Holocaust Poetry #2

Homeland
Lois E. Olena

It was Christmas eve
and there was no room in the inn,
the Oswiecim inn,
so the Arrow Cross
took the children,
barefooted
and in their nighties,
out to the Danube
and filled their little bellies
not with bread
but bullets
flipping them
like tiddlywinks
into the congealing, icy river below.

It was the Red Danube
that night,
choking on the blood
of orphan Jews
whose little Blue faces
floated downstream
touring even all of Europe
until they washed up
on the shores of Eretz Yisrael (Jewish homeland)
and came back to life,
their little blue and white
bodies
raised high,
flapping in the wind.

1) How is imagery used in this poem?
Imagery is used when different objects and places are described in detail thorughout the poem.As evident when said ''It was the Red Danube that night, choking on the blood of orphan Jews. 

2) Discuss the effect of the simile in this poem.
This simile in this poem tells us how easy it was for the Germans to kill the Jews. It shows how ruthless, heartless and unforgiving they were.

3) How is alliteration used in the poem? What is the effect?
Alliteration is used when it says ''It filled their bellies not with bread but with bullets.'' This makes all letters starting with B in this sentence evident and makes us think about what they mean.


4) How does the author juxtapose the innocence of the children to the cruelty they experienced?
It says in the poem ''Took the children barefooted in their nighties out to the Danube and didn't fill their body with bread but with bullets.'' This represents how innocent and little the children are by the fact that they were in nighties and were so small that they were taken so easily. The cruelty in this sentence is when the author says they didn't fill their bodies with bread but bullets. This means that they weren't fed and looked after but were shot and killed. 


5) What is meant by 'touring all of Europe'?
The author is trying to tell us that their dead bodies floated through all the rivers in that continent and then to their homeland.