The Holocaust: Poem

The Holocaust

By:Dhanya Thiyagarajan

There was a time where many people were harassed,

A brutal massacre that would surpass

This was the era, when Hitler reigned in power,

while watching people’s hopes and dreams fall like it was happy hour.

He chose the path of violence towards many Jews,

Not many survived because they were abused.

Overtime, this crime became much worse

loved ones were sent off in all directions,this felt like a curse

A yellow star which was a symbol of their identity,

was a reason for them living independently

If rules were not followed, they were fiercely punished,

For most people it meant that their lives were finished.

Any opinions that had been expressed was taken away,

Some were hiding throughout night and day.

Laws were enforced to be followed by everyone

All of a sudden it seemed like there was no light or sun.

Camps like Auschwitz were soon filled up with slaves,

Jews petrified of being shot into their graves.

Not having room to sleep with everyone crammed together tightly,

Nazi lights were flashing over places very brightly.

Every morning was spent cultivating in the fields,

Every Jew working, but not stopping till Nazi’s say yeild.

Never shown honor or dignified respect,

Feeling burning stings of disdain and neglect.

The people were told that they need to shower

little did they know that they were going to die that hour

They were thrown into gas chambers and died

and Nazis watched them with great pride

Although, the prisoners were stubbornly strong,

Indeed determined to stay alive for long.

So many innocent lives were killed

In order to make Hitler’s plans fulfilled.

The dictator thought that children were important

His belief that they were the future was constant

We must always remember and recall,

The Holocaust that took the breaths of all.

How Could Something Like the Holocaust Happen?

Artifact #1: Hitler Youth

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Artifact #2: Propaganda



Artfact #3:

 First they Came…...
“First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for me—
and there was no one left to speak out for me.” -

In Hitler Youth kids from a young age are taught Nazi ideals, to follow Hitler, and to be ready for the war. The youth camps were mandatory after a certain year and were run similarly to a military camp. This was one of the reasons for the Holocaust. Even though the Holocaust was a tragic event causing many to die, Hitler had a master plan in which he had everything very well planned out. He had thought out every step in the process and was able sustain it for a period of time. He had convinced. The purpose of the Hitler Youth was to prepare kids a from a young age to become great leaders. He believed that the kids were leaders of the future generation and he wanted to teach kids his ideologies so they could take over his position once he was gone and so that they could pass it on generation after generation. The kids in Hitler Youth did noy know any better because they were not taught anything else except Nazi ideology. They were manipulated and were told that everything Hitler did was right and was for their own well being. The kids believed it because he was really persuasive in this aspect.



In artifact two,the picture portrays the horror and the hardship that the Jews went through throughout their Holocaust experience. This shows how successful hitler was in making everyone obey to him. He oppressed people and made them do anything they want because every single Jew was his slave. No one spoke an unnecessary word because they were terrified of Hitler. They knew that if they spoke the truth or spoke their opinion they would be punished terribly to the point where they might not even live to see the next day. Hitler made sure that everyone was oppressed to him. Something like the Holocaust could happen because all the Jews were afraid of Hitler and since they did not want to die, they had no choice but to follow his rules.
This poem shows how independent each and every person was during the Holocaust. Families were separated in the beginning and taken away in all different directions. After that the individual would have no clue how they were and even if they were alive or not. This poem also brings back the point where everyone was terrified of Hitler. He was a dictator who killed many innocent people. He made sure that there was no chance of a revolt by the Jews because everyone was scared of him. When the author of the poem says that there was no one left to speak out for him, I think he means that all of family and loved ones were taken away from him. He had no one, and he was left all alone and had to go through the whole Holocaust process indepently.

Relationship Between a Passage in Night and an Artifact

Passage from Night:

“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 forever
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 God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.
Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as

long as God Himself.
Never” (Weisel 34).

