Vineet


 * Vineet Velagandula **
 * Found Poem **
 * Theme: Fear, Despair, Retrospection **

World War II Holocaust “That was when I stopped speaking to god”

I was a survivor One of the Jews

My family All murdered Their families All murdered

The cruelty My children My family They will never take them from me <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">They shot all of them

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Let me die too! <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I don’t want to live!

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Auschwitz <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Ghetto <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">We had nowhere to hide

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Starving, Shivering <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The walking dead <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The skeletons <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">“Bring them to the Crematorium!”

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Gas Chambers, Crematoriums, Mass Graves <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">All on the left side <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I was sent to the right side <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Worried, Sick, Afraid <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">This is the end

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The bunks <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Full of dead bodies <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The inhumanity of man against man <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The barbarity

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I wake up so cold and starving <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I don’t want to live <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Let me die <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">So close to death

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Final Solution Program <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The irrationality <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hitler was already losing the War <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The final destruction of the Jews <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The SS had to dig special pits to burn the bodies <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The dogs ran up and down <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hardly any survived

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Help Us! <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">So close to death

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I heard a conversation <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">“The Americans!” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">We did not know what was happening <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Worried

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Americans, Germans <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Killing <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">We were afraid <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">War <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Poland is in ruins

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The transports are coming <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Free

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Why did I survive? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Why did God spare me? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Why not my family?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I was a survivor <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">One of the surviving Jews <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">My family <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">All murdered <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Why did I survive and not my family and children?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I’ve seen many a horrible sight <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">And I blame man not God <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hitler, Nazis, Germans <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">How did I survive?


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Rationale **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I chose the themes of Fear and Retrospection because I wanted to make this poem from the perspective of a Jew who experienced the horrors of the Holocaust. In the beginning of the poem, I start out with a Holocaust survivor talking about her past, and how the cruelty of the deaths of her family and children led her into despair. This is where the theme of despair comes in, with the idea that she does not want to live, remembering all of the horrid experiences from her past. From this comes the second part of the poem. This is where the theme of retrospection comes in, because she gives a summary of what happens in her life, starting at Auschwitz, and ending at the rescue from the Germans by the Americans. I decided to use this theme because in The Last Days, the Holocaust survivors were remembering their experiences and bringing them back to life in the movie. During this time they spoke of the horrors they faced, and they usually cried. This brought me to express the despair that the Holocaust survivors faced during and after the Holocaust. My final theme is fear. Fear was a large part of the Holocaust, because every single Jew in Europe during this time period felt fear, whether it was them going into Auschwitz, them being taken from their houses, or they families being killed. The last part of the poem can either be directly after the Jews are rescued, or back to the time period in the first part of the poem. This can be interpreted either way, as long as it is taking place after the rescue of the person from Auschwitz. My poem contained three parts because I felt that this was essential in understanding the emotion of the people during this time period. The second part talks about the actual experiences during the Holocaust, while the first part talks about the feelings of the person today. The last part is the person thinking back on all of her memories after she relived them in her mind, and talking about how she survived, but not her family. This poem represents the themes of fear, despair, and the idea of retrospection, all in different ways that are shown in the people during the Holocaust.