Anybody fluent in German? / and familiar with Columbine H.S. shootings?

sugarlit · Aug 21, 2007

I'm trying to translate a word from Dylan Klebold's (Columbine High School shooter's) handwritten journal. Shortly before the attack, he wrote out a will:

--------------
WILL
OK, this is my will. This is a f***ing human thing to do, but whatever.
(Zach?) - you were a bada**, never failed to get me up when i was down. thx. You get

FIELST ?
--------------

I believe Dylan wrote "FIELST," but his handwriting is extremely difficult to read. I know that "fiel" in German means fallen. But this doesn't make sense contextually in his will. Does anyone have any ideas? For anyone who's super curious, I can email you a print screen of the page - and you can take a look at his handwriting for yourself.

Please CC a copy of your response to me directly at [email protected] - thanks for any help!!

Summonere · Aug 22, 2007

"Fielst" doesn't appear to mean jack doodley squat all by itself. May be some implied context, though, the -st ending indicating a conjugated form of the verb fiel, in this case resulting, perhaps, from an implied "du," as in "[Have you] fallen?"

I am, however, far from fluent, so others may well have better ideas.

rosebud1981 · Aug 28, 2007

Summonere said:
"Fielst" doesn't appear to mean jack doodley squat all by itself. May be some implied context, though, the -st ending indicating a conjugated form of the verb fiel, in this case resulting, perhaps, from an implied "du," as in "[Have you] fallen?"

I am, however, far from fluent, so others may well have better ideas.

Exactly. The only other thing that I can think of is that it might be "fehlst", since the OP said that the handwriting is difficult to read. "du fehlst mir" would mean "I miss you".
But like "fielst" it doesn't mean anything by itself.

davids · Aug 28, 2007

fielst is a missprint-fuhlst-of course with an umlaut-du fehlst mir sounds like it to me-either that or I never learned Ich habe gefielst-and since I speak a pretty good and accent free German-well hell it might be Jiddish even! A person who did not know the language well could think on the lines of fielst du es so? Beats me as I said I would go with du fehlst mir-best of luck-Dave

Summonere · Aug 29, 2007

Not sure about "fielst" being a misprint, as I've seen it in a number of poems, but I'll take your word for it. A form of "fallen" seemed more appropriate as a possibility, though, since these kids were apparently keen on falling, in the Biblical sense perhaps, ala fallen angels. (Seems to hit the heights of glory and drama a kid would cleave to.)

Tschüss

davids · Aug 29, 2007

kann schon sein-it might just be an ancient form-what poems did you see it in-I would be curious about that-Dave

Summonere · Aug 29, 2007

I googled "fielst" when I saw this thread and came up with lots of hits. This was one...

http://www.rose.li/deutsch/poesie17.html

...in which Moritz Graf von Strachwitz's "Die Rose im Meer" appears, in which we find these lines:

Fielst du vom Felsen ins Meer hinein,
Fielst du vom Himmel her?

Since he lived from 1822 to 1847, the form may well be an older one, maybe even non-standard, but it also appears in other googled hits, even contemporary ones. (Although usage of the word in proper context seems a-okay, so perhaps notions of this being non-standard should be tossed out the window...)

For instance, the poet Paul Antschel / Ancel / Celan (1920-1970) used the word in "Du Bist Ohne Ende":

Du fielst
hinauf in den
Sieg.

Und so wieder, und so wieder with other examples. I guess what this means is I've learned a new word that I'll probably never use.

davids · Aug 29, 2007

yes it seems so- are you going to fall from the meadow into the ocean-are you going to fall here from heaven-you fall upward in victory? Hinauf in den Sieg-onward to victory-German is such a direct language in an indirect kind a way. Fielst falling-yah I think I get it now-alt Deutch to be sure! Interesting post Summonere thanks for the info-Dave

Penguin Queen · Aug 29, 2007

German is my first language.
Fielst is second person singular of past tense of "fallen" - to fall, ie. "du fielst": you fell.
Fielst by itself though would not mean an awful lot.
"Fühlst" is the second-person singular past-tense of "fühlen", to feel, but again, it wouldnt make much sense either in this context.

