Brecht on Criminals

Someone who breaks the law in pursuit of illicit gain. A generalist.

“When Mr. Keuner, the thinking man, heard

That the most famous criminal of the city of New York

A smuggler of alcohol and a mass-murderer

Had been shot down like a dog and

Buried without ceremony

He expressed nothing but dismay.

‘How,’ he said, ‘has it come to this

That not even the criminal is sure of his life

And not even he, who is prepared to do anything

Has a measure of success?

Everyone knows that those are lost

Who are concerned for their human dignity.

But those who discard it?

Shall it be said: he who escaped the depths

Falls on the heights?

At night the righteous start from their sleep bathed in sweat

The softest footstep fills them with alarm

Their good conscience pursues them even in their sleep

And now I hear: the criminal, too

Can no longer sleep peacefully?

What confusion!

What times these are!’”

Bertolt Brecht, Stories of Mr. Keuner (1965).

[Translated by Martin Chalmers]