The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing against a white stone…
Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly ‘way up high.
It went away I’m sure because it wished to kiss the world goodbye.
For seven weeks I’ve lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto
But I have found my people here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut candles in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.
That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don’t live in here,
In the ghetto.
June 4, 1942 Pavel Friedmann Age 23
This poem was written by a young man who was initially imprisoned in Theresienstadt and later killed in Auschwitz. About 15,000 children passed through Theresienstadt between 1942-1944. About 100 survived.
The Holocaust was unprecedented, in scope, in enormity, in wickedness, in sophistication, in brutality and in efficiency. We Jews, and people of good heart and conscience of all backgrounds, are still struggling to come to some understanding of the Shoah and many are still tormented by their memories and their losses.
One man is no longer tormented. Samuel Willenberg died two days ago and was buried in Israel today. Samuel was the last survivor of Treblinka.
OUDIM (ISRAËL) (AFP) -
Hundreds of people attended Monday's funeral in Israel of Samuel Willenberg, the last survivor of the World War II Nazi Treblinka death camp, who has died aged 93.
Willenberg was buried in the cemetery of the farming village of Oudim in central Israel, with hundreds of mourners including President Reuven Rivlin in attendance.
"I stand here as president of the state of Israel, beside the grave of the last witness of Treblinka, and before me are -- together with you -- 850,000 Jews," Rivlin said.
"Only 67 people survived Treblinka. You were among them, the last witness," the President said. "Every month, a thousand survivors (of the Holocaust) pass away. The number of first-hand witnesses is dwindling," Rivlin said.
Born in Poland, Willenberg was 19 and living in the town of Opatow when its Jewish inhabitants were sent to Treblinka. He was one of the instigators of an August 2, 1943, revolt at the camp when he joined another 200 inmates who broke into an SS armoury, opened fire on their captors and torched camp buildings.
Shot in the foot, Willenberg nevertheless escaped and joined the Polish underground.
In 1944, he fought in the Warsaw Uprising by Polish partisans against the Nazis, surviving yet again to serve in the post-war Polish army and immigrating to Israel in 1950. He became a noted sculptor, creating 15 scenes from Treblinka which have been exhibited in Israel, Poland and Germany. A public speaker with a booming voice, he wrote a book which was translated into 8 languages and led dozens of youth trips to Poland to educate Israeli teens of the atrocities done by the Nazis.
According to the Yad Vashem Holocaust institute, approximately 870,000 Jews were murdered during the 13 months the Treblinka camp was in operation, from July 1942 to August 1943.
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Samuel Willenberg is the last survivor of Treblinka and already people are doubting his existence, his testimony, his torment and the atrocities done against him and all of us and those who will never be born.
We must never forget!
On Shabbat, Saturday March 5, we are welcoming Alan Hall into our spiritual home for lunch. He is a survivor and will be speaking to all interested in hearing him. While we eat lunch after Shabbat services, he will address us. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and to become acquainted.
We are grateful to the Gulf Coast Holocaust Center for arranging Mr. Hall’s’ visit. He will be addressing various audiences over the course of his visit to Mobile.
At one point Mr. Hall’s family hid in the Nazi headquarters building in Lvov, Poland, two floors below the command center of the German Luftwaffe! Please join us to hear a remarkable story.
In too short a time, there will be no more witnesses for us to hear and we will all say “I should have listened”.
I look forward to seeing you in Shul on Saturday March 5.
Please RSVP in order to receive a complementary lunch. Those so inclined are encouraged to attend Torah Services beforehand.
Shalom to us all.
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