Another powerful song that feels fitting for the times. This is Bertolt Brecht’s “Easter Day” set to music by Hans Eisler. Brecht wrote this in 1938 on a small island in Denmark, having fled Germany after Hitler came to power.
This is the version sung by Robyn Archer (I’m not sure who made this translation):
Frühling 1938 / I
Heute, Ostersonntag früh
Ging ein plötzlicher Schneesturm über die Insel.
Zwischen den grünenden Hecken lag Schnee. Mein junger Sohn
Holte mich zu einem Aprikosenbäumchen an der Hausmauer
Von einem Vers weg, in dem ich auf diejenigen mit dem Finger deutete
Die einen Krieg vorbereiteten, der
Den Kontinent, diese Insel, mein Volk, meine Familie und mich
Vertilgen mag. Schweigend
Legten wir einen Sack
Über den frierenden Baum.
Today, early on Easter Sunday,
A sudden snowstorm passed over the island.
Snow lay between the pale green hedges. My young son
Came and led me to a little apricot tree leaning against the wall of the house,
Taking me away from a line of poetry in which I was pointing a finger at those
Who were preparing this war, which must
Destroy this continent, this island, my people, and my family and me.
Silently,
We placed a piece of sacking
around the freezing tree.
(translation by Sharon Krebs)
More about the poem, and another version of the song here: https://www.liederabend.cat/…/entrades/1214-easter-sunday.
Note that (in 1942) Eisler changes “Vertilgen mag” (“may destroy”) in Brecht’s original text to the stronger “Vertilgen muß” (“must destroy”) – see https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=70251.