On This Tuesday

On This Tuesday (An diesem Dienstag) by Wolfgang Borchert Translated from the German into English by Kristel Smith - Indiana Academy Project of the GER 403 History of German Literature class Ball State University - Spring Semester 2003

On This Tuesday The week has one Tuesday. The year has half a hundred. The war has many Tuesdays. On this Tuesday they were practicing capital letters in school. The teacher was wearing glasses with thick lenses. They were rimless. They were so thick, that her eyes looked very soft. Forty-two girls sat in front of the blackboard and wrote in capital letters: OLD FRITZ1 HAD A GOBLET MADE OF TIN. BIG BERTHA2 COULD SHOOT ALL THE WAY TO PARIS. IN WAR ALL FATHERS ARE SOLDIERS. Ulla was touching the tip of her nose with her tongue. The teacher bumped against her. You wrote Krieg (war) ending with ch. Krieg (war) ends with g. G as in Grube (pit, trench). How many times have I already told you this? The teacher took out a book and made a check under Ulla's name. For tomorrow write the sentence ten times, neatly and cleanly. Do you understand? Yes, said Ulla and thought: She and her glasses. On the playground the crows ate the discarded bread. On this Tuesday Lieutenant Ehlers was summoned to the battalion commander. You have to take off your scarf, Mr. Ehlers. Major, sir? Yes, Ehlers. Such things are not popular in the second. I'm being assigned to the second company? Yes, and they don't like such things. You can't get away with it there. The second is used to correctness. With the red scarf, the company won't look up to you. Captain Hesse doesn't wear such things. Is Hesse wounded? No, he has reported sick. He didn't feel well, he said. Since he made captain, he's a somewhat half-hearted, Hesse. I don't understand him. He was always such a model soldier. Well, Ehlers, see to it that you get on with the company. Hesse trained them well. And you'll remove the scarf, is that clear? Completely major, sir. And make sure that the people are careful with their cigarettes. Every sniper's trigger finger has to itch when he sees these lightning bugs whirling about. Last week we had five head shots. So you be a little careful, got it? Yes, Major, sir. On the way to the second company, Lieutenant Ehlers removed his red scarf. He lit a cigarette. He said aloud, company commander Ehlers. Then there was a shot. On this Tuesday Mr. Hanson said to Miss Severin: We have to send Hesse something again, little Miss Severin. Something to smoke, something to nibble on, a little literature. A pair of gloves or something of that nature. The boys have a damned cold winter out there. I am familiar with that. Thanks a lot. Hölderlin perhaps, Mr. Hanson? Nonsense, little Miss Severin. Nonsense. No, something a bit lighter. Wilhelm Busch4 or so. Hesse preferred light reading. He likes to laugh, you know that. My God, little Miss Severin, how Hesse can laugh! Yes, that he can, said Miss Severin. On this Tuesday Captain Hesse was carried on a stretcher into the delousing estab- lishment. On the door was a sign If General, If Grenadier: The Hair Remains Here. He was shorn. The orderly had thin fingers, like spider legs. His knuckles were a little flushed. They rubbed him down with something from the pharmacy. Then the spider legs took his pulse and wrote it down in a thick book: Temperature 106.8, pulse 116. Unconscious. Suspicion of spotted fever. The orderly closed the thick book. Plague Hospital Smolensk5 was on the cover. And under that: fourteen hundred beds. The stretcher bearers picked it up. On the stairs his head popped out from under the blankets and swang to and fro with every step. And shaved short. And he had always laughed at the Russians. One of the bearers had the sniffles. On this Tuesday Mrs. Hesse rang her neighbor's doorbell. When the door opened, she was waving a letter. He was promoted to captain. Captain and company commander, he writes. And it is 40 below zero. It took nine days for the letter to arrive. He addressed the letter to Mrs. Captain Hesse. She held the letter high. But the neighbor didn't look at it. 40 below, she said, the poor boys. 40 degrees below zero. On this Tuesday the head field doctor asked the head doctor of the military hospital in Smolensk: How many are there every day? Half a dozen. That's awful, said the head field doctor. Yes, awful, said the head doctor of the hospital. At the same time, they didn't look at oneanother. On this Tuesday they played the Magic Flute6. Mrs. Hesse had put on her red lipstick. On this Tuesday Nurse Elisabeth wrote to her parents: Without God it's not possible to get through this. But when the doctor came, she stood up. He walked so bent over, as if he were carrying all of Russia through the hall. Should I give him something?, asked the nurse?. No, the doctor replied. He spoke so softly, as if he were ashamed. Then they carried out Captain Hesse. There was a bumping noise outside. They always bang around so. Why can't they lay the dead down softly. Every time they let them crash to the ground. Someone said that. And his neighbor sang softly: Zicke, zacke, juppheidi Dashing is the infantry. The doctor went from bed to bed. Every day. Day and night. Day after day. All night long. He walked bent over. He carried all of Russia with him through the hall. Outside two stretcher bearers with an empty stretcher stumbled. Number four, said the one. He had the sniffles. On this Tuesday Ulla sat in the evening and wrote in her exercise book in capital letters: IN WAR ALL FATHERS ARE SOLDIERS. IN WAR ALL FATHERS ARE SOLDIERS. She wrote this ten times. In capital letters. And Krieg (war) with G. Like Grube (pit).

Footnotes:
1. Der "Alte Fritz", Old Fritz: nickname of the Prussian King Friedrich II (1740-1786).
2. Big Bertha, "Dicke Berta": a large German cannon.
3. Friedrich Hölderlin: a famous German poet (1770-1843).
4. Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908): an early cartoonist, painter, and one of the most beloved of all German poets; famous for pairing cartoons with humorous verses.
5. Smolensk: Russian city west of Moscow.
6. The Magic Flute: opera by W.A. Mozart.