The following poem was written by Marianne Goldstein and shared as part of the Memory Project.
On 9/11 and in the Holocaust,
So many lives senselessly were lost.
These two events will live in History,
So similar in many ways,
The cause of each—no mystery—
Both causing grief for many days.
Though more than sixty years elapsed
Since Hitler first tormented Jews
To when the New York towers in flames collapsed
And planes sent by Bin Laden first made news,
Both were so terribly unfair,
Caused by persons with evil intent,
Yet in some ways one can compare
One with the other, lives uselessly spent.
Both were caused by persons with a greed for power,
Both wanting to eliminate
People they considered a class “lower,”
Both events were fueled by hate!
The Holocaust intended to rid the world of few
Not fitting a predetermined “mold”—
Those deemed undesirable, not only Jew,
But Catholics and mentally disturbed this did enfold.
9/11 on the other hand,
Was aimed at no specific group or sect;
It was directed at each American,
An unexpected coup no one could predict.
Crematory chimneys belching smoke,
Or that pouring from New York’s tall towers,
Each in its own way did evoke
Terror lasting many days, not hours.
Stench from each permeated the air,
Attesting to two malevolent powers,
Both acts so terribly unfair,
Raining down like unwelcome showers.
We want never to see again
Times so horrid as these
And hope that terror will cease to reign,
So all may live in peace.
—Marianne Goldstein
Did you live through the holocaust ?
I was fortunate enough to have left Germany before things became really bad, therefore I did live through the Holocaust. My maternal grandparents, with whom I had lived for two years before joining my parents in the U.S., were able to come to join us in 1941. My maternal grandfather, Julius Reis, was the only one of five siblings to survive. My father’s other, Sophie Benedict, his half-sister, Ilse Benedict Ehrman, her husband, Fritz Ehrman and their son, Joachim Ehrman, my only cousin, were also able to come to the U.S. thanks to my father. I realize that I answered more than your question.