Ilya Ehrenburg, as a war correspondent and publicist, his words became one of the most powerful intellectual weapons in the fight against Nazism. His texts strengthened the will to resist, gave hope, and shaped the moral self-understanding of the time. His contribution to the victory is still considered an indispensable part of the historical and cultural heritage.

It would seem that all the articles, written by Ilya Ehrenburg would be known and annotated. Indeed, there is a chronological list of his War-time works at the Military Literature site.

And yet, in a Danish edition of Ilya Ehrenburg’s works from 1944 we came across a title, not listed anywhere. Nor would the body of the text (translated to Russian) would come up in any anthologies. so here it is: “Their Traditions”, translated by BATS to English from Danish, and first published at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”. In the next post we will also re-translate the publication back to Russian, to bring back this lost, but found article.

In fascist-speak it’s ‘a victor’, while in ours, it’s ‘a robber’
A War-time caricature by Dmitry Moor, one of many on display at the digital exhibition of the Nekrasov library, “The Artists of Victory”.

Their Traditions

In front of me is a letter written by Lieutenant Rudolf Schackert. See here what this German officer, who is in a hospital behind the front, has to say:

“You will understand me, dear Ernst, my heart is about to burst. While you were sitting in the high north, I was fighting for the Crimea. My best friends were killed there. We remember from school days that land that has drunk German blood is German land, but apparently the Crimea will soon be evacuated. Hans Tilt speaks of only one thing — he cannot bear the evacuation of Zhitomir. I console myself with one thing: we have claimed these lands with our blood, the blood of the best, and even if the treacherous actions of the plutocrats should cause us to lose this war, Germany will never forget that her children were in Ukraine and Sevastopol. The Volga can be described as a campaign, but Ukraine and Crimea are conquests. If I get through it, I’ll tell Otto about the gardens of Crimea, and he will dream of the time when he grows up and can win back what was lost. I have a feeling that a 100 Years’ War has begun; there’ll probably be pauses, but we’ll get there…”

I ask readers to think about Schackert’s letter. He’s not alone in dreaming of new wars: there are many such Germans. It is not enough that we chase the Germans out. We must also go to Germany. It is necessary for the fate of future generations. We must wean the Germans off a lot — and that will not be achieved with sermons and speeches.

The worst thing would be if one believed in the substitute of tears of repentance that is already being made in Das Reich. How the German people will behave the day after the final defeat can be seen from how captured Germans behave. Here is one of the last prisoners to arrive:

— Name?
— Fritz Lauter.
— Profession?
— Clerk.
— German?
— Not quite.
— How so?
— You see, my grandmother on my mother’s side was half Polish. I sympathise with the Russians on the whole.
— Have you been doing this for a long time?
— Always. It’s a family tradition.

We know these family traditions. We experienced them in 1914. We have now seen how tenacious they are. Lieutenant Schackert wants to pass them on to his son, Otto. These traditions must be put to an end.

I’m not saying that you can make the Germans’ memory disappear. But let them remember more than 1914 and 1941. Let them memorise the year, month, date when we entered Berlin, and this time quite straightforwardly, without knocking and without any pretense.

-o0o-

We don’t bluff, we strike. We didn’t shout all over the world about “Tigers” and “Panthers”. We built excellent tanks that beat the “Tigers”. We are not beating the drum for a weapon, we produced it. We do not come up with theatrical effects. We have not experimented with and built robot bombs that can kill hundreds of women. We do not fantasise about “psychological attacks”: we are not interested in the psyche of the Germans, but in their perishable bodies. And it is this body that we are working on. We know that the Germans cannot be brought to reason, and we fight them not with declarations, but with grenade launchers. We attack so fiercely because we have grown tired of the Germans: we want to get rid of them once and for all. We want to live. It is quite simple, and this is the secret of our offensive. Our hearts say “the fourth year”. And we do everything, so that there will be no fifth. Our troops rush forward with the thought: “There may not be a fourth winter”. We are seized with a tremendous impatience. We are advancing because we are standing on the borders of Germany. We are on our way there. We rush forward to meet the loveliest of all girls: Justice. A wounded grenadier said to me: “What a pity … they say I’ll have to stay in bed for a whole month.” I tried to console him, saying that we’d have to do without him. He says angrily: “I have to go to Berlin… they’ve murdered my wife …” We move forward so quickly because not only this grenadier, but all of us have an irresistible urge to get to Berlin. And now we all know: we’ll be there soon.

