Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.
Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.
Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.
Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.
Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.
Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself.
Never.
From Night by Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Laureate who survived both Auschwitz and Buchenwald.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
First They Came, by Martin Niemöller, German priest, who initially supported the Nazis, but turned against them and was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau. For a really interesting history of this poem, have a read of this piece of research.
Red Army soldiers opening the gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, January 27th 1945
