Imagery of the Holocaust

An Extra Credit Opportunity

Since the Holocaust, many survivors, family members, witnesses, etc… have used poetry and/or art to portray their feelings of loss, anger, revulsion, and hopelessness over the

atrocities that occurred.

For a last chance at extra credit, you have the opportunity to do the same. Whether you have artistic talent or love to

write (or neither, but you need the points!), you may choose a method to share your feelings and thoughts about the

events we’ve learned about.

You are fairly unlimited in the format/media of the project… except that it is due on MONDAY. Be creative. The amount of points you receive will be directly related to the amount

of effort you put in.

See the next several slides of some examples. Good luck!

First They Came for the Jewsby the Rev. Martin Niemöller

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 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.

David Olere (1902-1985)Unable to Work

The Butterfly by Pavel Friedman

The last, the very last,So richly, brightly, dazzingly yellow.Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing

against a white stone

Such, such a yellowIs carried lightly 'way up high.

It went away I'm sure because it wished to

kiss the world goodbye.

For seven weeks I've lived in here,penned up inside this ghetto

But I have found my people here.The dandelions call to me

and the white chestnut candles in the court.

Only I never saw another butterfly.

That butterfly was the last one.Butterflies don't live in here,

In the ghetto.

David Olère (1902-1985)Blocks 2 to 5, Birkenau

Fear by Eva Pickova

Today the ghetto knows a different fear,Close in its grip, Death wields an icy scythe.An evil sickness spreads a terror in its wake,The victims of its shadow weep and writhe.

Today a father's heartbeat tells his frightAnd mothers bend their heads into their hands.Now children choke and die with typhus here,

A bitter tax is taken from their bands.

My heart still beats inside my breastWhile friends depart for other worlds.Perhaps it's better — who can say? —

Than watching this, to die today?

No, no, my God, we want to live!Not watch our numbers melt away.

We want to have a better world,We want to work — we must not die!