Holocaust
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“Never tell Zayda you're hungry.”
"Never tell Zayda you're hungry."
I was told very long ago
By Mama, his daughter, who made him so happy,
Smoke billows from underneath
A temple that has seen and known
life and death, peace and war.
It remembers.
A golden chandelier illuminates
An otherwise dark scene,
I am a living memorial of the people whom I came from
I am a living memorial of my great-grandfather from my failing legs
I am a living memorial of the goodest boy from my wrist
WARNING: this one is inspired by stories from victims of WW2 and the Holocaust, so it's a little gory.
We know freedom
Like the cockroach knows freedom:
Raw, trembling freedom.
The Mirror Shows
The mirror shows hate
A liquor so often ingested
Contaminated one man
Whose thirst was never satisfied
Oh, what have I done?
I knew it was wrong,
From the start of it all.
But once night fell
The darkness swallowed
Innocence.
People behind bars
wishing to join the stars
tormentors laughing and smiling
while children slave away crying
bystanders watch sad yet scared
while people's hearts are bared
I used to be afraid of the dark
But darkness consumed my life and I lived my life in fear
The night was dark
I used to have hope and stars in my eyes
But my hope was burned alive and ash covered the sky
Yorek is another consequence of
The dark horror of our people
A boy born on the early fifties
From the bloody burned Poland
Descendant of holocaust refugees
They met by fate and were tied
My mom says we have to leave our home to a new special places for Jews like us. I don't really understand what she means. We only get to bring a few things but strange men are yelling at us to hurry up. I decide to bring my giraffe.
I am watching,
waiting for the horror to end,
for them to believe in me.
I am screaming as the trees
arch over
to tear me out of their hearts.
I am homeless.
The smell is something
that stays with you forever.
The smoke is long gone,
but it left a solemn promise.
That stays with you forever--
when you look at the ovens,
it leaves a solemn promise
Chosen, to be a living canvas,
Blood stained, and tattered,
Painted with earth shaking victories,
6 million people6 million innocent peopleTreated as less than the dirt that crunches beneath our feetGuinea pigs,tossed aside like the wrapper of a straw,Forgotten,
Hitler, I'd like to meet
and to him I will greet
Why do you hate the Jewish fleet
Their bare feet march down the narrow street
As Rabbis wonder if their maker is who they are going to meet
Everything we have,
My grandmother says,
We owe to the rain—
I think less of her name,
Less of our history,
I look into my life
And all I see is pain
The cries, the violence
The bitterness, people in vain
Tattered and torn clothes
Weighted gait and pale face.
The man makes his way
to the piano, as if to play.
Months of silence.
All the time in hiding.
He slowly lifts his fingers
The thought of freedom
Weighing him down
Pointless suffering
was evil’s hour
“We must face it.”
This philosophy of hate and force
to the oppressed:
In a world, so dark and cold where all hope is lost
good and evil right and wrong are throw away like paper
however plenty there is not
Living in a secure and sound house
As warm as a cub
As safe as a guarded building
As peaceful as a meditation room
But that’s all in the past
1944 and not a Jewish soul free
S.S. soldiers caring not for the lives of the jews no matter if plead,
Children slaughtered and their innocence revoked
You can tell when a man breaks
The essence of our being dances
Swims, twirls
Twinkles in the color of our gaze
Sight untroubled stares vivaciously
Hide
Is all I can say
Before the hollow thud of boots cross the floor
I hold my younger brother to my chest
Naked skeletons. Hollow eyes. Gnarled joints. All in line for “shower” time.
I was just following orders.
Branded like cattle. In line like sheep for slaughter. Already dead.
The autumn air has become thick
Filled with fear and desperation
What was once home
Has become Hell on earth
Destruction rapes the surface
While the sky explodes with fire
The crunch of your boots sends my sister quaking in fear.
I hate you,
But I am grateful you drained her of tears.
Water is precious.
A lone girl holds her mother’s hand
“What are they doing? We have done nothing wrong.”
The next things her mother said
were sung in a lullaby song--
It was night when they came rushing inIt was night when I heard the soldiers shoutNight when I was dragged from my bedNight when I was stolen from my own house It was night when I had a gun to my backIt was night when they marched us to the trains
Onto the Streets I walk
filled with misery and
lack of hope
sadness spewing out like
tears in the falling rain
knowing I may never
The blank document on the computer screen rears its ugly head
It's a quiet Tuesday night and it's raining while I'm staring at the computer
How could I write a poem on something like this?
