Realm of Silence Paintings and Poems

Terror in Its Wake

1940
Men, women, children, thousands
Taken from their homes.
The Warsaw ghetto sealed
On the 16th of November,
For 470,000
Hunger and disease,
Humiliation and terror.

1942

Deportation begins,
Anguish
Desire to resist is born.
April 19, 1943
The 20,000 remaining
Stage an uprising.
The SS burn house after house.
A sea of flames and suffocating smoke laps the city.
The struggle is heroic and tragic.

Death's Journey

Uniformed guards herd them
Into sealed wagons.
The journey lasts
Days and nights
To an unknown destination.Thirst and starvation.
Stench of death.
Suffocating heat.
Freezing torment.
Persistent rattling of trains,
Whistles howling.
A sudden halt . . .

Frozen Nightmare

Triple electrified barbed wire fences
In the bleakness of winter
Grieving caged souls
Cannot escape.