Remembering the Holocaust Through Poetry
Adapted from “Remembering the Holocaust with Hyperlinked Poetry”
http://cte.jhu.edu/techacademy/web/2000/baczkowski/intro.htm
Name_________________
David Olère is well-known as an artist whose work testifies to the enormity of the Holocaust. A survivor
of Auschwitz, his drawings, paintings, and sculpture have helped considerably to reveal the truth about the
atrocities suffered by Jews and other Nazi victims at this notorious death camp.
David Olère was born in Warsaw, Poland, on January 19, 1902. At a young
age, he was accepted into the Academy of Fine Arts, and remained in Poland until he
was sixteen. During his teenage years he exhibited woodcuts at museums and art
houses in Danzig and Berlin. On February 20, 1943, he was arrested by French police
during a round up of Jews at Seine-et-Oise. Olère was detained at Drancy, then
deported to Auschwitz.
From March 2, 1943, to January 19, 1945, David Olère was interned at
Auschwitz. There he worked as a Sonderkommando, part of a special labor unit
responsible for emptying the remains from the ovens of the crematory and for
removing the bodies from the gas chambers. The horrors he witnessed there are
incomprehensible to anyone who did not personally experience the Holocaust. He saw
the victims of the gas chamber undress in the cloakroom, paralyzed with fear and the
knowledge of certain death. He saw the incineration of countless bodies. He saw the
so-called medical experiments performed on the weak and the sick and the old. He
saw the SS rape and torture young Jewish girls. He saw prisoners suffer terrible cruelties while living under the
most deplorable of conditions. And on a regular basis, he saw disease, despair, and death. David Olère was one
of the few laborers to penetrate the dark interiors of the crematoria and the gas chambers of Auschwitz and to
emerge alive. He took part in the evacuation death march of Auschwitz in January of 1945 and was finally
liberated by the Americans at Ebensee in May of that year.
Part I. Identifying Imagery in David Olere’s Painting, Elie Wiesel’s Words & Holocaust Music
You will watch a brief video that will display David Olere’s paintings that reflect images from his experiences
as a prisoner at Auschwitz Death Camp, Elie Wiesel’s words taken from Night, and music composed to honor
the memory of the over six million Jews and five million other victims of the Holocaust. As you watch the
video and listen, record the imagery using the chart below. Look carefully at each painting as there are many
images and the use of symbolism in the background of each painting. Remember that imagery appeals to the
senses and should create vivid images in your mind. Adapted from:
http://cte.jhu.edu/techacademy/web/2000/baczkowski/imageid.htm
Unable To Work
See
Hear
Touch
Smell
Taste
Imagery/Images
Your Reaction
The Food of the Dead
for the Living
Imagery/Images
Your Reaction
Imagery/Images
Your Reaction
Imagery/Images
Your Reaction
See
Hear
Touch
Smell
Taste
Priest and Rabbi
See
Hear
Touch
Smell
Taste
Gassing
See
Hear
Touch
Smell
Taste
The Experimental
Injection
Imagery/Images
Your Reaction
Imagery/Images
Your Reaction
Imagery/Images
Your Reaction
See
Hear
Touch
Smell
Taste
Their Last Steps
See
Hear
Touch
Smell
Taste
Arrival of a Convoy
See
Hear
Touch
Smell
Taste
Part II. Creating Imagery Web
Next, after reviewing your notes create an imagery web of sights, sounds, feelings, smells, tastes and reactions
to the paintings, words and music. The word “Holocaust” is at the center of your web. Adapted from:
http://cte.jhu.edu/techacademy/web/2000/baczkowski/imageweb.htm
Holocaust
Part III. Creating an Original Poem
Finally, using your imagery web you will now create an original poem. You can also use your thoughts,
feelings and reaction from what you’ve read in Night, seen in The Devil’s Arithmetic and other Holocaust
related PowerPoints and discussions. You may use a pantoum, an acrostic poem, using phrases, a narrative, a
lyrical, an elegy, an internal monologue, or you may create an original poem using a format of your choice.
Writing a Pantoum--The “pantun” is a Malaysian poetic form that was introduced to the West by French
novelist, essayist, and poet, Victor Hugo (1802-1885), hence the French spelling, “pantoum.” A pantoum is a
formula poem and by following these simple directions you can create your own pantoum. Remember that
poems DO NOT have to rhyme.
"The Butterfly"
Stanza 1:
Line 1
Line 2 (copy to line 5)
Line 3
Line 4 (copy to line 7)
Stanza 2:
Line 5
Line 6 (copy to line 9)
Line 7
Line 8 (copy to line 11)
Stanza 3
Line 9
Line 10 (copy to line 13)
Line 11
Line 12 (copy to line 15)
Stanza 4
Line 13
Line 14
Line 15
Line 16
The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing
against a white stone. . . .
Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly 'way up high.
It went away I'm sure because it wished to
kiss the world good-bye.
For seven weeks I've lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.
That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don't live in here,
in the ghetto.
- by Pavel Friedman
Pavel Friedmann was born in Prague on January 7, 1921. He was
deported to Terezin on April 26, 1942 and later to Auschwitz,
where he died on September 29, 1944.
Writing an Acrostic Poem-- An acrostic poem, sometimes called a name poem, uses a word for its subject.
Then each line of the poem begins with a letter from the subject word. This type of poetry doesn't have to
rhyme. Use either the word “Holocaust” or “We Must Never Forget.” You must use phrases, not just
individual words to create this poem.
Create an Original Poem—Using your imagination create a poem of your own choosing. You may write a
narrative poem, one that tells a story. A lyrical poem, one that reveals thoughts and feelings, lyrical poems
often form the basis for many songs, so you could also include a refrain. A elegy, one that is a sad and
thoughtful poem lamenting the death of a person or persons, the victims of the Holocaust. An internal
monologue, one that is spoken and reveals the inner and often hidden thoughts and feelings of the speaker. A
format of your choice. Remember that poems do not have to rhyme.
Resources: “Remembering the Holocaust Through Hyperlinked Poetry”
http://cte.jhu.edu/techacademy/web/2000/baczkowski/intro.htm & “A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust”
“David Olere’s Paintings and Drawings” http://fcit.usf.edu/HOLOCAUST/resource/gallery/Olere.htm & I
Never Saw Another Butterfly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Never_Saw_Another_Butterfly & The Life and
Death Orchestra http://www.lifeanddeath.org/holocaustmp3/index.htm & “51 Types of Poetry”
http://www.poemofquotes.com/articles/poetry_forms.php