Chima Wins Poetry Contest
A student attendee of Northmont middle school won second place in the Lydia May Memorial Holocaust Writing Contest with her fantastic poetry. Chinwendu Chima wrote her poem based on Gerda Weismann Klein, a holocaust survivor who uses her experiences to teach others. Her poem is listed below:
even in the face of death
when they longed to take their final breath
despite the challenges they faced and the troubles they embraced
through all the tears that they cried
the children found the courage, the will to live; they survived one in particular, by the name of Gerda Weissmann Klein
they were stuck in a prison of everlasting pain
where they labored and suffered and were bound with chains
they were sentenced to a cell
a place of torment, their own hell and forced to wear the Jewish lapel
they were stranded in a place where no light penetrated no reason to have joy, no cause to be celebrated
enslaved and exploited, moving from camp to camp but they continued to burn bright, like a bulb in a lamp
even after the war, after all the attacks
their shame followed them around like a weight on their backs
though the bruises may have faded, like the water in a raisin the wounds still remained, boldly emblazoned
forced to carry emotional and physical scars
they never found a place they could truly call “ours”
from the dawn of time, we’ve been infected with a venom
using arsenals of hate as our very own weapon
against those who are different, whether in colo or in creed we’ve always found a reason to make others bleed
still we try and fight for change, whether big or small we shout and we protest “equality for all”
but we have to be better, we have to do more
we can’t allow our past mistakes to fuel a future war
because this genocide wasn’t an accident; it was all a human choice
it was the result of prejudice and indifference, and those who wouldn’t use their voice
this catastrophe could have been stopped, if everyone was heard becasue the Holocaust didnt start with camps, it began with words
so this is the great lesson thats been taught from the start there is none better than another; we have a heart
a spirit and a soul, and also a name
no single minority should ever take the blame
for the errors of mankind and the faults of our past
so that this historical massacre will be the first and the last
but as we go about our lives, at least try to recall
that those children, now adults, had to live through it all
and although all they wanted was to give up and let go they resolved to keep moving, if only to know
that their sacrifice would benefit generations to come it would tell their story, long after they had gone
so even when its hard, and we feel so very far don’t ever give up
‘cause the darker the night the brighter the dawn and its only in the darkness…
that we’ll finally see the stars
-Chinwendu Chima