This passage in the book Night was written by Elie Wiesel in which he talks about the horrors he went through on his first few days in the concentration camp. This is very emotional because it shows how much Elie has changed from being a very religious person to saying that his God was murdered. He starts to question if god really does exist and why god has not helped them. He had seen many innocent lives get killed which included children. These young infants that had no knowledge of life or experienced it were killed because they were no help to the Nazis. Wiesel had seen these children get thrown into the gas chambers and and witnessed their death. In this passage there is a loss of faith which is reflected throughout the whole book and throughout the Holocaust itself. While reading this passage I could picture the scene in my mind. Its almost like Elie is sat in the middle of a dark room staring at something and everyone listening to him in complete silence. There is a use of personification when he says that the moments murdered his God. The events that took place during the Holocaust caused many people to lose faith in their God. The passage is filled with imagery because he talks about the children’s bodies and how that transformed into smoke under a silent sky. It is also very interesting at how the passage ends with the words never. The never at the end of the excerpt makes it seemed like the whole passage can be summed up into that one word.

Artifact: Poetry
Tale of a Sprinter, in the Winter of 1938 by Sudeep Pagedar

THE PAST -
I am an athlete from Berlin,
my feet are fast and swift.
I can run faster than anyone!
Truly, this is the Lord's gift!

Any race I participate in,

I always come in first,
for I tell myself, "I HAVE to win";
it is like a great thirst.

Even if someone, somehow passes me,
I put on an extra burst of speed
and run past him, leaving him behind;thus, I take the lead.

I once thought, "If I keep running this way,
I might be in the Olympics, some day..."

THE PRESENT -
But now the year is nineteen-thirty-eight
And for my dreams, it's just too late.

My running days are all gone,
I'm not going to see tomorrow's dawn.

Yes, it is true
that I can run very fast;
But it is also true
that I am a Jew...

There's no running, from the Holocaust.

This poem is written by Sudeep Pagedar in which he talks about his life before the Holocaust and then he talks about his present day life. Sudeep explains that he has a strong passion for running. He talks about how he wins his races by always beating the guy who passes him and says that his dream is to one day compete in the Olympics. When the poem fast forwards to the present day, he says that it is too late to go after his dream. He gives up on his running and he is scared. Sudeep is very scared and knows that he is going to die because he says that he will not see tomorrow’s dawn. This shows that once the Holocaust started any dream that anyone had was destroyed immediately. Loss of faith is seen throughout the poem. When he talks about achieving his dreams being too late, and that he is not going to see tomorrow’s dawn he is losing hope in life. In the poem, the writer sums up his piece by stating the fact that the Holocaust cannot be ignored and once you were in it, there was no getting out. 

 

In both scenarios the theme in loss of faith is present. Elie is losing faith because throughout all of their struggles God was never there to help them and save them. He starts to ask himself the question of does God really exist. But even though he starts to lose faith in God he still has respect which can be seen by the fact that he chooses to capitalize the G in God. In Sudeep's case, he loses faith in his dream because he knows that once your pulled into the mess of the Holocaust there is no getting out. He has excepted the fact that he is going to die and there is nothing he could do. If he fought for his life and spoke up he was just going to die earlier. Also in both pieces there is idea of silence present because both of the characters are talkih about how there life changed after the Holocaust.

Conflict with Russia galvanizes Ukraine's identity

Danilova, Maria. "Conflict with Russia Galvanizes Ukraine's Identity." Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 29 Apr. 0000. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.

When Russia seized control of Crimea, Yevgeny Komarovsky sent this blunt message to the Russian people: We Ukrainians are a nation of our own. The appeal for an independent and united Ukraine by the Russian-speaking Komarovsky underscored Ukraine's distinct national identity, and belied Russian President Vladimir Putin's claim that Ukraine is part of the Russian family. In fact, Russia's invasion (which Putin justifies by saying he needs to protect Russian speakers) has fueled a surge of patriotism among a great many Ukrainians, whatever their language.These feelings of unity are underpinned by a sense of fragility stemming from being a country that has for centuries been dominated by great empires to the east and west. And from folklore to ancestral traditions, Ukraine has shown itself to possess a distinct identity. The Ukrainian national consciousness is steeped in love of one's land and the quest for survival. The challenge simply to stay whole is as acute as ever today after Russia annexed Ukraine's strategic Crimean Peninsula, stoking fears that the Kremlin is planning to invade more Russian-speaking eastern territories. Ukraine, a land the size of France with a population of 46 million, has historically been a massive prize in the heart of Europe. The site of the ancient Slavic state, the Kievan Rus, it was the regional cradle of Orthodox Christianity. Over centuries, parts of Ukraine have belonged to Poland, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russia and the Soviet Union. The Russian national anthem glorifies Russia's might and grandeur. The Ukrainian anthem dreams of expelling enemies and finally being masters of their own land. In fact the central message of Ukraine's anthem is: Freedom is not dead yet. Some in Ukraine's Russian-speaking east and south do feel nostalgic for the Soviet past. And many cherish ties with Russia, both economic and cultural.

