Holocaust Poetry, Translations, Art and Essays
Shoah Poetry, Translations, Art and Essays
The HyperTexts is honored to publish a number of unique pages of Holocaust poetry, prose and art. The Hebrew word for the Jewish experience during the Holocaust is Shoah ("Catastrophe" or "Calamity") and because many of our poets are Jewish, their work may also be termed Shoah poetry. But we have also published Holocaust writings by Christian poets, a Romani Gypsy poet, and a Hiroshima survivor. Each person who experienced the Holocaust is a Witness, and the testimony of each Witness deserves to be read, considered, and remembered. Our writers include both victims and survivors of the Holocaust. Some of these Holocaust poems are the only English translations available. Even the names of some of the Warsaw Ghetto poets have been lost; their poetry is all that remains of them, which makes it all the more sacred. I want to especially thank Yala Korwin and Esther Cameron for translating poems that might otherwise never have been read in English. -- Michael R. Burch, editor, The HyperTexts
The poem "Auschwitz Rose"
by Michael R. Burch
is dedicated to all victims
and survivors of the
Holocaust, and their
families. "Never again!"
The painting "Auschwitz Rose" above is by Mary Rae. To read the poem "Auschwitz Rose" please click the hyperlinked title of the poem above, or the picture. In Mary Rae's painting, the Rose is thornless, and thus defenseless, representing women and children who are defenseless, unless we choose to protect them. As we read the words of the Witnesses that follow, let us all pledge to say "Never again!" to another Holocaust, and to do what we can and must to protect all women and children from all such atrocities. Also, as you read these pages, please keep in mind that if Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, homosexuals and other people disenfranchised by Hitler and his Nazi goons had not been denied fair laws and access to fair courts, the Holocaust could not have happened. The Holocaust was, essentially, a failure of justice that led to the disintegration of the moral underpinnings of society. In order to prevent other Holocausts, we must make sure that every human being is protected by fair laws and fair courts. There can be no exceptions to this simple rule, because every "exception" begins life as a human child: a defenseless baby. And so please pay particular attention to our Nakba and Darfur pages, because these new Holocausts are ongoing, and multitudes of innocent children are suffering and dying as a result. Let us not only say "Never again!" and mean it, but let us also do all we can to ensure that all earth's children are protected by equal rights, fair laws and fair courts. Then we can write celebratory poetry, rather than mournful laments and dirges. We also have a new page of Poems for Haiti in sympathy with our sisters and brothers in Haiti.
Poets, Artists and Writers of the Holocaust No Longer with Us
Anthony Hecht (a poet of German-Jewish descent who helped liberate a concentration camp)
Miklós Radnóti (translations of a Hungarian Jewish poet)
The Ghetto Poets (translations of Polish Jewish ghetto poets by Yala Korwin)
Salomon N. Meisels (translations of her father's poems by Yala Korwin)
Wladyslaw Szlengel (translations of a Jewish poet who died in the Warsaw ghetto)
Janusz Korczak (translations of a hero of the Holocaust by Esther Cameron)
Bronislawa Wajs "Papusza" (one translation of a Romani Gypsy poet by Yala Korwin)
Jerzy Ficowski (translations of a Polish Christian poet by Yala Korwin)
Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) (an essay including poetry by Pope John Paul II)
Vilem Pollak (one translation of a Czech poet by Martin Rocek and Colin Ward)
Holocaust Poetry by Holocaust Survivors
Yala Korwin (Holocaust poetry and art by a Jewish Holocaust survivor)
Elie Wiesel (Holocaust essays by a Nobel Prize winner)
Takashi Tanemori (Poems, Prose and Art by a Hiroshima survivor)
Associated Pages: Hiroshima, the NAKBA, Darfur, the Trail of Tears, etc.
Poems for Haiti
Hiroshima Poetry, Prose and Art
The Nakba ("Catastrophe"): The Holocaust of the Palestinians
For Darfur: Poetry about the Holocaust and Genocide in Darfur
The Holocaust of the Homeless
The Trail of Tears
Nadia Anjuman: the story of the individual Holocaust of an Afghani Poet
In Peace's Arms, Not War's: the Poets speak for Peace, not War
Contemporary Poets on the Holocaust
Dan Almagor (a Holocaust poem by an Israeli poet)
Yakov Azriel (a Holocaust poem by an Israeli poet)
Michael R. Burch (Holocaust poetry by an American poet)
Charles Adés Fishman (Holocaust poetry by an American poet)
Roger Hecht (a Holocaust poem by an American poet)
Joseph McDonough (poetry by a stockbroker who worked in the World Trade Center prior to 9-11)
Edward Nudelman (a Holocaust poem by an American poet)
Sean M. Teaford (Holocaust poems by an American poet)
Students on the Holocaust
Brian Coleman (a tribute page to an American student who reached out to Holocaust survivors)
Holocaust Poetry and Art (Holocaust poetry and art by students Victoria Lassen and Meidema Sanchez)
Contemporary Poets on the Holocaust