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Holocaust Poetry

by Hilda Schiff (Editor)

4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 · rating details · 97 ratings · 8 reviews

The only known collection of its kind currently in print, this important volume includes the work of 59 poets--among them Auden, Brecht, Celan, Jarrell, Levi, Milosz, Plath, Sexton, Spender, Wiesel, and Yevtushenko--writing on a range of subjects that are indelibly linked with the Holocaust. Collecting 119 poems in all, Holocaust Poetry commemorates the sanctity of those w...more

Paperback, 256 pages

Published February 15th 1996 by St. Martin's Griffin (first published 1995)

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Jul 25, 2012 Belinda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

Such an intense book. I found it interesting that everyone who saw me with this book, opened their eyes really wide and looked sort of sarcastically at me--eyebrows lifted with a "really?" look on their faces. Part of this I am sure is because I have suffered from depression for many years and they were thinking "wow, way to wallow"...but I honestly did not feel that way reading this.
It grabbed my attention immediately when I saw it at the library. I find the Holocaust fascinating, but not in...more Such an intense book. I found it interesting that everyone who saw me with this book, opened their eyes really wide and looked sort of sarcastically at me--eyebrows lifted with a "really?" look on their faces. Part of this I am sure is because I have suffered from depression for many years and they were thinking "wow, way to wallow"...but I honestly did not feel that way reading this.
It grabbed my attention immediately when I saw it at the library. I find the Holocaust fascinating, but not in a morbid way---it's much more complex--I think wanting to understand man's inhumanity to man, man's ability to survive and how something so awful could come to be. The subject has always been of interest to me since I was a child and we were shown films in school from the war, including scenes of starving and abused prisoners of concentration camps. Obviously that left a deep mark on me.
This book truly amazes--ranging from aching beauty to anger to hopelessness to triumph. Reading the author biographies after was as much a revelation as the book itself. After reading the entire book, finding out which authors had survived the Holocaust (of those that were there), and which ones had survived only to commit suicide later added such sadness and depth to their works. One poet in particular, Miklos Radnoti was actually found in a mass grave with his poems stuffed inside his pocket. This was particularly painful as one of his poems in the book is written in such a way as to suggest it could have been written as he was shot--it was that descriptive and similar to what happened to him and was written in the same year he was found dead. With these darker poems were many others that showed the strong faith of many of the poets, even in the face of such evil. Uplifting poems which make you shake your head in wonder at the ability to fight and bounce back many humans have. Survivor guilt runs deep in many of the poems, especially those by Primo Levi and Paul Celan, both survivors who later committed suicide. There is a sense of urgency and a need to tell the story of what they saw in both of these authors--heartbreaking yet valiant in light of how their lives ended.
My favorite poem of the entire book is written by Elie Wiesel, the brilliant author of Night and so many other amazing works. It is a piece taken from a dramatic poem set to music based on the Hebrew Prayer "I Believe in the Coming of the Messiah", called Ani Maamin, A Song Lost and Found Again. It is beautiful, complex, rife with symbolism, beauty, and anger. Like many of the others, this poem will stay with me a very long time. (less)

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Jul 30, 2011 Garrett Zecker rated it 5 of 5 stars

An excellent compilation that was given to me by a friend visiting the Holocaust Memorial in Washington. This beautiful volume speaks a great deal about the human condition and the poetic response to an atrocity that is completely indescribable. Where there weren't any words remaining, Hilda Schiff cherry picked a great deal of works that use words in their most eloquent and bold manifestation to allow for the emotion and limits of the human mind to touch upon what and where and how these events...more

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Feb 09, 2012 Eric rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: poets, writers, holocaust survivors, holocaust students

Recommended to Eric by: English 400- Remembering the Holocaust @Ball State University

I knew going into this particular collection that I would find it an unpleasant experience, which is largely why this didn't get one star. I am not a fan of poetry of any sort. I don't get the deeper meaning of poets and do not looking for those hidden nuances that are intended. Here while all the pieces reflect an overarching theme I can't say one in particular stood out for me. It was interesting to see another way of conveying ones thoughts about this horrible point of history, but it is just...more

