JANECZKO COLLECTION: Requiem Poems of the Terezin Ghetto

Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto

Bibliography:

Janeczko, Paul B. Requiem: Poems of the Terezín Ghetto. Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2011.

Review:

Reading Paul Janeczko's Requiem allows the reader to inside the lives of the terrorized people at the Terezin Ghetto. Through different stories Janeczko speaks the stories of the saddened, scared, and angered inmates. The word choice and imagery that Janeczko ties together keeps the reader teared, yet continuously reading.

In the poem titled SS Captain Bruno Krueger the speaker recounts a time when two Jews tried to escape. Unfortunately, the Jews are recaptured and the poem describes through vivid word choice the "impracticality of defiance." Janeczko's voice in this poem is evil and articulates the true disdain of the Jewish people. The reader can feel the excruciating sounds of the life of a Jew in the Terezin Ghetto.

Furthermore, the imagery in poem titled Erich Rosenberg/43458 the reader can feel all five sense in a poem about the disgusting bedbugs. Appealing to the sense of sight Janeczko writes, "Filled with blood/they are the size of an apple seed." Simply picturing a bedbug, a typically unseen creature, the size of an apple seed makes my stomach turn. Similarly the line "in your mattress--/until it is time to crawl over you./Drawn by your warmth,/your breath,/they find a spot to suck your blood/injecting their saliva/leaving a blister, a rash/that must not be scratched." After reading this particular poem chills ran down my spine, knowing that nagging feeling of not being able to scratch or rid yourself of something so disgusting and as irritable as a bug bite.

In summary, Paul Janeczko strings together a feeling of authenticity and a sad yet beautiful piece of literature that is bound to stand the test of time. I am confident Requiem will be read by many new and old Holocaust Historians.

Spotlight Poem:

David epstein/ 12275

I wish I could kill one of them.
One.
A small number, no?
I would need no help.
Want none.
I would want my face
to be the last thing he saw before he died.
My face.
As the blade finds its way between his ribs--
at the instance I'd want him to see my face.
He would not know me.
I did nothing to you, he would think.
What he did, he did to all of us.
He would not understand
punishment for doing his duty.
I would like his last blood-choked moment
to be confused
before I heaved him
onto a pile of bodies on the hearse,
his legs, shoeless, hanging over the side.
I would like to feed him my Sarah's ashes
one spoonful after another
without pause
until he could no longer breathe.
Then I would force more ashes into his nose.
Whatever he choked down or spit out
I would replace with more
of my Sarah's ashes.
When he died I would cram
more ashes down his throat.
Dead or not
he must taste my Sarah's ashes.

Perhaps I would do nothing to him.
Nothing but watch him descend
into the hell of typhus,
fevered, slow of pulse,
vomiting down the front of his shirt,
clutching his wrenching stomach,
surrounded by friends and family
who could do nothing to help
except listen to his rambles
except clean up diarrhea
hour after hour.

Yes,
I wish I could kill one of them.
One.
A small number, no?
I would need no help
to deliver justice.

Follow-up Activity:

After reading the poem, I would ask the students "What senses did you use while reading?" The poem appeals to all five sense, but it would be a point of discussion for the students to discuss which sense stood out the most for the student.

I tried this in class just recently 5-1-15 and the students all had different senses that the poem appealed to, and we were able to discuss which sense were the most strong, and why for that person. Again I was able to reiterate that poem appeals to readers in different ways and for different reasons.