In the bleak and quiet horror of a concentration camp morning,
Viktor Frankl asked them why. Why not throw themselves against
The comforting hum of electric fences or onto swords like Brutus.
It started with an idea for political change; Putting a man in charge who believed in only his way; It started small with restricting laws; Soon concentration camps were made and millions lost;
All the Jews came to yell...
"We made it out of hell!
We are forever freed!"
They gathered around the big oak tree.
Here is the land.
Here it still stands.
Here the land is opaque
To those who cannot see.
The world's secrets as easily.
Open the ground they say.
Let us show you are bones
Still in the ground we lay.
WE ONLY HAVE EACH OTHERBY MIRA WILDERIf the sun can rise on another daythe hope in our hearts willnever fade awayA wish for tomorrowwill keep us aliveOh sister we must survive
Joyless silence
Fills the air
As the terrible day
Draws near
No one was expecting it
Nor did they want it
It was just one of those things that just happens
Millions of Jews filled the streets
How could they do this to us , knowing we were against it
Knowing the pain, the scars,the memories we now have to keep forever
Do we not bleed too, or are we the only ones to blame for spilt blood?
Are we not a land of many peoples and pasts, minorities and majorities, harmonious and chaotic?
Let's take a trip,
no a dip into
the past where
the sun showed,
where the dew on the
leaves of the grape vines
glowed.
Before echoes of the
railroad
pinged and clanged,
Faith
People say that we are molded by our experienes
I have looked death in the face
I have seen friends perish
People have burned before my eyes
My future was never certain
Each day became a gift
Fighting grief for the rising sun,
Another day is gone and come.
We recede into the blackest night,
Instinct pulsing, adrenaline high.
Many feel sorrow in his eyes
As I too wittiness a reprise
In death in not knowing
Against all odds, I am here.
I am a survivor, born of survivors, with fire in my blood.
My perseverance is all that I need, for my will to live consumes me.
It was not always so.
Death lurks in every corner
as we are thrown into the burner.
Towards the chamber full of gas,
we walk, our feet torn up by glass.
The man walked in big steps
Here to take my family away through the Nazi’s attempts
He grabbed my little sister by the arm
The man walked in big steps
Here to take my family away through the Nazi’s attempts
He grabbed my little sister by the arm
Two eyes,
Two legs,
Two arms,
One nose,
One mouth,
I thought i was a human,
Until...
Close friends and family were
Spit at,
And even killed.
Nobody seemed to notice,
When the morning breaks I kiss my wife,
My laces slither through my boots’ loops,
I slide the stiff sleeves of my uniform on,
My baby boyis laughing and bouncing on my knee as I eat my breakfast,
If one child had not been taken -
had not been shot,
had not been slain -
if one more child had remained standing,
think of the heroes
she could have named.
If one child had told her stories,
They were brought down
Down to the pits of the darkest spectrum
Beyond a trace of relief, a glimmer of hope
They were menaced, chided, and turned
Beaten, battered, and burned
July 7 1944
My dear beloved child,
I take with me your last image.
"Make her be quiet! She's mad! Shut her up!"
Her little boy stroked her hand.
With such tenacity in the eyes of the living
with remnants in the souls of the dead
with persecution of those who do not understand
the disheveled souls search for a meaning
to be alive
to be living
FLOWER,
ITS HAS VARIOUS COLOUR,
ITS HAS VARIOUS NAME,
ITS HAS MYRIAD SHAPE,
ITS HAS MYRIAD DESIGN.
NOW,
I KNOW HOW BEAUTIFULLY,
THE FLOWER IS,
I KNOW HOW NICE SMELL,
Snow falls gently from the hazy sky,
Dancing around us like glittering faeries, lively and joyful.
The Sun smiles, her arms reaching lovingly towards us, but never reaching.
I walked through the valley of the shadow of death
And witnessed the face of the many
Who suffered greatly without remorse
I gazed upon the anguish and
Fear within their eyes
He walked on an edge where thousands followed,
An edge where no one ever asked to walk on.
A place with no future.
A place with small promise.
An atmosphere covered in sick scented smoke.
I was eight yeards old when I was killed.
The man who killed me was very smart;
Everyone believed him when he told them we were bad.
Everyone except us. The Drek.
As if their concentration camps weren't enough,
Now they have to shove big guns in our faces.
They do not care if we cry,
They do not care if we die.
All they care about is extinguishing our religion and race.
Ashes, Ashes, they all fall to the ground
Where is God? Where is He they all cry out!
