A Step into Hell
The dawn breaks with the first light.
People begin to huddle in fright,
Their bodies, frail and thin;
To be Jews, that was their sin.
In the hundreds of thousands, they would die,
While the world watched with a sadistic sigh.The gas would freely flow.
It would surround them, until they’d know
That death was finally here.
And it came with a horrible fear.
No rescue or help was to be had
No one was spared, even the smoke was sad.For those left, there was an oppressing silence.
Darkness was thick with the smell of violence,
Another terrible dawn will break as they patiently wait,
The next poor souls in line to discover their fate.
Somewhere in this evil of man, deep as the endless well
Humanity let our souls take step after step into hell.
The Butterfly Effect
I wrote this poem in 1967. If I remember correctly, I had just finished reading “The Diary of Anne Frank.” I’m not Jewish, but I could see myself in her; I also had dark hair and brown eyes and felt many of the same things she had shared in her diary, except for the fear that forced her to hide in an attic.
This book encouraged me to learn about the Holocaust and the unspeakable horrors endured by over 5,830,000 Jews. Among those who died, 1,500,000 were children. Many didn’t even get to live to the age I was when I wrote this poem.
My Butterfly
You might note the above picture of a butterfly I made. I’m not an arts and crafts person, but I worked really hard to make this butterfly; it’s going to become part of an exhibit to remember the children who died in the Holocaust.
I learned about this exhibit on a recent visit to Carrie’s site, Grow Your Own. She talked about The Butterfly Effect, a group project undertaken by Trudi Sissons of Two Dresses Studio, to collect handmade butterflies.
These butterflies will be sent as a group to The Butterfly Project, hosted by The Holocaust Museum in Houston, Texas, USA. The Butterfly Project was organized to remember the 1,500,000 innocent children who perished as a result of the Holocaust, by collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies. In the Spring of 2013, these butterflies will become an exhibit in the memory of this event and the children who died.
Make a butterfly
I encourage everyone to consider taking part in this group project. Trudi is collecting the butterflies and will provide a link back to the people who send one to her.
Please click on the widget in the right sidebar of my site, or visit the Butterfly Effect information page at Two Dresses Studio for more information about making a butterfly for this project and where to send your butterfly. BTW Keep scrolling down beyond the image for Trudi’s information.
When I made my butterfly, I wanted it to be special. I wanted it to carry my regrets for this tragedy on its wings. I wanted it to remind people that we must always be vigilant and not let the sparks of prejudice become the raging fire of hate.
Will you join me?
* * * * * * * *
What about you?
- Did you read “The Diary of Anne Frank” and if so, what was your reaction?
- What do you think we need to do to prevent genocides or holocausts from occurring in the world?
- On a less serious note, what’s your favorite butterfly and why?
P.S.
Remember you still can do the Special Challenge at my last Story Post, The Fallen Man. You have until Friday. I dare you to do it:~)
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Sara – I think this is a wonderful project and will see what my daughter and I can do – am also forwarding the information to a teacher I know who is very much a part of the museum here in DC. I lived in Prague – there is a wonderful museum there but one of the exhibits at the time (at least) was the drawings made by the children in Terezin “I Never Saw Another Butterfly.” My daughter’s best friend is Jewish – WWII is something that we have discussed; however, due to her age, I have focused largely on the people that helped – those who risked their lives to do all they could to help others. Thank you for sharing this link and the information… and yes, I have read the book, seen the adaptation, and visited camps in France. I have visited the museum here several times. While others have not gone or refuse to take their children, I will take my daughter when she studies WWII in school. There is much to learn there… not just what man is capable of doing in an evil way… but the strength and wonders of the human spirit as well.
The Exception´s last [type] ..Happy Talk – and Dreams
@ TE — The poem, “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” is part of the reason for the Houston Butterfly project. They mention it.
It is amazing how many people dared to step forward and help at time when doing so was at the risk of their lives.
Maybe you and your daughter could consider making a butterfly for the Butterfly Effect. I actually had a great time making mine and they don’t have to look like real butterflies…you can use your own imagination for the butterfly:~)
Thank you very much for your comment:~)
Hi Sara, I did not read the book but I have been to Auchswitz with a group of young people (I am a youth worker). They were horrified and thought the place should be torn down so no-one would have to see it. It took all night to explain to them exactly why it should not be torn down.
Enjoy the journey.
Mandy
Mandy Allen´s last [type] ..A New Year Begins
@ Mandy –I suppose it is difficult sometimes to explain why we would keep places like Auchswitz to children; memorials about evil would seem to a child like something you would destroy. Yet, it is important to have them as reminders of what intolerance and prejudice can lead people to do.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this:~)
What a wonderful project. Truly wonderful and your butterfly is magnificent. I read Anne’s diary when I was about her age and it did have a profound effect on me. It is still hard for me to believe that so many people stood by and watched this happen.
