roman’s blog

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Selections for Memorization

First they came for the Jews.

I was silent.

I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the communists.

I was silent.

I was not a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists.

I was silent.

I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me.

There was no one left to speak for me.

–Martin Niemoller (1892-1984)

 

RiddleFrom Belsen a crate of gold teeth,from Dachau a mountain of shoes,from Auschwitz a skin lampshade,Who killed the Jews?Not I, cries the typist,Not I, cries the engineer,Not I, cries Adolf Eichmann,Not I, cries Albert Speer.My friend Fritz Nova lost his father–a petty official had to choose.My friend Lou Abrahms lost his brother.Who killed the Jews?David Nova swallowed gas,Hyman Abrahms was beaten and starved.Some men signed their papers,and some stood guard,and some herded them in,and some dropped the pellets,and some spread the ashes,and some hosed the walls,and some planted the wheat,and some poured the steel,and some cleared the rails,and some raised the cattle.Some smelled the smoke,some just heard the news.Were they Germans? Were they Nazis?Were they human? Who killed the Jews?The stars will remember the gold,the sun will remember the shoes,the moon will remember the skin.But who killed the Jews?

 

William Heyen
The Hair: Jacob Korman’s Story

Ten kilometers from Warsaw,
I arrived in Rembertow where
hundreds of Jews had lived
until the wheel turned: Judenrein.

You think they let themselves be taken?
They would not fill the trucks.
Men were shot trying to pull guns
from the guards’ hands.

and hands of dead women
clutched hair, hair of SS guards,
blood-patched hair everywhere,
a velt mit hor, a field of hair.

 

Total words count 305

 

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