Helplessness in the face of extreme Nazism

Like a shepherd, the SS leads his sheep to the enclosure
One after another they have their heads shaved, receive thin clothes to put on their backs and a number next to their hearts.
Nothing more terrible to destroy honour!
The men work hard with a thought, a whisper for the women they left at home.
The NN were the worst treated; the soldiers dislike them.
The NN could not take a step without being shoved or beaten.
I am disappointed, shocked by such atrocities. Where has the Nazis’ soul gone?
Heart and mind are nothing here because Nazism enters and blindfolds them.
Sometimes a heart of stone awakens like a  volcano.
The blindfold proudly comes off.
But the quaking soldier dares not open his eyes to reality.
Thousands of men are burned,
thousands of men are shot,
but they will live forever because the smoke rises to heaven.
Those flames, symbol of death,
those flames, symbol of pain, torture,
may those flames unite and devour the dictatorship!
Jean-François HOLL.


How could such a beautiful, peaceful, attractive place,
this place symbolising the pleasure of Alsatian tourists,
how could this place have been turned into a temple of torture, monstrosity, human cruelty and dishonour?
Such horrors were committed that birds no longer even landed here.
Yet all that was “just” the work of one man’s fanaticism.
Jérémy AUBIN.

Funny life.
When I was little they told me hell was located kilometers below ground.
Now that I am here I realise it is located 800 meters above sea level.
My name is Nicolas. Today I am number 8701.
HELL, WHAT A DREADFUL LIFE!
French or Norwegian, we are all starving to death.
Today I am going to the granite quarry,
in the Nazis’ land of milk and honey.
I walk down the ravine of death with this accursed wheelbarrow.
Now it’s my turn;
an SS bastard has just cast a dirty look at me.
Why? Why? Why?
He trips me, tries to make me fall.
I regain my footing, which wipes the smile off his face.
I know that I will be killed by the end of the day.
Might as well try to escape through the electrified barbed wire.
As Mr. Kramer told us when we arrived,
"You came in through this gate; you’ll go out through that smokestack."
An SS walks into my block, grabs me by the arm, takes me to the edge of the woods.
He tells me that if I manage to reach the trees without being shot, I might be let out.
He starts counting:
"Eins, zwei," bang!
I do not know why, my body swings, the trees seem to be receding in front of me.
My feet no longer touch the ground, I am flying.
A little tiny flight, my body is thrust up into the air.
I do not want to believe it. It cannot be true, I am not going to die!
That bastard did not leave me any chance.
A sparrow has landed in front of me.
Is it the sign that I am going to fly away?
That I will head for the sky?
Another bang rings out. My story is over.
Nicolas SABIAN.

 
Images flash before my eyes
like knives piercing my heart.
I hear the cries of the past that lacerated my ears.
And I, like you, we can never do anything
to stop this misery.
My head cries out, my heart bleeds.
O God, where are you?
The past can never be erased.
The atrocities can never be forgotten.
And all that remains for me to do is pray and hope
that one day we shall live in peace.
Johann SCHUH.


Struthof
I thank all those who gave their souls
so that I can see light.
So that I can live in peace.
Unfortunately today the only thing I can do for them is light a candle.
Men or women, it makes no difference.
All of them were defenceless.
The only chance of escaping
was through the smokestack.
I can picture them facing evil.
People who were always starving and could no longer smile,
like rotten fruit that life forgot.
I see them helpless in the face of evil.
So today I would like to thank those who gave their souls
so that I could see light
and live in peace.
Unfortunately today the only thing I can do for them is light a candle.
Kevin GUILPAIN

• CRDP Alsace
• Lycée Schwilgue in Selestat