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Concentration Camps:
A Reflection on Auschwitz and Birkenow
by Mary Z. McGrath, Ph.D. 10/5/03
Rainy wet weather
A dark sky
Combined with barbed wire fences, watch towers and rows of barracks
Carefully categorized shoes, shaving brushes, suitcases
Women’s hair shipped for efficient use in a fabric
Showers seducing the innocent into gas chambers
Trolleys taking bodies to be burned in efficient ovens
Mass produced mayhem
Planned deceitful deaths for “criminals” of ethnic incorrectness
Evil mocks humanity, destroys bodies
Has no power to quell sacrifice and service such as Maximilian Kolbe’s exchange of his life for that of another
Has no power to blot out the memory of many who were offered here
These people, strangers to visitors here as we are residents of another time,
Remain in our memories
Memorialized with candles and honored with flowers
Our footsteps passed over places where they stood in terror
I sensed their souls clamoring for recognition bumping against mine as I stood in the spot that was once a gas chamber
I heard you!
I felt in my stomach a storm of sick sadness and sentiment for their loss that signaled my disgust for their captors.
What a sick social system that sought the allegiance of our forbears
Someone said “no” in multiples and it finally, finally stopped.
Too late for myriads... soon enough to send the signal to future generations-
Never again!
Permission granted to copy and share this poem with others. When printing this article please include attribution and contact information as below.
Reflections Resources, Ltd.
Phone: 952-894-7707 Fax: 952-890-3229
E-Mail: info@maryzmcgrath.com
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