I know nothing whatever about the shootings. Did this bloke actually speak any German? It might be a nickname for something; thats all I can think of.

davids · Aug 29, 2007

Well done Penguin Queen! London and Berlin huh? I still own a home in Grunewald right behind the tennis courts-Schwartz Weisse Berling I think-then there is that lovely little wood behind as well. I was starting to wonder about this whole thing and you put the cap on it-now I can sleep-like it would a stoppified me-Jezt fulle Ich mich sau wohl ouch ohne umlauts-and any recognizable ability to write in German-or for that matter quite often in EnglishDave

shakeysix · Aug 29, 2007

rachel scott

was a 16 year old who was shot and killed at columbine. her uncle came to our high school last week--the 21st of august, that is. he gave a presentation about rachel and the notebook /journal that she kept. it was a fairly moving presentation, urging our students to stop bullying wherever they see it. he did make the point that klebold and harris planned the shooting as a tribute to hitler on his birthday. the shooters taunted an african american student with racial slurs before shooting him at point blank range. mr. scott's own son and daughter were in the high school during the shootings. rachel's brother was hiding under the library table with the black student. you might try going to the 'rachel scott challenge' website. just please god, don't try to portray klebold and harris as victims. kids were afraid of them. had been for years--s6

Sassee · Aug 30, 2007

My husband says you all are spot on with the translations, but he said the guy might have named an object "Fielst" as well. It makes sense in the context of the note. Something to think about.

Summonere · Aug 30, 2007

Penguin Queen said:
German is my first language.

Yeah, but are you fluent?

(I jest, but only because you're a penguin.)

Don't know if the murderers knew any German or not, but they were Rammstein and KMFDM fans.

sugarlit · Sep 4, 2007

OK, for anyone who wants to see the actual handwriting from Dylan Klebold, I uploaded a screenshot to: http://picsorban.com/upload/dylan_handwriting.jpg (note, there is some profanity on that page).

The word might not be in a German at all. It looks very much like "fielst" to me, but as I said before, that doesn't make sense contextually with the other stuff he wrote.

Somebody had asked if the killers spoke German -- yes they did. Although, I'm not sure how fluent they were. I've only taken 3 college semesters of German, so I don't know how good their skill level was. But they did speak it, and used it occasionally in their journals...probably as a way to exclude other people or make themselves feel more privileged. Who knows.

Snowberry · Sep 5, 2007

I'm no expert, but if you look at the L in Will at the top of the page - it's nothing like the L in the "mystery word" aka "fielst". To me it looks more like First, with a straight line drawn through the word. If you look at the other Es in the writing, the bottom of the letter is well rounded, which is why I think the middle letter might be an R. I appreciate the word might not make any sense in the context you have...

rosebud1981 · Sep 6, 2007

That looks like it has to be an 'L' to me, and it is the same as the 'L's in the uncapitalised 'will' in the top right.
The only two letters that I think are questionable are the first one and the second last one. If they are 'F' and 'S' then it is 'fielst', but they both look iffy to me, particularly the 'S' if that is what it is. Looks a little like a 'g' even.

Are we actually certain that this is German?

Possibly clutching at straws but it could be poorly written German 'fielgt' as a wrong spelling of 'fliegt', meaning 'flies' (third person singular present tense of 'fly').

ideagirl · Sep 8, 2007

I have to wonder, given the... if this is the right word... interests of the Columbine killers, if the word "fielst" might not have some special meaning among neo-nazis, the Aryan Nation, etc. Could be worth looking into.

Anybody fluent in German? / and familiar with Columbine H.S. shootings?

sugarlit

Lit from within

Summonere

rosebud1981

росебуд1

davids

Summonere

davids

Summonere

davids

Penguin Queen

Break the rules.

davids

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy

Sassee

Momma Wolf

Summonere

sugarlit

Lit from within

Snowberry

rosebud1981

росебуд1

ideagirl

Anybody fluent in German? / and familiar with Columbine H.S. shootings?

Lit from within

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Break the rules.

blue eyed floozy

Momma Wolf

Lit from within

&#1088;&#1086;&#1089;&#1077;&#1073;&#1091;&#1076;1

росебуд1

росебуд1