Memorial to the Future

It is no coincidence that the poet Volker von Törne was, for many years, the Director of Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste (Action for Atonement – Service for Peace), the German charitable organisation for education and reparation in countries throughout the world that have suffered under fascism and other oppressive regimes. His father had been a member of the SS in Germany in the Second World War, and as a consequence, his poetry is written from the perspective of someone who suffered, through no fault of his own, from terrible guilt after the war. This selection from von Toerne's collected poems is particularly significant in that it is a powerful and moving articulation of the psychological burden still carried by countless people today whose voices are not often heard, a burden which von Toerne's powerful, poignant and sometimes angry poetry helps us all the better to understand.

Volker von Törne was born in 1934 in Quedlinberg, Germany, the son of an SS officer. He taught at the university in Wilheimshaven-Rüstersel, then worked as a construction worker, before moving to Berlin where, in 1963, he was appointed the Managing Director of the charity Action Reconciliation, a post he held until his untimely death in 1981. In this role, he travelled throughout Eastern Europe and Israel, promoting reconciliation, understanding and peace through countless talks.