Holocaust and Heroism

The Poem About the Murdered Jewish People
by Yitzkhak Katzenelson
Translated by Janie Respitz

Donated by Anita Frishman Gabbay

Cry out from animal's intestines in the forest, from fish in the river
They ate you, cry from the lime kiln, cry big and small,
I want a scream, a yell from pain, a voice,
I want a voice from you,
Shout, murdered Jewish people, shout, shout it out!
Appear to me, my people, appear to me, stretch out your hands
Out of the deep graves mile – long and densely over crowded,
Layer under layer, with lime poured and burned.
Get up! Get up! Ascend from lowest, deepest layer!
Come everyone from Treblinka, from Sobibor, from Auschwitz,
Come from Belzec, from Ponar and from all the others!
With eyes torn out, a hardened cry, a scream without a voice,
Come from the swamps, from the sunken deep in mud, from the moss of Poland –
Come dried out, ground up, grated, come, show yourselves,
In a large dance circle around me, a large circle –
Grandfathers, grandmothers, fathers and mothers with children at their bosom –
Come, from Jewish powder made from boned, from pieces of soap.
Show yourselves to me, come all to me,
I want to see all of you, I need to see you, I want
To look at my murdered people in silence, silenced –
And I want to sing…yes…bring the harp here – I'm playing!
October 3-5 1943
Yitzkhak Katenelson / The Poem About the Murdered Jewish People, Published Hakibbitz Hameuchad

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