The Holocaust: Destruction All Around

By Zack Schiffer

8th grade Park Forest Middle School Teacher: Mrs. McKee

In destruction I stood; I looked around What did I see? Devastation everywhere. Nothing left. Just debris.

North I glanced. Whom did I see? People without names; Children without families. Men, women and children alike, Snared and shuffled by one man’s decrees.

South I glanced. What did I see? People who were but numbers, Of what they were, but a piece. Lives destroyed by the thousands, And those who still held on to life: Praying for release.

West I peered, What did I perceive? Smoke arising from human flesh, Hundreds of bodies piled in flame. Homes and possessions taken away, Rivers, fields and roads defiled all the same.

Now East I turned, What tragedy did I observe? Stomachs bloated and ribs apparent, A slice of bread to eat each day. Starving parents and children too, All that was left for them was to pray.

Destruction I see on all sides. Where Chaos rules. And Calamity abides

Let it be written down In the history of man. The violence I saw. The loss of people and races alike. May such destruction be always remembered; But Never Seen again.

news.mcclatchy.com headlines

• Commercial bankruptcies soar, reflecting widening economic woes
• Russia worries about its high inflation
• Some Florida Dems miffed by who runs Obama's Latin outreach
• No progress in Iran talks, so Europe, U.S. renew threats
• Sunnis rejoin Iraqi government, raising reconciliation hopes