It is estimated that of the 265,000 Jews living in Lithuania in June 1941, 254,000 or 95% were murdered during the German occupation. No other Jewish community in Nazi-occupied Europe was so comprehensively destroyed. Most were slaughtered in 1941.


survivors

Adolf’s gone
Joe’s dead
thank God
who’s in charge now?

good riddance
to
those two anyway
they say

sitting
on a park bench
sharing bread
sharing stories

one slim and busy
the other fuller
and more
worrier

the grass beside them
is long
the bench in need
of paint

along the path
a girl
cycles
easy and slow

dogs are
walked
couples
couple

birds sing
bees buzz
flowers
flourish

it is Maytime
in Vilnius

we can only guess
what it was like
in 1941

Those old ladies know



Poetry by Peter Humphreys
Read 799 times
Written on 2007-06-12 at 10:18

Tags Vilnius  Survivors  Bravery 

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normalil
Hard to believe isn't it? I find the stories and films of the Warsaw ghetto terrifying.
Thanks for this, we must never forget.
2007-06-25


Mark J. Wood
The old ladies always know - it's a pity that they don't teach the young men.
2007-06-19


kath
..thank you Peter for not letting these horrors be lost in time ...

//katherine
2007-06-12


gills
") fantastic write... such a horrid era :) thanks for teaching me...
gills
2007-06-12