Poem Adele Haas

It was Thursday morning, September 12, 1935, between noon and one o'clock.

I was visiting my poor mother for a few hours,

who was very worried about me. I went to town in the morning,

and came home at lunchtime and wanted to buy some fruit.

I immediately left my mother's kitchen and entered the hallway,

There was a man in the hallway who was a stranger to me. He asked me “Are you called Haas?

That's right!

I'm a detective! You must come with me!

O! Freedom! How beautiful you are! So beautiful!

The dutiful man arrested me,

and brought me to the criminal department, where I was questioned,

and was derisively laughed at.

Suddenly a second man saw me and asked me

“Since when have you been on the prowl?”

I suddenly became quite embarrassed,

I couldn't give an answer at the moment,

but finally I asked: “Sir, do you mean me?”

Yes, of course! Who else do you think?

And why do you think you have been brought here?

You gave an STD to two gentlemen in Cologne.

I ask you politely! Do not speak first,

I did not commit this crime,

I was only arrested innocently,

I want to see the judge immediately.

And when the trial was finally over,

I was taken across the street to police headquarters,

and there, as I had already been told

I was placed in a prison cell hold.

But before that, without a second thought,

my handbag was simply taken from me,

I lay down on the plank bed,

O! Dear ones, I was completely without sense.

I often heard quiet walking outside the cell,

and often saw someone standing at the door window,

I begged God so often,

that he would come for me immediately.

Suddenly the door was opened,

2 men came rushing in,

They led me to the 2nd floor,

Suddenly I was sitting in the photographic studio compartment.

At the request of the judge in Cologne,

I was fingerprinted like a criminal,

This is what those heartless people did to me.

Then I was photographed three times,

then led down into the courtyard,

where I had to stand in the middle of the courtyard,

all the officers could see me through the windows.

Oh, if only they had shot me right there,

my blood soon ran out of my heart,

Then I was photographed again,

and --- again --- taken away.

And when I came into the hallway,

my youngest good sister Friedel (and her husband) my brother-in-law Pedi looked at me.

I rubbed my eyes dry at first,

because my heart soon stopped with joy at the sight of the two of them.

They both comforted me,

but my heart was spinning in my stomach.

I could tell by the way the officer was talking,

there were three Schupos waiting for me.

But suddenly I was told to go,

and I saw an open police car through the hallway window.

I lay down on the bench in the car,

Oh, my dears, now I was completely senseless.

After a short drive, the car stopped,

and I had to go into court,

There I was taken to the public prosecutor,

He read to me, what the Cologne court thought of me.

And then, to my utter horror,

what did I discover?

I was taken away again,

and put in prison in the house of suffering, horror and misery.

My dear sister Friedel, with a gloomy mind,

accompanied me as far as the prison yard,

and then she had to leave me!

What happened next, my great suffering,

I cannot possibly write down here.

Every person, known, a stranger, but much less my own people,

must weep bitterly as they read these lines,

because anyone who feels no pain for me

has no heart for anyone.

I myself must no longer think of this suffering,

and I don't want to offend anyone else.

And then, dear ones, you can believe me,

no man shall rob another of their freedom,

for I know it, I have unfortunately endured it,

unjustly!

O! Freedom! How beautiful you are! so beautiful.

I wrote this on Sunday morning, September 22, 35

Behind bars in Coblenz. A. Haas