Johann Wolfgang Goethe: Faust – Eine Tragödie. Published by Frederick Ungar, New York. The title page of this edition is stamped with: “Censored. Office of Intelligence & Censorship. Prisoner of War Camp. Camp Forrest, Tenn.” On the last page is another stamp: “Sold by PW Canteens Fort Niagara, n.Y.”. The book is my only inheritance from my maternal grandfather. It is charged with questions.
Why were German WW II prisoners of war taken as far as Tennessee? Why were they allowed to buy books? Why were did they get permission to perform a drama on stage? Who was this group, only upper class officers? Did they choose to play Faust? Did playing Faust reconfirm their identity? Did it make them question their most recent past? Was the play distraction or reflection? Who was in the audience when they played? How do former “Herrenmenschen” look in striped prison bird clothes? Why did uncle Sam treat his cousins like this? Where were the Japanese prisoners of war at the same time? Were the other fascists from the East also treated like this? Why did we get a trial, and the Japanese get the bomb? Nuremberg is in Germany, Nagasaki is not.