Holocaust Poem and Questions

Holocaust
by Barbara Sonek

We played, we laughed
we were loved.
We were ripped from the arms of our
parents and thrown into the fire.
We were nothing more than children.
We had a future. We were going to be lawyers, rabbis, wives, teachers, mothers. We had dreams, then we had no hope. We were taken away in the dead of night like cattle in cars, no air to breathe smothering, crying, starving, dying. Separated from the world to be no more. From the ashes, hear our plea. This atrocity to mankind can not happen again. Remember us, for we were the children whose dreams and lives were stolen away.

1. What is your initial reaction to this poem? My initial reaction of this poem is that I feel very sad and sorry for the people and the children who were killed in the concentration camps.
2. How does the author use 'we' in this poem? The author uses 'we' to talk about every single child who was killed in the holocaust. A collective pronoun and inclusive language.
3. What are the verbs used in the first sentence? The verbs used in the first sentence are 'played, laughed and loved which refers to the children's lives before they were taken to the concentration camp.
4. What are the verbs used in the second sentence? How do they contrast with those used in the first sentence? The verbs used in the second sentence are 'ripped and thrown' which refer to when the Jewish children were taken away and killed. They are completely different in contrast compared to the words used in the first sentence as they are used to described evil and death whereas the other words are about happiness and joy. This juxtaposition helps to show the contrast in words that are used.
5. What effect does the listing of 'lawyers, rabbis, wives, teachers, mothers'? What is it meant to signify? The effect of listing the different jobs is to enhance how meaningful the deaths of the Jewish children were and signifies how these children were taken away from their past lives and killed when they could have had great jobs and grown up to be great people.
6. What simile is used in the poem and what effect does it have? The simile that is used in the poem is "like cattle in car" which makes it seem like they were rounded up and treated like cattle and then placed in cars which were sent to the concentration camps.
7. How has the poet represented herself in the last sentence? She has represented herself in the last sentence by adding in 'our and we' which says that she was one of those children who suffered and was a victim of the Holocaust. She also has 'remember us' which places herself within the poem.
8. If you could communicate to this person, a victim of the Holocaust, what would you want to say? What do you feel that you must do in your life as a response to this poem? If I could communicate to this person I would want to say to them that I feel very sad and sorry for them and their families. I feel that I must make sure that my children and family is educated about the Holocaust so they know how terrible it was and they know to never let anything like that happen again.