Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.

Transcription

1 Poems Never Shall I Forget Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith for ever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. Never. Elie Wiesel For Adolf Eichmann The wind runs free across our plains, The live sea boats for ever at our beaches. Man makes earth fertile, earth gives him flowers and fruits. He lives in toil and joy; he hopes, fears begets sweet offspring....and you have come, our precious enemy, Forsaken creature, man ringed by death. What can you say now, before your assembly? Will you swear by a god? What god? Will you leap happily into the grave? Or will you at the end, like the industrious man Whose life was too brief for his long art, Lament your sorry work unfinished,

2 The thirteen million still alive? Oh son of death, we do not wish you death. May you live longer than anyone ever lived. May you live sleepless five million nights, And may you be visited each night by the suffering of everyone you saw, Shutting behind them, the door that blocked the way back, Saw it grow around him, the air fill with death. Primo Levi If This Is A Man You who live safe In your warm houses Who return at evening to find Hot food and friendly faces: Consider if this is a man, Who works in the mud Who knows no peace Who fights for a crust of bread Who dies because of a yes or a no. Consider if this is a woman, Without hair or name With no more strength to remember Eyes empty and womb cold Like a frog in winter. Consider that this has been: I commend these words to you. Engrave them on your hearts

3 At home, in the street, When you go to bed, when you rise. Repeat them to your children. Or may your house fall apart, May illness impede you, May your children turn their faces from you. Primo Levi The Butterfly The last, the very last, So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow. Perhaps if the sun s tears would sing against a white stone... Such, such a yellow Is carried lightly way up high. It went away I m sure Because it wished to kiss the world good-bye. For seven weeks I ve lived in here, Penned up inside this ghetto. But I have found what I love here. The dandelions call to me And the white chestnut branches in the court. Only I never saw another butterfly. That butterfly was the last one. Butterflies don t live in here, in the ghetto. Pavel Friedman June 4, 1942

4 Testimony No no: they definitely were human beings: uniforms, boots. How to explain? They were created in the image. I was a shade. A different creator made me. And he in his mercy left nothing of me that would die. And I fled to him, floated up weightless, blue, forgiving I would even say: apologising - smoke to omnipotent smoke That has no face or image. Dan Pagis Auschwitz Remembered When all around them died, those few survived. Their sceletal bones were then revived; Auschwitz memories that they carried, lived with, (Which denialists say are just a Jewish myth), Have shadowed, burdened them their whole life long, To live when others died, they felt was wrong. They wondered why they lived, why them, what for? Their loved ones gone; for them an open door. They married, they had children, all of that, But two dimensional. Zombie-like and flat Has for the most part been their daily lot. These are the ones the world so soon forgot. Unable to express their deepest fears, Their blackest memories kept inside for years.

5 They wrapped them round themselves with steel; Are only now revealing how they feel. For fifty years they waited to unload This horror that was waiting to explode. Let no one say It never was so bad, Or, It was just like so-and-so, how sad. Six million Jews were killed, was it just fate That prejudice turned into monstrous hate? Let s learn from this; we know Man can be cruel, But doesn t he need help his craze to fuel? Niiki van der Zyl We Remember Them At the rising of the sun and at its going down At the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter At the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer At the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn At the beginning of the year and when it ends As long as we live, they too will live;

6 for they are now a part of us as we remember them. When we are weary and in need of strength When we are lost and sick at heart When we have joy we crave to share When we have decisions that are difficult to make When we have achievements that are based on theirs As long as we live, they too will live; for they are now a part of us as we remember them. Sylvan Kamans and Rabbi Jack Riemer Children of Rwanda Known and unknown are the children of Rwanda Victims of war and genocide, Though not with us now we know you re at peace, We who survived will remember you. Ten years onward our hearts still troubled By lack of justice for survivors, Help our leaders, bringing peace and hope, Also preventing the same tragedies.

7 Will you join me now, remember lives lost, Will you join me now, pleading to all, To learn the lessons, that at any cost, Genocide must end, forever more Reverend Francois Murenzi One person can make a difference The fight for justice starts and ends with me. Truth is the sound of what I may say. I can only be well when others are free And right has a price I m prepared to pay. I refuse to be afraid Of force or hatred. I will pull their lies like weeds, Plant gardens of more generous seeds. If I turn my back and walk away Who ll ask for others what I want for me? I can only be well when others are free And right has a price I m prepared to pay. Gwyneth Lewis