So fern und doch so nah


We had been silent for a long time, and then my wife spoke: "I'd take out the part about shooting prisoners."
    "Why?" I asked.
    "Because it is cruel and unjust to shoot defenseless men in cold blood. It may have been done a few times, I'm not denying that, but it isn't typical. It couldn't have happened often."
    "Would a description of an air raid be better?" I asked. "Would that be more humane? Would that be more typical?"
    "Yes," she said. "Yes. That happened many times, I understand."
    "Is it crueler, then, for Captain Matlock to order prisoners shot, because he was merely stupid, and thought the circumstances warranted that, than for an aviator to bomb a town and kill harmless people who are not even fighting him?"
    "That isn't as revolting as shooting prisoners," said my wife stubbornly. Then she added: "You see the aviator cannot see where his bomb strikes, or what it does, so he is not really responsible. But the men in your story had the prisoners actually before them.... It's not the same thing, at all."
    I began to laugh with bitterness: "Possibly you are right," I said. "Possibly you have put into words something inescapable and true."
    Then my wife reached out and took my hand. "You think I'm hard and unsympathetic," she said; "but I'm not, really, darling."
http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/servlet/DCARead?standardNo=0817304800&standardNoType=1&excerpt=true



Das Leben des Soldaten war geordnet, die Ehe glücklich, die Kinder gesund. Jeden Morgen fuhr er zu einer nahe gelegenen Luftwaffenbasis im Südwesten derVereinigten Staaten, tat acht bis zehn Stunden Dienst und fuhr danach wieder nach Hause.
Typischer ist der Drohnenpilot, der es auf Dauer nicht erträgt, das Kampfgeschehen aus großer Ferne zu lenken und Leben auszulöschen, ohne je physisch dabei zu sein. Ohne den Gegner wirklich vor sich zu haben. Andere zerbrechen an dem Widerspruch, morgens und abends fürsorgliche Väter und Ehemänner zu sein und in den Stunden dazwischen eiskalte Kriegssoldaten. Nachmittags um vier per Knopfdruck eine todbringende Rakete abzufeuern und dann womöglich nur drei Stunden später den Kindern eine Gutenachtgeschichte vorzulesen – diesen extremen Wechsel zwischen zwei Welten können manche offenbar ebenso schlecht verdauen wie Einsatzsoldaten Dauerstress.


Company K is a 1933 novel by William March.
Companyk.jpg
AuthorWilliam March
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreNovel
PublisherSmith and Haas (USA) & Victor Gollancz Limited (UK)
Publication date
January 1933 (USA) & March 1933 (UK)
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages260 pp
ISBN978-0-8173-0480-5
OCLC20220797
813/.54 20
LC ClassPS3505.A53157 C6 1989





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