Tomorrow belongs to me

  

    Last night I saw a tv ad for a stage version of the musical 'Cabaret'. And it reminded me of one of the most powerful scenes I've ever seen in cinema.

        The plot of the film, based on a stage musical, based on a book by Christopher Isherwood - local lad, born just up the road at High Lane - centres around a cabaret in Germany, just before the nazis come to power. It's a typical musical, so unless you like that sort of thing give it a miss. The scene I'm on about, though, is fantastically powerful in an if-only-they-knew way.
         Picture the scene. A lovely tavern in the countryside. Honest, hard-working germans gather to eat and drink in the flower-bedecked garden. A young blond lad gets up and starts to sing;

 The sun on the meadow is summery warm
The stag in the forest runs free
But gathered together to greet the storm
Tomorrow belongs to me

          Aww. How sweet. All the old folk look on indulgently. Then the camera pans down. And he's wearing a Hitler Youth uniform. The song continues:

The branch on the linden is leafy and green
The Rhine gives its gold to the sea (Gold to the sea)
But somewhere a glory awaits unseen
Tomorrow belongs to me

            Uh -oh. He's singing about glory now. The other pubgoers are looking more animated. The song continues;

The babe in his cradle is closing his eyes
The blossom embraces the bee
But soon says the whisper, arise, arise
Tomorrow belongs to me
Tomorrow belongs to me 

            -And suddenly people are jumping to their feet and joining in. Lots of them are wearing nazi uniforms too. Voices grow more strident, eyes blaze with nationalistic fervour. They look determined, fanatical, staring into a future where they are the masters.

               One old bloke isn't impressed, though. He clutches his head. His expression says "Oh fuck, 

here we go again".

Now Fatherland, Fatherland, show us the sign
Your children have waited to see
The morning will come
When the world is mine
Tomorrow belongs to me
Tomorrow belongs to me
Tomorrow belongs to me
Tomorrow belongs to me

       Most everyone is on their feet now. singing with fervour. The little nazi fart slaps his hat on his head and throws out his arm in the fascist salute. And on they sing, lost in the rapture of victory and supremacy.

        The schwerpunkt here, to use a german expression, is that many germans were convinced they hadn't actually been beaten in the first world war. No, they had been 'stabbed in the back' by the 'November Criminals', rather than being battered from pillar to post by a British army that had mastered the infantry/tank/artillery/aircraft combination necessary to break the deadlock of the trenches. This delusion was promoted by the nazis. Consequently many germans were itching for a rematch. 

        It's pleasant, if you're of a vengeful disposition, to dwell on these people's probable fate fourteen years later. The old ones weeping among the ruins left behind by the RAF raids, the young ones mostly dead. Lost the rematch as well.

          

        Ironically, it's not a genuine nazi song either. It was written especially for the movie, by two jewish blokes.  And it's catchier than the Horst Wessel Lied. Check it out here