HOLOCAUST MEMORIES

A picture taken just after the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau

by the Soviet army in January 1945, shows a group of children

wearing concentration camp uniforms behind barbed wire

fencing at the camp. Primo Levi was deported from Italy

and spent 11 months at Auschwitz during 1944-45.

REVEILLE

In the brutal nights we used to dream

Dense violent dreams,

Dreamed with soul and body:

To return; to eat; to tell the story.

Until the dawn command

Sounded brief, low

'Wstawac'*

And the heart cracked in the breast.

.

Now we have found our homes again,

Our bellies are full,

We're through telling the story.

It's time. Soon we'll hear again

The strange command:

'Wstawac'*

.

* 'get up'

.

Primo Levi

.

Tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day