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Sunday 26 May 2024

26/05/2024 - Auschwitz-Birkenau

Sunday 26th May 2024 

Life is the most beautiful gift we can receive 
(Batsheva Dagan - Auschwitz survivor)

Your soul has been sucked from behind your eyes
You no longer have a reason to light your face with a smile
Your body aches and every limp limb hurts 
You shuffle your bare feet through the dry, dusty dirt 

The sun beats down upon your dry, itchy skin
Your hair is gone and you are so thin
Minimal food and drink are provided 
Unfathomable how humans are so misguided 

A misguided race that sought to cleanse our society 
Leaving Jews, gypsies, Poles and prisoners with anxiety
No case to argue - no right of reply 
Just millions sent to gas chambers to die 

The empty suitcases now tell a story 
Forming part of an horrific time in history 
Shoes that once belonged to little children 
Lives cut short as Nazis ruthlessly killed them

Someone’s mother, father, sister, brother 
Someone’s aunty, uncle, grandfather or grandmother
Friends who once laughed together
Now gasp for air together

Millions of people who had committed no crime
Had their lives cut short - they ran out of time
What they suffered we can never fully understand 
Even if it were relayed first hand 

We must never ever forget the past 
We owe it to those who were callously gassed
We owe it to those that endured that hell
For it’s their story we must continue to tell

Joanne C Hicks copyright ©️ Pembrokeshire Poet


Those that do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it (George Santayana) 

 





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