Lynn´s last [type] ..Mighty fine- little Nicky and common ground
@ Lynn — I know it is a wonderful project!!! Also, thank you about my butterfly. I had lots of fun making it, even though it was a challenge!
I agree with you that it’s hard to believe people stood by while so many were killed. I’ve often asked myself “What would I have done?” I can’t answer it because I’m not in that moment. I guess I understand, to some degree, the people who took no action because they feared for themselves and their families. What I can’t understand are the people who intentionally reported those in hiding. To me, that was an act even more cruel because it was often covertly done.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this topic:~)
Hi Sara
Not read the Diary of AF but my daughter has read it many times and is always moved by it.
It is so brave of you to share your poem and to write on a topic that will bring most of us to tears… well done for that.
Let all those butterflys soar high with the soals of the children we remember in this post.
Keith Davis´s last [type] ..Chocolat…
@ Keith — You are so nice. I pleased that your daughter has read the Diary of Anne Frank many times. It is truly a lesson in compassion.
I really like the symbolism of a butterfly for this project. Butterflies are often associated with transformation and in many cultures, the soul. In addition, it has a very short life span, which sadly was the case for the children of the holocaust.
BTW I have Chocolat on my list of movies to watch and I loved how you used this movie as a analogy for a good presentation. It was well done:~)
Sara
Congratulations on activating threaded comments, now we can have a real conversation – well almost real.
All you need now is the Subscribe to comments plugin and your comments will soar.
Seriously, give it a try, super easy to install.
Thanks once again for a moving post.
Yours with tears in my eyes.
Keith
Keith Davis´s last [type] ..Chocolat…
@ Keith — I owe a big thanks to my friend, Lori, of JaneBeNimble for giving me instructions on to how to do this. I really like it and you’re right it does allow for conversations and I miss fewer comments. I’ll check out the Subscribe to comments plugin….thanks for the hint!
I read the book and it truly changed my life in many ways. I think your butterfly is truly wonderful and I will link over to each of the sites. I do not know if I can make something to add, but it has captured my mind.
Thank you for giving light to this project and your response, it is a compassionate thing to do.
I remember the tattoos on my neighbor’s arm. She and her husband owned a local jewelry store and she always let the tattoo show, so people would not forget.
Very few folks who were Jewish lived in my childhood town and I remember my father teaching me about the cruel words that others would say about my loving neighbor and her husband.
Thank you for sharing
Patricia´s last [type] ..Food for Thought Holiday
@ Patricia — Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this. It’s nice what your father did and I admire the woman who let her tattoo show, as a reminder.
You mentioned that you didn’t know very many Jewish people as a child. The same was true of me, but I did hear the prejudice towards Jews. It never made sense to me to hate a group of people simply because of their religion, color or whatever you want to pick. I understand disliking an individual or some individuals, but not to paint an entire population with that same dislike or hate. How truly foolish we humans can be, at times.
BTW I loved your post, “Food for Thought Holiday.” It was very well done!
Hi Sara,
Love your poem and butterfly! Beautiful creatures butterflies are. Symbolic of change and hope and love and lightness.
When I went to Prague, I visited the really wonderful Jewish Museum in Prague (the name). Inside the main hall was an exhibit showcasing pictures drawn by children in the concentration camps. Some where very upbeat; others dark. I took notes that are somewhere in my office as I was going to write a travel piece. Didn’t get around to it. But I did write one on the butterflies in Monterrey that was published. Could send you the link. I had a neat experience that beckoned me to write about it.
Best wishes for your lovely butterfly in the exhibit! G.
@ Giulietta — Thanks for sharing your thought and I would love the link to your butterfly post! I really do like butterflies and have captured a few in photos. One of them is the reason my butterfly has the fuzzy fur stuff on it. In Switzerland, I took a picture a butterfly that had that. I always wondered what purpose it served. The other nice thing about butterflies it that they come in so many different colors, shapes and sizes — kind of like people:~)
Well, thanks for stopping by and please send me the link….if you can leave it in a comment so that others will be able to access it:~)
Sara,
Your butterfly is beautiful! What it represents in your poem and in your expression is even more beautiful. What a wonderful project.
My daughter Sydney is learning about the holocaust in high school. It’s been a great opportunity to talk about something this generation has hard time comprehending. Then again, I think we all have a hard time comprehending the reality of it.
Thank you for sharing this.
Angelia Sims Hardy´s last [type] ..Why does chocolate make everything better
@ Angelia — Thank you for coming by and your kind words about my butterfly. It IS a good project and I thank Trudi and my friend, Carrie for helping me become aware of it. You should see some of the butterflies people have created. Trudi takes pictures of them and puts them up at her site. They’re truly amazing.
