War And Peace - Ww2 - Wilhelm Furtwangler, Anti-Nazi Poem by Paul Warren

Wilhelm Furtwängler was a German concert and operatic conductor
Who was prominent in Germany when Hitler was their mentor
With Hitler preaching racism, persecution and murder in the world
He stayed helping Jewish musicians to survive as the swastika was unfurled
When all seemed lost in the Anschluss for Austrian music to last
He argued with Goebbels for them to keep musical treasures of their past
To do this meant concert parties were conducted by him for them
Used by Goebbels for Nazi propaganda purposes to the world to send

When Hitler and Goebbels offered him a jeweled golden baton
And a life pension for 40,000 German marks each year to spend
He refused and was threatened with a concentration camp and not the money
He said, "In that case Her Reichskanzler at least I will be in good company"
Hitler left the room without uttering a further word exasperated
In these times he stood against the Nazis and it can't be overrated
He fled to Switzerland in January 1945 as a member of the Resistance with the Gestapo closing by
And waited out the war whilst Hitler shot and poisoned himself to die

He was put on trial at the end of the war denazification trials decided
That he wasn't a pro-Nazi and knowingly used in propaganda divided
Although others in the world could not understand why he stayed
When he could have left Germany in the right as it is weighed
The question in the end is what you would do at a time
When your country was brutal and being Jewish was a crime?
Would you run away and keep yourself safe from Himmler's breach
Or would you stay keeping the best of your culture safe from Nazi reach?

© Paul Warren Poetry