Katastrophendemenz = Catastrophic Dementia

After the barrage comes the sweeping up. The debris is sorted, the names organised and listed, and the spokespeople say: it had to be this way. The choir nods: there really was no alternative. Many commissions have examined and confirmed this beforehand.

The maps are redrawn, the medals polished, the treaties signed.

We hang ‘Never again’ above shelves where the next helmets are already lying. When the guns fall silent, forgetting begins its work: the devastation, poverty, scars, lost dreams, traumas and hatred remain, while the questions have already been wiped away.

Next time it's defence, the time after that it's liberation, and the third time it's everyday life. So we practise forgetting and wallow in repetition until war remains and only the empty phrases change.

Perhaps we should read what happened before repeating what will happen. But catastrophic dementia is probably more diligent than memory.