I know what you mean about trying to comprehend this. When I write that 1.5 million Jewish children died, I have to stop and think about that number…and this was only Jewish children. Many other children died, as well.
On a less serious note, I hope your cold is better and for me, the answer to the question of your excellent post is YES, if only for a short while of that wonderful taste melting in your mouth:~)
My wife thinks I’m Jews I have no proof. We come from Germany but have curly dark hair and dark eyes.
No I have not read her story but seen many movies about her.
As a child you wrote a powerful poem.
It is sad but we will forget someday. As we turn farther and farther away from him he will punish us again like the spoiled children we are.
desk49´s last [type] ..Rose-
@ Ellis — I appreciate your comment about the poem. It’s not a very happy one, but it expressed how I felt.
Regarding what your wife said, have you ever wanted to know more about your family’s history?
It’s an unfortunate fact that genocides are still occurring and I guess they will until we truly educate our own children to be more tolerant, compassionate and to see people as individuals and not just “groups.” Perhaps that’s what God, or whatever higher power you believe in, is trying to teach us and it’s up to us to listen.
Thanks for your thoughts, Ellis:~)
Hi Sara! YAY YOU! The butterfly you made is wonderful – and I have a real attachment to butterflies altogether. They are a great nature representative for the energy of children – hmmm, probably why I use them on my blog and all over my house. I love the energy!
Yes I read the Diary and actually played her on stage many decades ago in the play. Took me a long time to stop crying I’ll tell ya! I will scoot over to those sites – thanks!
Unfortunately history is littered with genocide – look at what happened to the Native Americans right HERE all in the name of “civilization” and “progress”. Varying degrees of genocide are occuring all over this planet with scant reporting, most covered up by wars or poverty or outright starvation.
Watch “The World According to Monsanto”. We aren’t dropping like flies, which may be the reason why everyone seems to discount the worry, but we ARE being poisoned. It’s a gradual genocide. They say our children will not have our life span! The chemicals are affecting our DNA. They are so interwoven into our foods and products we use that the “cause of death or disease” cannot be traced! So what are we doing about this? Pretty much eating like there is no tomorrow, refusing to get educated to this ever present danger and make the changes we need to make in order to preserve life as we knew it.
What can we do? Stop being apathetic and look at what is going on. Go to the Institute for Responsible Technology, the Organic Consumers Association, Natural News and read up! Most people don’t know what a GMO is, don’t realize they are eating them, their kids are eating them – if ever there was a sneaky technological scientific generational genocide going on, this is it, right here, right now! Get involved in stopping this insanity is what we can do. If we can reach a tipping point of consumers (who have power in their shopping choice) the food folks will back down here like they did in Europe. Lets wake up!
suZen
suzen´s last [type] ..Eating Raw – Its a Good Thing!
@ Suzen — You bring up a good point about the foods we eat and what is acceptable in our air. It may not be true prejudice or hatred, but it could have the same effect.
So, you played Anne Frank on stage…I’m impressed. I imagine it was a difficult role to play. I do hope you will consider making a butterfly:~)
Yes, you are right about the Native Americans…I did not mention them, but that was genocide!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts:~)
I read that book as a child. It had a lasting impact. Hard to put into words the beyond horrifying heartbreak of such atrocities, but your poem was heartfelt, Sara.
Talon´s last [type] ..BHDS
@ Talon — Thank you. Yes, it did have a major impact on my life, too. I am as amazed at the atrocities we humans can commit against each other as I am at the compassion we can also show each other. Perhaps that’s our “human” lesson…will be learn how to use our capability for compassion to prevent the atrocities?
As always, I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. Have a great day, Talon…and take lots of pictures. You’ve outdone yourself lately with your photographs and your writings:~)
Oh Sara yours is beautiful – I still have to make mine but I think about it everyday – I want it to be special. I too read Anne Frank’s diary when I was young and still read many holocaust books today. In fact I am reading ‘If this is a Man/The Truce’ by Primo Levi at the moment – I have a lot of books on the subject. I find great strength in reading survivors accounts. My creative block is coming from the fact that 3 yrs ago I visited Auschwitz I and II and was very much overwhelmed.
I too am not Jewish but I don’t think that matters a bit.
Growing up in ‘The Troubles’ here in N.Ireland I have no love for religion of any kind – I see it as something that pushes people apart and causes hatred. To try and stop genoicides and holocausts we can only educate ourselves and the younger generations to see that there is no difference in the level of importance a person has on this Earth due to sex, religion, age, skin colour, ability/disability, money, sexual preference etc.
For fun? – I don’t like butterflies – okay they are pretty in pictures but I have a terrible phobia of them, hahahaha.
