Joel Alvarado

March 7, 2015

LEH 355

No Time" (Keine Zeit), music by Rudolf Nelson, lyrics by Herbert Nelson

English:

Nowadays, a person doesn't have a second to spare.
Yet many even think the pace is too slow.
If you do business today, you go bankrupt before you have even started.
People don't want to waste time with the beginning,
they'd rather skip straight to the end.
In this day and age, you fall in love in the evening, are engaged at night,
and get married the next morning.
At noon you have a fight; by night you're divorced.
In negotiations between countries, before a treaty is evened signed,
it's already broken.
Because nowadays it is considered chic to be quick.

German:

Man laesst sich weit und breit heut nicht mehr Sekunde Zeit heut.
Es geht im Gegenteil uns noch zu langsam fast.
Machst du Geschaefte heute, bist du bereits schon pleite, bevor du ueberhaupt noch angefangen hast.
Man moecht am liebsten, ja das soll’s geben, das Ende noch vor Beginne leben.
Heut verliebt man sich abends, verlobt sich bei Nacht und vermaehlt in der Frueh sich zufriede und am Mittag da hat man bereits sich verkracht und am Abend ist man wieder geschieden.

This particular song implies that in the early 1920’s, everything was fast paced and people were always in a rush. The artist felt like society did not take the time to appreciate the important things that really mattered. The artist also felt like the economy was impacted tremendously negative, therefore he felt like even the banks were not reliable. To reinforce that thought, he stated that the society was going at such a tremendous rate that people not take the time to get to know each other and some parts of his song, it is conveyed that people are getting engaged and married in one day and then divorce and separate the next day. This also expresses how the artist felt in regards to a society not having a good sense of organization.

"It's All a Swindle" (Alles Schwindel), by Mischa Spoliansky and Marcellus Schiffer (1931)

English:

Papa swindles
Mama swindles
Grandmama's a lying thief
We're perfectly shameless
but we're blameless
after all it's our belief
Nowadays the world is rotten
honesty has been forgotten
fall in love but after kissing --
check your purse to see what's missing
Everyone swindles some
my son's a mooch and so's the pooch

German:

Papa schwindelt,
Mama schwindelt,
tut sie auf blob ihren Mund!
Tante Otilie,
und die Familie
und sogar der kleine Hund!
Und besieht man’s aus der Nähe:
Jedes Band und jede Ehe
jeder Kub in dern Betriebe
und sogar die grobe Liebe!
Und die ganze heut’ge Zeit ja,
sogar die Ehrlichkeit!

This particular song, "It's All a Swindle" was stating that everyone was a liar and a thief including her family members. She felt like nobody was trust trustworthy, she also feels like of everybody has become selfish and only cared about him or her. In her song, she implies that her mother cheats and steals, her father cheats and everybody around her was a lying and cheating their way through. I believe that she had a traumatic experience growing up, she probably saw much corruption; therefore, she is unable to trust and believe in anyone. She also states that there is no shame in doing what these people were doing and that it was perfectly normal to encounter those behaviors. Another important aspect of the song was that love was highly unusual and that there was no trust. She also stated that the once a person finished being with their partner, they had to check their purses to make sure nothing is missing. I personally believe that there was a high level of uncertainty amongst society, and that people were not really concerned with feelings or emotions.

paragraph 175

A national prohibition, Paragraph 175, was added to the Reich Penal Code in 1871. It read:1

"An unnatural sex act committed between persons of male sex or by humans with animals is punishable by imprisonment; the loss of civil rights might also be imposed."

When the Nazi's came to power in 1933, they put a halt to efforts seeking reform of this law. In 1935, after the murder of Ernst Roem, the NSDAP amended the Paragraph 175 to close what were seen as loopholes in the current law.

The new law had three parts:

Paragraph 175:

"A male who commits a sex offense with another male or allows himself to be used by another male for a sex offense shall be punished with imprisonment. Where a party was not yet twenty-one years of age at the time of the act, the court may in especially minor cases refrain from punishment."

Paragraph 175a:

"Penal servitude up to 10 years or, where there are mitigating circumstances, imprisonment of not less than three months shall apply to: (1) a male who, with violence or the threat of violence to body and soul or life, compels another male to commit a sex offense with him or to allow himself to be abused for a sex offense; (2) a male who, by abusing a relationship of dependence based upon service, employment or subordination, induces another male to commit a sex offense with him or to allow himself to be abused for a sex offense; (3) a male over 21 years of age who seduces a male person under twenty-one years to commit a sex offense with him or to allow himself to be abused for a sex offense; (4) a male who publicly commits a sex offense with males or allows himself to be abused by males for a sex offense or offers himself for the same."

Paragraph 175b:

"An unnatural sex act committed by humans with animals is punishable by imprisonment; the loss of civil rights might also be imposed."

Paragraph 175 is a criminal code that incriminates those men who perform sexual behaviors amongst each other. This law incarcerated thousands of men that practice this odd behavior. The Nazi regime executed many of these individuals during the Holocaust. Understanding the importance of paragraph 175 during that time was important because the lives of those that was an important A necessity coma the reason why I stayed is because it targeted many innocent individuals. I believe that stripping the civil rights of many of those individuals was another difficult circumstance of the people were living in that era. Society was very unjust and because of that, many innocent citizens were being targeted because of their sexual preference. The conditions of government intervention with society were very high in that time because the society was being controlled and manipulated by the government.