Memories branded, families not found,
"God is not with us!" Many of them shout!
A sequence of numbers etched in blue,
Some days I imagine a field of glassendless and shimmering:whispers on the wind of the children who once playedof the women who once loved.Some days I imagine a sky of graynuclear ash
They stepped into the nightmare,
Accompanied by nothing but a greeting.
Their captors walked without a care.
A courtyard was where they were meeting.
They were stripped and humiliated.
How can you do this?
What a monster.
My dear Miaia, so beautiful, so lively.
So perfect.
Her dark hair shone.
Her eyes sparkled like obsidian.
Her skin so soft like satin.
The mistakes we have made are never forgotten
The memory of the bodies, lifeless and rotten
The scenes of gore make their impact
To remember the inhumanities we must go back
Never once have I felt the suffering you went through,
Still I can sense your pain,
As you struggle to endure your journey,
Constant fear and threatening thoughts run through your head,
Pain,Screams,and ashes,that is our life.
The pain of being torn from your family,the screams of agony, and torment,the ashes of our people burning,This is our life.
What is freedom? Is it the light I see in this dark place? Is it just a word, or do I give the meaning to it? Is it the feeling of floating freely in poisonous water?
I knew the Holocaust would never be forgotten,
Jews lived nightmares and always proceeded with caution,
Legs were amputated, Wounds were made, but even in skin and bones,
The Jews kept their faith,
Why do the clouds cry?
Could it be for me?
Deprived of name, flesh, and shoe, trapped in an endless cycle of resentment.
My only crime being that I am different.
Welcome to Paradise Island.
Laugh most hilariously, sip on blood-red wine, breathe in the smell of death in the air.
Take note of the beautiful scenery:
Scattered in the street
they lay like discarded leaves
on a spring night.
Bodies stacked high
reaching for the heavens above,
hoping God can hear
their silent cries.
They are alone now,
POWER.
HIS VOICE CARRIED THROUGH THE CROWD.
HATE.
DISTINGUISHABLE IN EVERY SOUND.
AS HE PREACHED
THE LISTENERS BECAME ENCHANTED, HYPNOTIZED.
PULLED DOWN INTO THE WHIRLPOOL
OF HIS WORDS
It is here where the birds refuse to fly, and the animals, graze
For on this spot people have died
There was no one here to save
The tattered souls of the depraved
The flames above me burn, burn,
And before the woman can turn, return,
There’s a sharp knock at the door, the door.
She puts the matches in the drawer, the drawer,
And she crosses the floor.
Young men—on the brink of
legitimate adulthood—standing in a line.
Guns cocked, polished shoes planted
firmly on the German soil.
Make us proud sons.
Broken dreamsTorn at the seamsThe flames of hellYour soul to sellWilted flowersPoisoned showersHollow eyesBloody liesSee the childOn death's pileSee them taunt herIt's all a blurI can see it-- all faith lostNightmares born from the Holocaust
Saying we are at fault, Grim comes bringing.
Dry wilting, grey clouds; sharp sound screams ringing.
Mindless and standing here under the sky.
How could these blank beings do this to us?
Why rid the earth of filth when the filth was you
you took over in Germany when they had no idea what to do
You led them to dismay, you took our rights away
you told them that because we were different we were wrong
They lived in darkness
Cut off from the world
They were ripped away from their homes
Locked away and never allowed to leave
Little boys and little girls cried
As families were torn apart
We can hear them miles away;
walking on the cold cement,
Click, click, click as the pavement meets their faded black boots.
I Am Too
I’m closer to a piece of fruit at the market
Than I am to a human being.
Fruit is labeled-I am too.
Fruit is numbered-I am too.
Fruit is shipped-I am too.
There’s a sound of broken glass,
A rush of fear and the sound of dogs.
Our silence is deep,
But I know it won’t last.
My mother said a bad man is in charge.
He wants to hurt us because we’re Jews.
the fire and | i lie
the ash is | here in the
choking | darkness with
choking the | only my
bodies of | paper bag
The Choices You Make
Doesn't matter what the press says And show the world your beliefs
Theresienstadt:
Ghetto/Camp/Hope for Better Fate
Model ghetto
Miles and miles of the same thingLocks no key can be found forWhat is this torture?They lock upOur physical bodiesAnd murder your soulsHorrorsNever meant to be known to this world
They could take our names,
They could take our skin,
Our hair,
They could take our lives,
And everything that made us
Human.
