Poem, To Remember and Not to Forget, Zchor Ve'al Tishkach... by Alexander Kuechel, 1972

Zchor Ve'al Tishkach... To Remember and not to forget God, I am standing before Thee. Thy servant of Israel, thanking Thee for my life, or rather for the so many lives that were given to me, and I wonder, why me, and not to the others? and perhaps I was spared, to remember and not to forget? And, I remember, Crystal-Night, the sound of broken glass, the sound of drums, and marching boots, and I remember the trembling of my heart. How can I forget the burning of synagogues, the parchments of the Torah on the streets and trampled upon, the cutting of beards and peyes, the beatings, the crushing of skulls, the blood, the outcry, the trucks, the concentration camps and the ghettos. I remember, endless masses of my people being slaughtered. I see mothers clutching their babies to their bosoms for the last time, and I feel their wet tears running down my cheeks. I see the hate in the eyes of my oppressors, hear their laughter and mockery, and I feel empty and lost. I feel the burning bullets in my flsh, cold, hunger, and despaire, and barbed wire around me, And I remember the world being silent... How can I forget Auschwitz, Maidanek, Bergen-Belsen, Terrsienstadt, Buchenwald, Krakow, Chrzanow, Warsaw, Gross-Rosen, Babi Yar, Ravensbruck, Riga, Sachenhausen, Blech-hammer, Brande, Graeditz, Faulbruck, Langenbielau, Trieblenka, and so many others. How can I forget Moische, Jankel and Rifka... Hans, Gretchen, Michelle, and Robert, Frendrik and so many names - I hear their cries of pain and I hear so many "Schma Israel, Adonay Elohenu Adonay Echad". I am listening to their last breath, their curses, and their prayers. How can I forget the sound of shovels and the wind that carries the endless sound of "yiskadal veyiskadash sheme rabah." And I remember the world being silent... How can I forget the marching skeletons, their swollen, dragging feet, their thin, death-looking yellow faces, with their thin long noses? "Links, links, eins swei dre, Muetzen ab, schnell, schnell IHR JUDEN". I see shiny boots, black uniforms, and I feel the sting of death. I remember the endless train rides, the cattle cars, the thirst, the dying, the babies, the young and old, and the angel of death riding along. And I remember the world being silent... I remember a band playing "Wagner" and I see the finger pointing to the left and to the right... to be, or not to be. I smell the stench of human flesh, I see tall chimneys and the martyred souls escaping in smoke. I hear the cries of agony of tortured beings, knives cutting into their flesh, human guinea pigs. I see mounds of golden teeth, shoes, human hair and lamps made of skin. And I remember the world being silent... How can I forget the kapos, their whips, broken bones, broken spirits, the many nations that helped to destroy our people, and how can I forget the so very few, who risked their lives, to save and comfort us? I remember the kneeling bodies in front of their to-be graves, the rattling of machine guns, and mountains of human flesh. I remember the hangings and I feel the chokings around their necks and the last gasp of life. How can I forget their dreams, the love of their parents, brothers and sisters. I see their hollow cheeks and their burning eyes of despair, and I see their eyes plucked out of their sockets: There were no more tears...... it was dark now. And I remember the world being silent.... My God, my soul is tormented. It is so much pain to remember ... so much pain ... but it is hard to forget. This poem was written in 1972 by Alexander Kuechel... a Survivor....