TRANSLATION INTERPRETATION EMAN TO ELISE JANUARLY 25, 1918

Eman Robitschek to Frida Robitschek - June 8, 1917

Transcription and translation by Werner Sepper.


	Er wehrte Rast dem Wegesmüden Und irrt nun landlos durch die Zeit. - Ahaswer?* nein der Weltenfrieden, Der todte Gast der Menschlichkeit. Die Thräne folgt dem Büsserschritte, Und Blut erfüllt den Saatengrund, Des Mähers kalten Sensenschnitte Erschliess sich Hades bleicher Schlund. Muss ewig sich der Himmel bläuen, Verirrtem Geist und schwankem Sinn, Natur die Weltenkraft erneuern, Nicht Weltenglückes Künderin? Die trübste Nacht weicht lichter Helle, Des Sturmes Grimm der Sonne Weil', Wir schreiten hin zur Friedensquelle, Gesundet sie das Herz uns neu?

	He refused a resting place to the tired one And now wanders aimlessly through the times Ahasver?* No, it is the peace of the world, The dead guest of humanity. The tear follows the penitent's steps, Blood soaks the fields of grain, The reaper's cold scythe cuts Opened Hades bleached maw. Must heavens be blue eternally, Straying spirit and vacillating mind, Nature renewing the world's power, Is it not the harbinger of the worlds fortune? The darkest night yields to brilliant light, The grimness of the storm to sun's sojourn, We stride towards the spring of peace, Will it heal our heart anew? *Wandering Jew

Though the wanderer in the poem is initially identified as being male, it is a woman wearing an impractical garment who is shown descending to the spring of peace in search of renewal. Happily, her feet are large and built for the journey.
On the address side of the card, Eman uses a label of the Deutschnationaler Verein für Österreich (German National Association for Austria) that pictures a woman in a then modern hair style. The oak leaf embellishments around the portrait leave little doubt that the lady represented is Germania, the feminine embodiment of German culture and nationalism. The implication is that the lady on the front of the card also represents Germania, in her most open and vulnerable form, in search of the spring of peace on behalf of the entire Germanic world.

Germania in the context of Eman's work.
How Eman used the labels of the German Bunds.

	Es hat der russischen Staatsumwälzung, welche den Czaren zum Gefangenen des Volkes machte, nicht bedurft, um die von England pomphaft in die Welt gesetzen Kriegsziele der Westmächte als eine Ausgeburt übersetzter Wahnvorstellungen erkennen zu lassen. Die Kraft der siegreichen Mittelmächte war stark genug sie jedes Haltes zu entkleiden. Aber jene Bewegung zeigt von Tag zu Tag klarer, dass die Worthelden in London, Paris und Rom nicht die Stimmführer des Volkes sind und dass die Völker aller Staaten, die in den seit drei Jahren entfesselten Weltkampf hineingezerrt wurden, auch ohne Eroberungen und zu erkämpfende Vorteile einen Frieden ersehnen, die ihre Staarsehere unangetastet lässt. Und ein solcher Friede ist auf dem Wege.

	It was not necessary to have a Russian state upheaval, which made the Tsar a prisoner of the people, to recognize the pompous dec- larations of the war aims by the Western Powers as a transformed monstrous birth of lunatic ideas. The powers of the victorious Central Powers were strong enough to unmask them of any preten- sions. But by that agitation it is clearly shown, day by day, that the word heroes in London, Paris and Rome do not represent the voice of the people and that the peoples of all states, that were forced into the three year old world fight, yearn for peace eyen without conquests and hard-won advantages, one that leaves their states honor untouched. And such a peace is underway.

The second political label on the address side of the card is a 2 heller stamp issued by the Bund der Deutschen Südmährens (League of Germans in South Moravia). South Moravia was then in what was northern Austria and regions immediately to its north. The League defended German language and culture, promoted instruction in German, and worked towards political unification with Germany.
In June of 1917, when Eman wrote this card, the likely fate of Germans in South Moravia was far from clear. South Moravia was destined to suffer more casualties than any other Axis region. All its ethnic groups were positioning themselves for the end of the war. Russia was faltering and it's government would soon be overthrown, so German speakers in Austria and Moravia felt they had a strong hand, which is also reflected in Eman's essay.

Learn more about German South Moravia.

Eman, foreseeing the fall of Russia, thought that the public would demand peace from their leaders and support going back to the status quo prior to the outbreak of the war. His connections with the Südmährens propaganda stamp are three.
First, the myth of the implacable Teutonic knight, sends the message: "We will not bend; we will not fail." Second, it is direct moral and financial support for the Germans of South Moravia. Third, Eman is partner in a textile factory in Chotzen (Chocen, Chosen), northern Moravia, which had been taken over by the Austrian government to make war materials. See card of 20 April 1916.

	A note on label denomination You will notice that some labels shown on this website are denominated in specific currencies, such as hellers, as in the 2h example to the left. Others simply have a number with no currency specified. These are designed to be sold cross-border in two or more countries, most often Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia.
last revised: 26 MAY 2014