I knew them only from the few old photographs
that my Mother had brought with her
from Germany in 1939
They were shadowy figures,
they belonged to the past
As long as I could remember
I had known that
like my own parents,
my grandparents’ marriage
was not a happy one
One day I asked my mother
when did she first realize that
her parents were unhappily married?She said:
“It was when I was very young
perhaps three or four
my brother was not yet born…
I think it must have been
something to do with money…
It was the time of the inflation,
my father’s business had gone bankrupt
and my maternal grandfather
was supporting the family”
She could remember the day
“we were at home in Lutherstrasse
I was playing with my dolls
in my hiding place under the table
I heard my parents’ raised voices,
they did not know I was there
and that I could see them …”

“My mother’s voice was shrill
she was making a scene
I saw her snatch
at my father’s gold pocket-watch
and tear it from his waistcoat
and throw it to the floor
where she stamped and stamped on it.
“I can still remember the scene
and how I felt
to be a witness
and I wondered if I was to blame.”