the Sunni and Shia Muslim divide, “I thought they were all Muslims.”

Yea George and in the Thirty Years War, they were all Christians. But who needs to go back? How about the Ulster Defence Force and the IRA?

Asked whether he had consulted his father, he replied, “There is a higher father that I appeal to.” “God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them,  and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did.”

Dick Cheney didn’t need to give his fantasy free reign or his decision-making!

The Invasion of Iraq
ousted Saddam and his Sunni crowd,
bringing the Shiite majority into play,
which got even for massacres with massacres.

After thousands of American dead and wounded,
not to speak of the tens of thousands of Iraqi casualties,
the buffer to Iran was cancelled out,
the Middle East was ignited and ISIS filled the Iraqi void.

Bush got advice from above, but who advised
such liberal icons as Tom Friedman, Fareed Zakaria
and Peter Beinhart, Hillary Clinton an Joe Biden?

 

Fareed and Iraq

Fareed and Iraq:” I was in favor of the Iraq War. I believed that a modern democracy in Iraq could be a new model of politics for the region, a middle ground between repressive dictatorships and Islamic fanaticism. And I never believed that Iraqis or Arabs were somehow genetically incapable of self-rule. I worried that Iraq’s sectarian divisions would pull the country apart.”

Yes, dear Fareed, once Sunni-Saddam were toppled, the Shia majority and the Sunni minority would lovingly embrace!

Here’s the mystery: How could anybody who’s so smart be so dumb?

 

Nation Building

Instead of switching to Iraq and neglecting Afghanistan, the latter should have been given a chance to become a democracy with all the necessary trimmings and support. Pakistan should have been “encouraged” to disarm the Taliban fighters who had fled across the border. But no, George set his sights on Iraq, and we know the rest.

It’s all hindsight and the United States has lost yet another war against a small foe.

 

– Herbert Kuhner

 

 

-Three Guys in White Kaftans

von am 22. August 2021 um 22:48
Veröffentlicht in: Allgemein, Polemics, Text

 

Three Guys in White Kaftans

 

Sleep is good. Death is better.
but even better yet
would be not to have been born.
– Heinrich Heine

Life was a narrow cage,
with multiple iron bars
with only one escape route.
– Leonid Andreyev

What can happen to a man
that is worse than having been born?
That question is like asking a drowning man
whether he is not afraid of getting wet.
– Leonid Andreyev

 

The chimes on my entrance door rang.
I went to the door and looked through the peephole.
Three guys in white kaftans were in the hall.
I opened the door and they said in unison
that they had good news for me.
They looked gentle, so I let them in.

I led them to the dining room table
where they refused my offer of beer,
so brought glasses and a pitcher of water.

They said in unison that I did well
and that I deserved another go.
Reincarnation would be my reward!

At that I ran to the door and tore it open.
“There’s the goddamn door!” I shouted,
“Get the hell out fast!
Once was more than enough!”

– Herbert Kuhner