But they can’t take our faith.
They bond we have,
Screams,
Shouts,
As the black smoke fills the heavy air.
Families ripped apart,
“boys and men to one side—
Women and girls on the other”
Repeated day after day.
No food,
No water.
Here,
deliberate scoundrel forcing his trowel to sever the roots
prejudice is given to the perceived inferior
round up the unwanted ones
Star Thistle, African Violet, Chinese Lantern
herbaceous genocide
My soul is beaten, torn, and broken.
I just can't tell which way to go.
I feel like my life has no purpose,
the only time I feel alive is night.
I'm beaten by day,
and dying by night.
I wake up each day,
Bodies thrown in raging fires,
Shoved into gas chambers,
And left in the fields,
Withering away like crushed flowers…
And I found myself wandering through this forbidding pasture.
Bodies thrown in raging fires,
Shoved into gas chambers,
And left in the fields,
Withering away like crushed flowers…
And I found myself wandering through this forbidding pasture.
Hear I stand a soldier
haunted by what I've done.
My ears still ring
with their screams.
My eyes still burn
burn with their faces.
I remember whispering
to each pair of eyes
Steady knocks upon the doors of the town.
Lest they know the reign ascending soon there,
But the silence grew where once was viewed dear.
They were lured away with but a gown.
The day began as a day begins--
With the sun’s first white rays painting the eastern sky.
The silence of earth is the hope of the morning--
Potential to please the ear and the eye.
I watch you as you burn
Tongues of yellow, orange and deepest red
Licking at your yarn head
Nipping, curling around your homespun cloth
Little dolly mine
I cannot bring myself to cry
As momma sobs out loud
The pictures of the Holocaust,
Ghastly and unyielding,
Show starving people in their camps,
Terrible and unfeeling.
So depressed they feel no emotion.
So hungry they cannot eat.
They have been sleeping for countless years.
They live to teach they live to educate
Through the attentive doors come the mad men.
To throw their knowledge into the fiery den,
millions of screaming
ghosts beg for your
attention to their
names long forgotten,
to their lives lived out long ago, in
misery and rejection
for years, just because of
a small difference
They came at night
Breaking doors and windows
Like they broke my mother’s heart.
We were forced into cattle cars
Crammed together like sardines
In a smelly, dirty, sweltering box.
Little Brother and I,
We cry sometimes,
No Mommy,
No Daddy,
Alone.
Little Sister and I,
We laugh sometimes,
It’s hard – but we have to try.
Abriet macht frie
the gate had said,
those who entered
new they were dead.
Yellow stars
on their shirts,
made adults
and children hurt.
Everything
that took place,
the mass killing
A Jew
I cannot help that I am a Jew
It never mattered so before
Angry hearts and persecution led to the horrors of bitter war
As stars are killed and burned and buried, the whole world turns blind eyes
The cattle car stopped, our ten day trip we hoped to be through
So much hatred from a Nazi, so much hatred toward a Jew
Our belongings were taken, to where we don’t know
The pile of suitcases beginning to grow
They tangled me in confusion
I was tangled in the fear
I was tangled in the deaths
That I could not bare
Tears like rain
Fear, hurt, and pain
Love is forgotten
People go insane
Nothing but sorrow
Hope for a tomorrow
Wishing for a better day
Working to get a better pay
A silver yawn
her intake of breath
And she closes her eyes
and stretches her sobbing limbs.
A chance to escape in the form of a cruise line ship.
It sails away from that country,
The place that put its passengers through hell,
To a safe haven.
They think they're lucky,
They think they're free.
1.1 million murdered
Families vanished like dust
No record
No reason
No justice
Dust in the wind
The Holocaust burned us with memories and fears
These moments where all of my faith had let loose
All I could do was hide
My dreams turned to ashes the more I thought I would escape
Life is nothing
My life is empty
Beaten every waken day
Life is gone
My life was taken away
Pulled away from my family
Life is a hassle
My life is tough
Struggling to stay alive
Even the coldest hearts need someone to love
We'll watch these bodies burn and turn into one
Together we'll hear them scream, together we'll watch them fade
As the wind gently blows them away and away
I saw upon a dying street
Beneath the trees' barren
Humiliation,
A young man
(who reminds me of my grandfather)
Raking all the leaves
Into a sad pile
And laughing,
He sets it on fire
Look at this world
What do you see,
One great nation we’ve made today?
We have claimed achievement
But we must see why-
Some stories differ from side to side
Horrors and wonders have built our world