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Dec 18, 2009 Serena rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Holocaust Poetry compiled by and introduced by Hilda Schiff is a collection of poetry dealing with World War II and the Holocaust. The compilation is divided into six sections: Alienation; Persecution; Rescuers, Bystanders, Perpetrators; Afterwards; Second Generation; and Lessons. There are well-known poems in this collection and poems from young children. A few of the poems in this collection already have been featured on Savvy Verse & Wit's Virtual Poetry Circle; check out "If" by Edward B...more Holocaust Poetry compiled by and introduced by Hilda Schiff is a collection of poetry dealing with World War II and the Holocaust. The compilation is divided into six sections: Alienation; Persecution; Rescuers, Bystanders, Perpetrators; Afterwards; Second Generation; and Lessons. There are well-known poems in this collection and poems from young children. A few of the poems in this collection already have been featured on Savvy Verse & Wit's Virtual Poetry Circle; check out "If" by Edward Bond and "The Butterfly" by Pavel Friedmann.

Each poem in the collection uses all-too-familiar images to demonstrate connections with family, friends, and strangers. and as each poem unfolds readers feel the devastation and hopelessness of each narrator. Schiff says in the introduction, "The more or less contemporaneous literature of any period of history is not only an integral part of that period, but it also allows us to understand historical events and experiences better than the bare facts alone can do because they enable us to absorb them inwardly." More or less, readers of poetry will find these observations valid, as will readers of fiction.

However, there are moments of levity when narrators poke fun at the devastating events of Nazi Germany's actions.

The Burning of the Books (Page 8)

When the Regime commanded that books with harmful knowledge
Should be publicly burned on all sides
Oxen were forced to drag cart loads of books
To the bonfires, a banished
Writer, one of the best, scanning the list of the
Burned, was shocked to find that his
Books had been passed over. He rushed to his desk
On wings of wrath, and wrote a letter to those in power.
Burn me! he wrote with flying pen, burn me. Haven't my
books
Always reported the truth? And here you are
Treating me like a liar! I command you:
Burn me!

Beyond the poems in the collection depicting the horrors and the losses of persecuted people in Germany, the poems of bystanders, perpetrators, and others are surprising. They talk of how they stood by and did nothing, how they want to help even if they are too late. Despite the time for help being long passed, these narrators express not guilt so much as regret -- a deep regret at having been so paralyzed by fear that they did nothing or acted contrary to who they believed themselves to be.

I Did Not Manage to Save (page 86)

I did not manage to save
a single life

I did not know how to stop
a single bullet

and I wander round cemeteries
which are not there

I look for words
which are not there
I run

to help where no one called
to rescue after the event

I want to be on time
even if I am too late

The poems selected for the "Second Generation" section will tug at readers heart strings, deepening the sense of loss. An emptiness is present in some of these poems. Short biographies are included at the back of the book for readers interested in the poets' lives and connections to WWII and the Holocaust.

Holocaust Poetry is a collection that should be read in chunks rather than all at once. Readers may succumb to sorrow if they attempt to read the entire collection in once sitting, but even then, readers will fall into the darkness and emerge in the light. Overall, the collection is a must have for anyone interested in this time period and learning more about how WWII and the Holocaust impact individual lives and families.(less)

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Jun 17, 2009 Jayne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: holocaust, poetry, read-aloud, social-studies

A variety of poetry related to the Holocaust. Some are great read alouds for students to help build their background knowledge of the time.

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May 28, 2012 Snow rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

Some very moving pieces, some disturbing. A very good range of emotional work, which of course the Holocaust birthed.

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Jul 27, 2011 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am very interested in the Holocaust and this made it even more emotional for me. I could only read one a night.

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May 07, 2009 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

Read as part of the class project I was doing on death poetry (because the teacher thought I shouldn't do a project just about suicide poetry).

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May 20, 2013 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

May 11, 2013 Megan marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: the-library-scan-list

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Shelves: poetry, 2013

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Shelves: culture, poetry

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