Vivi

Betrayal By: Vivi Zhang

Hiding, searching for shelter Friends, so called, refused the plea They say, “You’ll bring trouble! Go away! Quickly!” Why did they say that, these people who we’ve gone to school with? What have we done? Or rather, what did those people say to our friends?

Nothing real existed anymore, not even families Every man for himself They may come search here any minute We weren’t even able to put one word in before our hosts kicked us out Tossed around from house to house, poor innocent foster children. Why can’t our families just give us help?

Who are our friends anymore? Why can’t they see the influences by Nazis? Nobody could, or wanted to, tell us. Robbed of a good home, caught and taken to our pain Our friends weren’t our friends anymore, the new Nazis We had no idea where we were We didn’t know who we were going to find or not find

The Nazis didn’t want anyone to get liberated. Couldn’t escape, even if we tried. Couldn’t even pay for our poor friends to help us, poor ourselves It seemed like there was nothing we could do anymore. We were trapped in darkness and there was no way out. Even special pits were dug to bury the bodies

There was no ignored memories to withheld My friends betrayed me. That was that. You murdered me and you left me here to take the rap You put me here, shorted all my circuits, and crossed my wires I didn’t know what to believe anymore Why did you take me? Why did you leave me? Why did //I// suffer?

I choose betrayal because I believe that has been going around through the time of the Holocaust and that is what hurts soldiers and families the most. Friends of the Jewish were switching sides and turning them in as the most unfair acts. Nazi Germany scared non-Jews and manipulated them because it was easier to stay safe if they gave Germany what they wanted. Some prisoners couldn't get out alive because of the pain their friends had led them into and if they were, they were haunted by the unfortunate truth laid out by their former friends. I explained how the Jewish couldn't pay to get help from the only people that would seem to want to, since they didn't have any valuables left to pay them. I italicized the I in the last line of the last stanza to emphasize the betrayal some felt when they were sold to the Nazis and how the Jews must've felt.