my name is lisa kalvelage, i was born in nuremberg and when the trials were held there 19 years ago it seemed to me ridiculous to hold a nation all to blame for the horrors that the world did undergo a short while later when i applied to be a gi bride an american councilor official questioned me he refused my exit permit, said my answer did not show that i learned my lesson about responsibility then suddenly i was forced to start thinking on this theme and later when i was permitted to immigrate i must have been asked a 100 times where i was, what i did in those years when hitler ruled our state i said i was a child, or at most a teenager but that only continued the questioning they'd ask where were my parents, my father, my mother and to this i could not answer a thing a seed planted there in neurenberg '47 started to sprout and grow gradually i understood what that verdict meant to me when there are crimes that i can see and know and now i also know what it is to be charged with mass guilt once in a life time is enough for me no i couldn't take it for a second time and that's why i'm here today the events of may 25th, the day of our protest put a small balance weight on the other side and hopefully some day my contribution to peace will help just a bit to turn the tide perhaps i can tell it to my children 6 and later on, their own children and at least in the future they need not be silent when they're asked, where was your mother when my name is lisa kalvelage (i wonder, where was my mother then)
Ani DiFranco Lyrics brought to you by danah boyd since 1995