Holocaust Triptych

Historical Foundation

In 135 C.E., the Second Jewish Revolt, also known as the Jewish War of Freedom ended in defeat. Jews were deported by the Roman government to all points of the Empire, to places that later became known as Algeria, Spain, England, France, and Germany.

Small communities of Jewish exiles sprouted up and flourished in the Dark Age following the diaspora and fall of the Roman Empire. Not constrained by the rigid doctrines of the Christian Church, the Jewish population prospered as merchants, actors, moneylenders, and musicians. Becasuse Rabbis gave their sermons in the local tongue rather than in Latin, synagogues grew in size as people turned to Judaism for a simpler, understandable faith.

Nevertheless, Jews remained in the minority and were often used as scapegoats for famine, disease, failed military campaigns, and even unpredictable acts of nature. Pogroms, or purges happened when mobs burned and killed in order to "punish" Jews for their "crimes."

The worst pogrom in recent history took place in Germany on November 9, 1938. Businesses owned by Jews were destroyed, and synagogues were looted that night. The sounds of breaking glass and shattering crystal which characterized the night gave November 9, 1938 a name of its own.

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I. Kristalnacht [play]

Carried on the night wind:
The glorious peal of shattering glass;
The mournful song, the ringing dirge
Of an angel of death.

An angel that seeks the doors draped with blood,
Proclaiming its song in a voice of pure crystal:
"People robbed and plundered;
They are prey, for none will speak."

Trucks and trains to take Your people away.
They will never see their families again.

Tuneful bell, you're a crude try for beauty;
A sham to imitate the clear music of a breaking globe.
Snowfall, how dare you?

The crystals are not ice,
and will not melt under our feet.
Behold! Perfect rain-drops showering the street!

No thunder - just a mournful song, a ringing dirge;
The glorious peal of shattering glass;
Carried on the night wind.

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II. Residence in the pit of Sheol

A body to breathe when it needed air;
A mind, a soul to ponder beauty,
Cut off from its journey.

Twisted body with hollow eyes,
Limbs and skin and skull,
Tossed in a dump truck
With a hundred of the same.

At a trench,
Bodies leave the truck.
A cascade of dead flesh
Thudding at the bottom of a mass grave.

A thousand fill the pit,
Fifteen, twenty, thirty deep.
A ton of earth to blot out the sun
And hold in the reek of death.
"My flesh will rest in hope.
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol."

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III. Land of Light [play]

Screaming, the Avatar of Death has fled;
And the Lord God will wipe away
The tears from all the faces.

Rise from the ash and earth.
Arise, Israel!
Return to your land!

Proclaimed dead, you shall live!
With victory leap into the vanguard of life;
Lead on! Lead on! Lead on!

Leave this night and turn to the sun,
Beyond death is Zion!
Zion, beloved Zion!

When the earth totters, with all its inhabitants,
it is I who keep its pillars steady.
Lead on! Lead on! Lead on!

Copyright © 1997 Michael Austin Perry, all rights reserved

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