Menzel was born in Obornik, the son of a postal secretary and grew up in the German-Polish border town of Tirschtiegel (today, Trzciel).
It takes place around 1918/20, towards the end of the First World War and in the following twelve months, in the province of Poland and deals with the conflict between the previous German ruling class and their opponent, the Polish population.
So manche Stunde sprech ich wohl mit dir, Als wärst du nah und wüßtest nun von mir.
Wo immer einer still wird vor der Tat, Er kommt zu dir, du bester Kamerad.
[6] Menzel published in the Nazi Party newspaper Völkischer Beobachter, in the series "Junge Volk" and contributed to the Hitler Youth yearbook "The young team".
[7] On the occasion of the 6th anniversary of Horst Wessel 's death in 1936 he wrote the cantata "Ewig lives the SA", which was performed on 23 February 1936 in 739 cities of the German Reich.
[12] In his last published volume of poetry, Anders kehren wir wieder (1943), Menzel's disparaging, inhuman attitude towards the Slavic (especially Polish) population is revealed again.
An exchange of letters shows that in 1946 Menzel's mother, for fear of an upcoming house search, consented to the burning of her son's estate, which also contained unpublished writings.
[16] After the end of the Nazi regime, his writings were placed on the "List of Literature to be Excluded" in the Soviet Occupation Zone and in the German Democratic Republic.