Orders

Part of Wilfred Kemsley’s Anthology exploring the nature of the Holocaust, and its impact on the modern world.

.

A dictator dictates and creates a statement

To induce a nation into a state of spies

And a corrupt institution

Not corrupt but efficient

.

Efficacy should not be mixed with feelings

Or emotive reasoning

But it is plain to see

from the same seats that you and me sit

What this idea could be or would be yet.

.

Follow orders

Taught from across borders

Because foreign lands will not remain foreign under a new reign or order

That fought for the right to control the sort of

Small aspects of life or living quarters

But you were just following orders  

.

Join the SS and progress

Through the ranks of society and social process

Become the subject of an empire  that you can shape and subdue

To become your vessel of success

Join for men to marry of wives to carry

Join to see the world and travel happy

Knowing that you are serving your sovereign nation  

Serving your country

.

Did you join for Genocide?

No, you joined for a better life.

You joined for all the right reasons

But were any of the reasons right?

Now don’t you be so quick to judge

it was flee or fight

But to take flight would mean abandoning my home

There was no end in sight.

There was no finish line

I joined for good money, and to see the sights

.

Post me to paris,

To visit france and all it carries

I was just tourist,

I didn’t want to kill, I wanted happiness

I was only serving my country follow orders or be shot

It wasn’t one man’s wrong decision, it was a lot

Some say that i was brainwashed

.

But i don’t think i was?

I was doing what was right

For my country, for my Rieche

For my friends and my family

They just wanted to be fine, more than fine

We were the chosen people

We were divine, Right?

.

I was only following orders

I didn’t march them through the snow because I wanted it for them

Did they really feel the same emotions as me?

That’s not what i was told

My orders were simple

Yes, I knew it was cold

.

What could I have done

Started a revolution? What for fun?

See my family be driven to the death camps for what?

Where could i have run?

I Was earning a living for my wife

I was protecting my son

.

I was only following orders

To kill, or to join the slaughter

I didn’t sign up for murder

I signed up out of boredom

Or to serve my country

I was told that was was the greatest thing that I could do!

Look me in the eye and say ‘you’d act differently if it was you

Because we know the truth

.

Does that make you evil?

No! That’s not what it did to them

These were actions undertaken by more than just a few men

Does this excuse their actions? Of course not

But we must look to understand the orders that were followed

They weren’t all monsters

That’s what we forgot

.

They just followed their orders,

And the men above them followed there’s.

Maybe next time we can spot the orders

That are much more than unfair.

They were following there orders

That’s what many of them said

And this was true,

Though some did believe in the system they were part of then

.

But Regardless

Orders were orders

Their motivations were mixed

We do not seek to forgive

But to understand and fix

Fix the problems faced by a socially constructed society

Driven to the suicide of morals and humanity
.

These are my orders

To anyone who would care to listen

Men are capable of all hell

Next time

We will stop the orders from ever being given