Kellish

Luke Kellish

Luke Kellish English - Werther Found Poetry

__Atrocity__

Parshas Truma We were very patriotic At the time, Judaism was a religion, not a race.

“The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human.” Just another thing, it’ll blow over, Overnight, friends turned on us “This town is Jew free!” “We don’t need any Jews in our town!” “JEWS OUT! JEWS OUT!”
 * Reward: For every unregistered Jew you find: **
 * 1 Kilo of Sugar **

Money, Parshas Truma, Rights. They took my family, possessions, identity, What do they want from me? Shoah.

A jew of the Reich, Anyone could kill in the streets. I’m frightened to go outside. Hunted animals, Not knowing if anyone was on your side.

Two Wars. Germany vs. Allies. SS vs. Jews. They intend to make an example of them. They hanged there one full week. Except to sneak for food, we stayed mostly in the bunker. They may come search any minute! Money is everything... Overnight friends turned on us... JUDEN RAUS!

Cattle cars were waiting for us. “...they are not human.” We didn’t yet know of it - the ovens - But we were anyways afraid. People running in striped clothing with shaved heads. That very strange name... Auschwitz.

Hate. Fear. Barbarity. Inhumane. Final Solution. He would lose the war, but not against the Jews. People jumped out the windows to end their misery a little quicker. They were putting number on our arms. A prisoner’s number. A573112. A573113. I just can’t believe it. I don’t want to do this.

Go to the left: Go to the gas chambers. No sleep. No food. My father pulled out his teeth to escape. I could see the tears rolling down his cheek. He was tearing his hair and crying. He was a millionaire, but even this didn’t save him his life. That was the last time I saw my father.

Oh God! Let me die too! Inhumanity! Why did God spare me? SHOAH! Why did I survive? That is when I stopped talking to God.

So life goes... I suppose. The inhumanity of man against man is unbelievable. To this day I cannot forget. After 53 years, it’s like yesterday. Returning to freedom is difficult. How do you return to a world that doesn’t want you?

The theme for this poem is atrocity, my thinking behind this poem was heavily influenced by the pain that the Holocaust survivors felt when they were interviewed in The Last Days. I saw the pain that they felt and realized that this pain, this atrocity, will never be diluted or go away from their memories. They will be happy, and they will laugh, but they will never forget what happened in the chamber where they saw friends and families suffer and die. Atrocity is a synonym for inhumane, which was said multiple times by both the Holocaust survivor and by Art Spiegelman in his graphic novel, Maus. There was no happy ending to my poem, because there was no happy ending the the Holocaust. There was joy when the Jews and Allies realized that these atrocities were coming to a close, but there was no happy ending. We all are human, no matter how bad, or how much hatred we have for one another, we are all human.