1942
It was all I saw
Fire! I can see a fire! Look at it!
Seeing the little faces of children
But alas they are no more
Now they’re just bodies that turned into black as night smoke

1942
It was all I smelled
The copper smell of blood staining the ground
Smelt the corpses rotting in the ovens
The bodies littered with holes being covered with dirt
Then are dug up and tortured once more by an ungodly heat

1942
It was all I tasted
Stale bread and watered-down soup that sat in my stomach
Black smoke of the murdered filling my lungs
Constantly having the feeling of a cotton bandana in my mouth
Blood trickling from my forehead from my best friend the truncheon

1942
It was all I felt
Grief and despair following me everywhere
Hope lingering in the corners of my mind
Death like a shadow contemplating whether to consume me or not
Eyes watching to see who’s next

1942
It was all I heard
The cries and pleas of young mothers being separated from their newborns
Sounds of choking coming from within the gas chambers
Guards yelling at us to run faster or work harder
Bodies hitting the ground from the work of a gun or truncheon






1942
It was all I asked
Where was God?
Where was He?
Why had He just watched my people be tortured, butchered, gassed, burned, what did they do?
Why had YOU betrayed us when we prayed before YOU and praised YOUR name?

1942
It was all I did
I watched them take my mother and little sister away
I watched them beat my father for not working fast enough
I watched them erase everyone’s identity when they arrived at Auschwitz as prisoners
I watched as they killed us slowly for their pleasure

1942
It was all I experienced
The feeling of my stomach swallowing itself whole
Staring at the sky and seeing dead stars, dead eyes
Tasting the bitterness in terror
Look at it! It’s a furnace! Oh look at that fire!

1942
It was all I wanted
To see my father have light in his eyes
To be with my mother and little sister, to hear her laugh
To sleep in a warm bed and eat warm food
Oh God, Lord of the universe, take pity upon us in Thy great mercy…

1942
Where was I?
I was walking in a striped uniform with no soul
Eyes were dead
Faith was gone
Sanity was next
My name no more but A-7713

1942
Where was God?
Where was He?
He was everywhere, everyone
Love and Hate; Life and Death
He was the world, the universe
And He was here… dying