Ein Deutsches Wiegenlied (A German Lullaby, 54" x 36")
Docent Guide
The title of the painting may be related to a cryptic German lullaby of the sort reproduced below. The visual text of this painting relates to an event reported in Auschwitz, in the proceedings against Robert Karl Ludwig Mulka and others, members of the SS administration at Auschwitz, in Frankfurt am Main, December 20, 1963. It is perhaps a cryptic reference to the text of a German lullaby that refers to sleeping children.
The testimony at the trial of 20 SS men related an event from a morning in February, 1943. A group of between 30 and 40 children arrived from Zamosc, a small town in Poland to the Auschwitz camp. They were allowed to play in Block 20. In the afternoon, an order was given to kill the children. They were led into the washrooms, told to undress and were murdered with Phenol injections into the heart by SS Medical orderlies Scherpe and Hantl. Klodinski, a witness, recalled that all he heard were thumps of the children's bodies falling against the floor. Scherpe was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months at hard labor, Hantl to 3 years.
Hirschberger's painting depicts this murder of a small girl. A can of Phenol is at the above right. One of the Nazi perpetrators is shown with a syringe in his left hand. Hirschberger, of course, did not witness this. Thus, while the painting serves as an illustration of the event, it also recalls what the camera did not see.
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf.
Der Vater hut't die Schaf.
Die Mutter schuttelt's Baumelein,
Da fallt herab ein Traumelein.
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf!
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf.
Am Himmel ziehn die Schaf.
Die Sternlein sind die Lammerlein,
Der Mond, der ist das Schaferlein.
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf!
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf.
So schenk' ich dir ein Schaf.
Mit einer goldnen Schelle fein,
Das soll dein Spielgeselle sein.
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf.
Sleep, baby, sleep.
Your father tends the sheep.
Your mother shakes the branches small,
Lovely dreams in showers fall.
Sleep, baby, sleep.
Sleep, baby, sleep.
Across the heavens move the sheep.
The little stars are lambs, I guess,
And the moon is the shepherdess.
Sleep, baby, sleep.
Sleep, baby, sleep.
I'll give to you a sheep.
And it shall have a bell of gold
For you to play with and to hold.
Sleep, baby, sleep.
Another example of a lullaby may be this one by Theodor Storm with the same last line as Hirschberger's painting.
Es liegen Wald und Heide
Es liegen Wald und Heide
Im stillen Sonnenschein.
Wir hätten gerne Frieden;
Doch ist es nicht beschieden,
Gestritten soll es sein.
Nun gilt es zu marschieren
In festem Schritt und Tritt:
Der Krieg ist losgelassen,
Er schreitet durch die Gassen,
Er nimmt uns alle mit!
So leb denn wohl, lieb Mutter!
Die Trommel ruft ins Glied.
Mir aber in Herzensgrunde
Erklingt zu dieser Stunde
Ein deutsches Wiegenlied.
Translated as:
Forest and field are lying
Silent in the sunshine
We would like to have peace
But it's not meant to be
Marching is supposed to be
So marching it is now
With firm step
The war is let loose
It is is approaching through the passages
Taking us all along
So, farewell then dear mother
The drum is calling us into line
But in my heart
In this hour
I hear German lullaby
- Theodor Storm, North Frisian poet and novelist (1817--1888) whose craft of fiction grew out of his lyric verse and who was an outstanding representative of German Poetic Realism.