I heard
a guard talking through the barbed wire
to a nine-year-old boy
You know a lot for a boy your age
he said
The boy answered
I know that I know a lot
and I also know
I'm not going to learn any more
He was loaded into a truck
with a group
of about 90 children
When the children started
screaming and struggling
the boy yelled
Get in here
Get in the truck
Stop your crying
You saw the way
your parents and grandparents
went
Climb in
then you'll get to see them again
And as they were being driven off
I heard him shout back to the guard
You won't be forgiven
anything
-- The Investigation, Peter Weiss
Auschwitz: Sixty years
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i know this is a few days late but i was just browsing some lj and saw this entry. i guess it didn't really touch me before, even after all the numbers and death tolls, reported acts of 'scientific experiments' and massacres. we scoff at the ideology or shake our heads in disbelief at why people would do this and where has all the common sense and compassion gone to. but we don't feel the pain and anguish of survivors because we have not experienced their sufferings and terror of that time. i think... one should feel more so that one can remember the horrors and ensure that history will not repeat itself.
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When Hitler attacked the Jews
I was not a Jew, therefore I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the Catholics,
I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists,
I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned.
Then Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church --
and there was nobody left to be concerned.
-- Pastor Martin Niemoller