Carrie´s last [type] ..Reality
@ Carrie — We seem to have a lot in common. I have also read a lot of books about the holocaust. I also have found strength in reading survivor accounts as well accounts about those who found the inner strength to fight against the horror, while others refused to admit to them. It’s always fascinated me that some can see evil; while others do not or do not take action against it.
Regarding Auschwitz, I imagine the negative energy remaining at that site would still be very powerful and could easily block creativity. I hope it will pass soon.
I think what you said about stopping genocides and holocausts is very true. I’m a believer that we MUST teach our children compassion, tolerance and a willingness to challenge those who believe in the “divide and conquer” approach to humanity.
Regarding the butterfly phobia, I think you mentioned that in your post. This must be challenging when you’re gardening! BTW I love your site and I have enjoyed visiting it very much. I really wanted some of “chocolate rice krispie buns” you and your hubby made…they looked yummy:~)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and for writing the post about “The Butterfly Effect!”
You made a beautiful butterfly, Sara. The holocaust is a topic that often moves me to tears especially after reading Victor Frankl and visiting the holocaust museum in Israel. I’d like to believe that humans can and will rise above genocide and femicide but the reality that I struggle with on a daily basis is that we are equally capable of good as well as evil. I am not an arts & crafts person but I will consider joining you on this project and will certainly click on the links.
BTW, I’ve been meaning to tell you how much I LOVE your calendar! It is a work of art and each page is stunning. We use it to scribble one word notes to ourselves about what important things are happening on what day. I’m pretty much all-electronic when it comes to managing my schedule but it is so nice to be able to glance at a gorgeous picture and what’s happening that day before I walk out the door.
@ Belinda — Thank you about the butterfly. I also struggle with the evil that humans can do to each other and, like you, I have to remind myself that the good does balance the evil eventually. I see this as one of our biggest “lessons” as humans. Do we build castles, protected by moats and guards with orders to shoot to kill or do we build inviting bridges to connect us as humans throughout this world we’re given. How we deal with this lesson may determine our survival.
I hope you will create a butterfly. It really was a lot of fun to do:~)
Also, I am so pleased you like the calendar. I don’t it could ever really a scheduling calendar, unless you write very, very tiny…the boxes aren’t very big, but writing notes is useful. Thanks:~)
I love learning about the Holocaust! Anne Frank inspired me when I was younger.
Did you read “The Diary of Anne Frank” and if so, what was your reaction?
I was amazed, and apalled, that anyone could be that cruel and do such a thing. I mean, why did all of those people follow Hitler? Why did he play God?
What do you think we need to do to prevent genocides or holocausts from occurring in the world?
No matter what is tried, there are always ways to have something still happen.
On a less serious note, what’s your favorite butterfly and why?
Growing up, I loved the Monarch Butterly. Now, I don’t remember why. :/
@ Liz — No, I agree with you that Hitler had no right to play God, but the people of that time, including people in the United States and in other countries turned a blind eye to what was happening, even though they knew. It all comes back to prejudice and intolerance. If we believe our problems are because of some other group of people; we don’t have fix the problem…we can just blame someone else because they are different. This happens at a family level all the way up to a worldwide level. So, in part its acceptance of our own role in our own problems and it’s also an understanding of compassion and tolerance for those who are different than we are.
I like Monarch Butterflies also. I found this butterfly video with pictures of different kinds of butterflies. It’s amazing the variety of colors…check it out sometime:~)
A little late this week. I think the idea of decorated butterflies is wonderful. Maybe I can pull together some creativity and produce something. I love yours; it’s very pretty, and so colorful.
My favorite butterfly is the between the Monarch and the Buckeye. Both are striking in appearance. Most common in our area are the Swallowtails.
@ Linda — I hope you do create a butterfly. I don’t do much arts and crafts, but this was a lot of fun. Also, there are rules about how realistic the butterfly has to be which makes it even more fun:~)
I love this idea! I’ll be taking part in it, as well. A butterfly is the perfect image for the children lost in the holocaust: delicate, beautiful, innocent, the very sight touching our hearts and bringing joy and beauty.
Delena
Delena Silverfox@Coupon Codes´s last [type] ..iContact Coupon Code
@ Delena — Great! Perhaps you will post a picture of your butterfly? I’d love to see it:~)
Sara, I commend you for the good causes you continue to become involved in — your sensitivity to reaching out to your community is beautiful… as is your poem. You put a lot of heart into everything you do. And this butterfly is absolutely gorgeous! Wow!
Davina Haisell´s last [type] ..Editing with Adverbs
@ Davina — You are so special. Thank you for your comment; it really touched me. The butterfly has flown off to Trudi’s to meet his fellow butterflies in the Butterfly Effect Group Project:~)
That’s a lovely poem you made. You really have a good heart judging from this article.
@ Dr. Evans — Thank you very much. Your words mean a lot to me:~)