Thousands in Taiwan protest China trade deal

Tsai, Gladys. "Thousands in Taiwan Protest China Trade Deal." Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 29 Apr. 0000. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-taiwan-protest-china-trade-deal-124304655.html?vp=1

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in the streets around Taiwan's Parliament on Sunday to voice their opposition to a trade pact with China, part of a nearly 2-week-old protest that is challenging the president's policy of moving the democratic island economically closer to China. 500,000 people had turned out in the biggest demonstration since the movement started. An Associated Press estimate put the number at more than 200,000, and a police estimate at more than 100,000. Several hundred mainly student protesters have been occupying Taiwan's legislature since March 18, supported by thousands outside the building. They are protesting President Ma Ying-jeou's intention to enact a trade deal that would allow Taiwanese and Chinese service sector companies in businesses ranging from banking to beauty parlors to open up branches or shops in the other's territory. The action was sparked by the decision by a lawmaker from Ma's ruling Nationalist Party to renege on a promised clause-by-clause review of the trade deal, which was signed by both sides last year but is awaiting ratification by Taiwan's Parliament. Opponents of the pact say it would cost Taiwan tens of thousands of jobs because small businesses on the island will be unable to compete with cash-rich, mostly state-run Chinese companies intent on investing in Taiwan. They also say it would give a big boost to China's efforts to bring the island, which split from the mainland 65 years ago, under its control.The protest is the most serious challenge to Ma's signature policy of moving Taiwan ever closer to China by tying their economies together. Since he took office in May 2008, he has superintended a drastic upsurge in the number of cross-strait flights, and pushed through more than a dozen commercial agreements with China, including a partial free trade deal that slashed tariffs on scores of items in 2010.

US, Dutch try to deposit billions in fake bonds in Vatican bank

"US, Dutch Try to Deposit Billions in Fake Bonds in Vatican Bank." Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 18 Jan. 0000. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. http://news.yahoo.com/us-dutch-try-deposit-billions-fake-bonds-vatican-215356468.html


Vatican police on Saturday apprehended an American and a Dutch man who were trying to deposit billions of euros and US dollars in fake bonds in the Vatican bank.The bonds were discovered in a briefcase they were carrying and the men were handed over to Italy's financial police, who found false passports and other fake documents in their hotel rooms. The haul came a day after Italian prosecutors said two former top executives at the Vatican bank will go on trial for money laundering in a case that led to the seizure of 23 million euros ($32 million). The bank, which handles the accounts of Catholic clerics and congregations around the world, has a murky reputation but the Vatican has vowed to clean it up and bring it in line with international laws. Lombardi said Saturday's episode shows the controls are working. But he doesn't think they're talking about a plot by criminal masterminds if they managed to get caught at the first hurdle.

Officials: About 18 missing in Washington mudslide

DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP and CHRIS GRYGIEL. "Officials: About 18 Missing in Washington Mudslide." Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 30 Mar. 0000. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. http://news.yahoo.com/officials-18-missing-washington-mudslide-172803804.html

About 18 people are still unaccounted for after a massive mudslide in rural northwest Washington state killed at least three people and forced evacuations because of fears of flooding, authorities said Sunday. Searchers in helicopters will be flying over the area of the square-mile mudslide Sunday to find people who may have been able to get out on their own, as well as look for other signs of life. Several people were critically injured and as many as 30 houses were destroyed. The slide wiped out one neighborhood, where there were about 28 to 30 homes. Rescuers couldn't hear any signs of life once they got closer, and the decision was made to back out due to safety reasons. The slide blocked the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, which prompted an evacuation notice because water was rising rapidly behind the debris. Authorities worried about severe downstream flooding if water suddenly broke through the debris. Authorities believe the slide was caused by groundwater saturation from recent heavy rainfall.