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Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

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by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), as Joachim Ringelnatz
Translation © by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947)

Wir sind, sagen die Lauen
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Wir sind, sagen die Lauen,
Wir sind nicht objektiv.
Wir sollten doch tiefer schauen,
Doch schauen, ob nicht tief
Am Nazitum was dran sei,
Ob Hitler nicht doch ein Mann sei.

Wir haben alles erwogen,
Wir wußten alles zuvor,
Mal hat man uns nicht betrogen,
Man machte uns nicht vor,
Daß rechts links und gerade schief sei
Und daß alles relativ sei.

Unrelative Lumpen hausen bei uns zu Haus,
Und hauen das Land in Klumpen.
Ist relativ der Graus?
Da sollen wir objektiv sein,
Wir sollen so naiv sein!

Wir kennen die einfache Wahrheit,
Wir sehen durch ein scharfes Glas.
Und unsere Lehre ist Klarheit.
Und unsere Lehre ist Haß.
Der Haß, der groß und weitsichtig ist,
Der schaffende Haß der wichtig ist.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), as Joachim Ringelnatz, no title, written c1933 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Wir sind... ", 2010 [medium voice and piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • ENG English (Gary Bachlund) , "We are...", written 2010, copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-12-28
Line count: 23
Word count: 123

We are...
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
We are, say the howls of protest,
We are not objective.
We should look even deeper,
Even deeper, though not deep,
At what is the Nazi regime,
Even whether Hitler is not a man.

We have considered it all,
We knew it all before,
Because we weren't fooled by it,
They didn't fool us,
That right, left and straight are distorted
And all is relative. 

Un-relative rabble vandalize our lives,
And smash things about the land.
Is such horror relative?
That we shall be objective,
Is because we are so naive!

We understand the simple truth,
We see through the broken glass.
And our lesson is clarity.
And our lesson is hate.
That hate, that is so huge and foresighted,
That created hatred that is so important.

Text Authorship:

  • by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "We are...", written 2010, copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), as Joachim Ringelnatz, no title, written c1933
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

    [ None yet in the database ]


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-12-28
Line count: 23
Word count: 127

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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