O, FREIBURG (Satis Shroff)

Zeitgeistlyrik: O, FREIBURG (Satis Shroff)

O, Freiburg (Satis Shroff)

O, Freiburg! March 24,1599 was the day.

Three women were sentenced as witches and killed.

To think this town organized a reception,

For Marie Antoinette on May 4, 1770

It also deported its 375 Jewish citizens

On October 1940 to Gurs and Auschwitz.

As if in a heavenly wrath,

 Freiburg was reduced to rubble and ashes,

Heaven seemed to be glowing;

Clouds began to melt and burn over the town.

A scenario within twenty minutes,

Created by the Royal Air Force.

Twenty minutes that were burnt

Into the collective memory of the Freiburger.  

Frau Adolph and my mother-in-law still talk

About it when we have a coffee afternoon

With Schwarzwäldertorte.

Frau Adolph says: ‘ Freiburg was razed to the ground.

Stones, roof-bricks, broken glass, kaput windows

Singed curtains, burnt books, files in smithereens.

A traumatic nightmare.’

But I’m proud Freiburger have developed,

Both mentally and socially,

For today we are the hosts of Syrian war refugees.

We’ve developed a heart for humanity,

That is worthy of emulation.

Tolerance, togetherness, mutual respect,

That’s my university town Freiburg.

Where partner cities are welcome,

From Matsuyama, Isfahan, Guilford,

Madison and Barcelona.

Where war refugees find a safe haven,

And experience a culture of welcome.

Ah, Freiburg,

You lovely Schwarzwald metropolis.

I watch the reassuring lights of your houses,

From the windows and roofs,

People talking, gesticulating or in control.

I drink Darjeeling at the Greiffenegg castle,

See the twin towers of the Johanneskirche,

And Freiburg’s cathedral.

This year there’s no snow over Freiburg.

The new lifts for seven skiers,

Move downhill sans skiers.

That’s climate change for you.

With a mild winter and a white spring perhaps.

The Swabian Gate is bathed in yellow light,

The Dreisam trickles below the bridge.

The tasty autumnal wine is already in the kegs,

The vines have been pruned.

Tasty nectar flows down the wine drinker’s gullet.

I say ‘Ada!’ to the blonde waitress,

Who always has a friend smile and kind words,

Descend to the Schwabentor,

Walk along the romantic Konviktgasse,

Take a sharp turn near the Kollegium Bororeum.

Voila! I’m between the Münster and the historical Kaufhaus.

The Black Forest farmers and their wives

Are busy selling their green-wares in Green City Freiburg.

Vegetables for vegans,

Poultry and bacons for meat-eaters,

Bratwurst fried with onions as fast-food,

Or Kurdish yufka near the taxi stand.

The Siegesdenkmal is a reminder of Belfort,

An old memorial but politics has changes.

The French and the Germans: Hollande and Merckel

Do things together and are no longer foes.