My name is Lisa Kalvelage, I was born in Nuremberg
And when the trials were held there nineteen years ago
It seemed to me ridiculous to hold a nation all to blame
For the horrors that the world did undergoA short while later when I applied to be a G. I. bride
An American consular official questioned me
He refused my exit permit, said my answers did not show
I'd learned my lesson about responsibilityThus suddenly, I was forced to start thinking on this theme
And when later I was permitted to emigrate
I must have been asked a hundred times, where I was and what I did
In those years when Hitler ruled our stateI said, I was a child or at most a teenager
But that only extended the questioning
They'd ask, where were my parents, my father, my mother
And to this I could answer not a thingThe seed planted there at Nuremberg in 1947
Started to sprout and to grow
Gradually, I understood what that verdict meant to me
When there are crimes that I can see and I can knowAnd now I also know what it is to be charged with mass guilt
Once in a lifetime is enough for me
No, I could not take it for a second time
And that is why I am here todayThe events of May 25th, the day of our protest
Put a small balance weight on the other side
Hopefully, someday my contribution to peace
Will help just a bit to turn the tideAnd perhaps I can tell my children six
And later on their own children
That at least in the future they need not be silent
When they are asked, "Where was your mother, when?"
Songwriters
P. SEEGERPublished by
Lyrics © THE BICYCLE MUSIC COMPANY Song Discussions is protected by U.S. Patent 9401941. Other patents pending.