Ilya Ehrenburg, 1944

Deres traditioner

Foran mig ligger et brev, Løjtnant Rudolf Schackert har skrevet. Se her, hvad denne tyske officer, der befinder sig på et hospital bag fronten, har at sige:

“Du vil forstå mig, kære Ernst, mit hjerte er ved at briste. Mens du sad i det høje nord, var jeg med i kampene om Krim. Mine bedste venner bukkede under der. Vi husker fra skoleårene, at jord, der har drukket tysk blod er tysk Jord, men åbenbart bliver Krim snart evakueret. Hans Tilt taler kun om eet – han kan ikke udholde, at Sjitomir (Zhitomir) blev evakueret. Jeg trøster mig med det ene, at vi med vort blod, de bedstes blod, har gjort Krav på disse lande, og selv om plutokraternes forræderiske fremfærd skulle bevirke, at vi taber denne krig, vil Tyskland aldrig glemme, at dets børn var i Ukraine og Sevastopol. Volga kan man betegne som et felttog, men Ukraine og Krim det er erobringer. Hvis jeg kommer igennem det vil jeg fortælle Otto om Krims haver, og han vil drømme om den tid da han bliver stor og kan vinde det tabte tilbage. Jeg har en følelse af, at en Hundredeårskrig er begyndt; sikkert bliver der pauser, men vi skal nok komme ovenpå …”

Jeg beder læserne tænke over Rudolf Schackerts Brev. Han er ikke ene om at drømme om nye krige: den slags tyskere er der mange af. Det er ikke nok, at vi jager tyskerne ud. Vi må også til Tyskland. Det er nødvendigt for de kommende generationers skæbne. Vi skal vænne Tyskerne af med meget – og det går ikke med prædikener og taler.

Det værste ville være, om man troede på den ersatz af angertårer, der allerede bliver lavet i Das Reich. Hvordan Tyskland vil optræde dagen efter det endelige nederlag, det kan man se af, hvordan fangne Tyskere optræder. Her er en af de sidst indkomne fanger:

— Navn?
— Fritz Lauter.
— Profession?
— Kontormand.
— Tysker?
— Ikke helt.
— Hvordan det?
— Ser De, min bedstemoder på mødrene side var halvt polsk. Jeg sympatiserer i det hele taget med russerne.
— Har De gjort det længe?
— Altid. Det er en familietradition.

Vi kender disse familietraditioner. Vi oplevede dem i 1914. Vi har nu set, hvor sejglivede de er. Løjtnant Rudolf Schackert vil føre dem videre til sin søn, Otto Schackert. Der må sættes en stopper for disse traditioner.

Jeg siger ikke, at man kan få tyskernes hukommelse til at forsvinde. Men lad dem så få mere end 1914 og 1941 at huske på. Lad dem indprente sig det år, den måned, den dato, da vi rykkede ind i Berlin, og denne gang ganske ligefremt, uden at banke på og uden omsvøb.

-o0o-

Vi bluffer ikke, vi slår til. Vi skrålede ikke ud over hele verden om “Tigre” og”Pantre”. Vi byggede ypperlige tanke, som slår “Tigrene”. Vi slår ikke på reklametrommen for et våben, vi producerede det. Vi kommer ikke med teatralske effekter. Vi har ikke eksperimenteret med og bygget robotbomber, som kan dræbe hundreder kvinder. Vi fantaserer ikke om “psykologiske angreb”: vi er ikke interesserede i tyskernes psyke, men i deres forgængelige krop. Og det er denne krop, vi bearbejder. Vi ved, at tyskerne ikke kan bringes til fornuft, og vi slås mod dem, ikke med erklæringer, men med granatkastere. Vi angriber så voldsomt, fordi vi er blevet trætte af tyskerne: vi vil gøre det endeligt af med dem. Vi vil leve. Det er ganske simpelt, og dette er hemmeligheden ved vor offensiv. Vore hjerter siger “fjerde år”. Og vi gør alt. for at det ikke skal komme et femte. Vore tropper sprænger frem med tanken: “Der bliver måske ikke nogen fjerde vinter”. Vi er grebet af en vældig utålmodighed. Vi går frem, fordi vi står ved Tysklands grænser. Vi er på vej dertil. Vi iler frem for at møde den dejligste af alle Piger: vi skynder os til møde med Retfærdigheden. En såret granatskytte sagde til mig: “Hvilken jammer … de siger, at jeg skel ligge i sengen en hel måned.” Jeg prøvede at trøste ham med at man nok skulle klare sig uden ham. Han siger hidsigt: “Jeg må til Berlin … de har myrdet min kone …” Vi går frem så hurtigt, fordi ikke blot denne granatkasterskytte, men vi alle nærer en ubetvingelig trang til at komme til Berlin. Og nu ved vi alle: vi er der snart.