Requiem for the Ghosts of Belsen

ghosts are real
as real as the graves
that surround us

we are here today
for the ghosts of belsen
thousands of invisible shadows
more than 50,000 ghosts
of the nameless
faceless
dead
who stopped breathing
here
who were murdered
here
who were thrown
hurled
bulldozed
into the graves that surround us

we are here today
for the ghosts of belsen
for the thousands of emaciated
corpses
that once walked
spoke
shivered at night
saw the sky
felt the rain
felt the snow
cried
tried to remember
who they had been
once
desperately wanted to live
screamed in agony
before they were thrown
hurled
bulldozed
into the graves that surround us

we are here today
for all the other nameless
faceless
ghosts
who disappeared
disintegrated into dust
before they could be buried
in the graves that surround us

we are here today
because the dead
in the graves that surround us
jews
roma and sinti
poles
gays
the disabled
the other
the different
had ceased to be seen
as human
by men
women
who had ceased
to be human
by teutonic aryans
who believed they had the right
to murder jews
murder roma and sinti
murder poles
murder gays
murder the disabled
murder the other
the different
but above all
to murder jews

here
death became a sanctuary
the final
eternal
deliverance
but not on eagle’s wings
from the vicious cruelty
corroding malevolence
of the teutonic aryans
who had ceased to be human
kramer, grese, klein, hössler, volkenrath
who tortured
beat
starved
killed
because they wanted
to torture
beat
starve
kill
who followed orders
they wanted to carry out
were happy to carry out

we are here today
together with the ghosts of belsen
to remind ourselves
to remind germany
to remind the world
that we will not forget
we will not forgive
that we will not allow germany
we will not allow the world
to forget
forgive
kramer, grese, klein, hössler, volkenrath
and all the other killers
at belsen
auschwitz
birkenau
treblinka
majdanek
belzec
chelmno
sobibor
jasenovac
transnistria
babi yar
ponary
buchenwald
dachau
gross-rosen
ravensbrück
dora
that we will not forget
we will not forgive
that we will not allow germany
we will not allow the world
to forget
forgive
all those in berlin
hannover
munich
frankfurt
nuremberg
berchtesgarten
hitler, goebbels, himmler, eichmann,
göring, rosenberg, frank, streicher
whose poisonous
hatred of jews
of roma and sinti
of poles
of gays
of the disabled
of the other
the different
but above all
hatred of jews
created
caused
made possible
the inferno
devastation
of belsen
birkenau
treblinka
sobibor
babi yar

we are here today
together with the ghosts of belsen
to remind ourselves
to warn germany
to warn the world
that we will not allow
german politicians
german intellectuals
german academics
or any politicians
intellectuals
academics
anywhere
to deny
distort
exploit
minimize
trivialize
relativize
the savagery
absolute evil
perpetrated
at belsen
birkenau
treblinka
sobibor
babi yar

we are here today
alongside the graves that surround us
to remember those prisoners
inmates
at belsen
and birkenau
and dora
who refused to allow
kramer, grese, klein, hössler, volkenrath
eichmann, mengele, höss, von braun,
hitler, goebbels, göring, himmler, speer
to dehumanize them
who comforted
other inmates
on the verge of death
who helped
other inmates
facing death
who saved
other inmates
from death

we are here today
alongside the graves that surround us
to remember
my mother
dr. ada bimko
and the group of women
inmates
who kept 149 jewish children
alive
fed them
washed them
held them
sang lullabies to them
who made it possible
for mala tribich
hetty verolme
koby lubliner
julius “yidele” maslovat
to survive
the bitter winter
typhus epidemic
and hear a british officer
telling them
over a loudspeaker
from his jeep
“ihr seid frei”
“you are free”

we are here today
alongside the graves that surround us
to remember
glyn hughes, gonin, johnston, sington
each british officer and soldier
who entered the horror camp
that was belsen
on april 15, 1945
who gave the still breathing
still feeling
a spark of hope
unimaginable the day before
who resurrected
restored to life
the almost dead

we are here today
alongside the graves that surround us
to remember the defiance
of the jewish displaced persons
led by my father
josef “yossel” rosensaft
who reclaimed
their national identity
as jews
who insisted
on being recognized
respected
as jews
to be allowed
to live as jews
to pray as jews
to dream as jews
who demanded
to have a jewish homeland
a jewish state
where they could
live as jews
pray as jews
dream as jews
who for five years
turned the belsen dp camp
into an oasis
where laughter
and love
replaced tears
replaced hunger
replaced pain
where dreams
replaced nightmares
where what had seemed an illusion
became reality

​here today
alongside the graves that surround us
we also remember
jews met with hatred
pogroms
from their neighbors
erstwhile friends
in poland
belarus
ukraine
after surviving in forests
hiding in cellars
attics
on forged papers
who found shelter
a tabernacle of normalcy
in the belsen dp camp
lilly czaban and her parents
shmayahu bloch, his mother, and his brother martin
malka silberberg
thousands more
who found other jews
found each other
were able to rest
to dare to think
about tomorrow
to begin anew

we are here today
together with the ghosts of belsen
to remind ourselves
to remind the world
that we will not stand by
that we will not be silent
in the face of any hatred
of jews
of the other
the different
that we will not stand by
that we will not be silent
when jews
when israelis
are attacked
slaughtered
because they are jews
because they are israelis
when jewish women
jewish girls
are raped
violated
when jews
israelis
are taken hostage
brutalized
murdered
in horrific captivity
that we will not stand by
that we will not be silent
when any innocents
anywhere
are attacked
slaughtered
because of who they are
are raped
violated
are taken hostage
brutalized
murdered
in captivity

“il y a du beau
mêlé au tragique”
“there is beauty
mixed with tragedy”
wrote hélène berr
one of the dead
in the graves that surround us
before auschwitz
before belsen
“une espèce de resserrement
de la beauté
au cœur de la laideur”
“a kind of tightening
of beauty
at the heart of ugliness”

we feel the beauty of hélène’s soul
emerging from the ugliness
of her death from typhus
after being beaten
by an ss guard
five days
before belsen was freed

yes, there is beauty here
but it is not the beauty of the trees
or of the grass
or of the here and now

in the midst of the graves that surround us
we feel within ourselvesthe inner and outer beauty
of the ghosts of belsen
before they were
nameless
faceless
corpses
we see
deep within ourselves
the beauty of lights
we never saw
flickering in the depths
of our hearts
of our souls
we sense
deep within ourselves
insistent whispers
we never heard

we are here today
to swear
to the ghosts of belsen
to swear
to the thousands of nameless dead
who were thrown
hurled
bulldozed
into the graves that surround us
just as my father swore to them
when the belsen dp camp was closed
before he left belsen
that we will never forget them
that we will never abandon them
and that our children
and our children’s children
and their children
and their children’s children
will never forget them
will never abandon them