Friday, July 18, 2008

"Auch ich war ein Junglein mit lockigem Haar"

American GI meets German youth on the day Hiroshima was nuked: Win Stracke's war story in The Good War by Studs Terkel.

"On the very day we dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945, I was walking down a lovely German road.

"It was a beautiful time of the year.

"Everything was lush and green.

"I had decided to visit my brother - in - law, who was stationed in Bad Bischofsheim.

"I see a farm wagon approaching from a distance.

"There was a young German sitting on the crosstrees.

"His was virile and full of ginger.

"He was singing.

"I could barely hear him.

"As we came closer, I recognized the song.

"It was an aria from a German light opera, Der Waffenschmied -- The Armorer.

"I had sung the title role at the University of Chicago just a few months before I was drafted.

"As he finished the verse, [that starts] Auch ich war ein Jungleim mit lockigem Haar -- 'I was a young man with curly hair' -- I sang out and took the chorus away from him:


Ja
, das war eine gluckliche Zeit ...


"-- Yes, that was a wonderful time.

"I resisted the impulse to look at him.

"I kept my eyes straight ahead.

"I just wanted him to get the shock.

"I kept walking without giving him a glance.

"Finally, after about a quarter of a mile, I couldn't resist any more.

"I looked back.

"There he was staring at me.

"I felt he had been looking back at me all that time.

"Bewildered , I'm sure.

"He must have had a very rude awakening.

"It was a grand moment for me.

"I was showing him it was not only his culture, it was mine.

"It was the culture of anyone in the world who loved music.

"I came back from the war primarily concerned with making a living to support my new family.

"I studied voice, paid for by the GI Bill......"

According to his brief biographical sketch, Mr. Win Stracke finally became A Chicago balladeer, founder of the Old Town School of Folk Music.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home