A Survivor’s Burden
A Memorial Tribute in Poetry to Simon Wiesenthal
Sharon Esther Lampert
After six million Jews were silenced:
Simon speaks above a hush.
Simon speaks above a whisper.
Simon speaks above an earshot.
Simon speaks out loud above the deafening scream of EVIL.
After six million Jews were silenced:
Simon’s voice shatters the ghetto walls of anti-Semitism.
Simon’s voice bellows in the streets of Argentina.
Simon’s voice hallows in the halls of JUSTICE.
Simon’s voice harkens in the International Arena of INJUSTICE.
After six million Jews were silenced:
Simon Wiesenthal WALKS his TALK and JUSTICE is done:
Adolf Eichman is brought to JUSTICE.
Franz Stangl is brought to JUSTICE.
Franz Murer is brought to JUSTICE.
Erich Rajakowitsch is brought to JUSTICE.
Hermine Braunsteiner is brought to JUSTICE.
Karl Silberbauer is brought to JUSTICE.
Josef Schwammberger is brought to JUSTICE.
1,100 Nazi War Criminals are brought to JUSTICE.
After six million Jews were silenced:
Simon Says:
“This man is on my list as a suspected war criminal.”
Simon Says:
“When history looks back I want people to know the Nazis weren’t able to
kill millions of people and get away with it.”
Simon Says:
“If we don’t do anything about evil, that will encourage future
perpetrators.”
Simon Says:
“My work is a warning for the murderers of tomorrow.”
Simon Says:
“Survival is a privilege which entails obligations. I am forever asking
myself
what I can do for those who have not survived.”
Simon Says:
“I have received many honors in my lifetime; when I die, these honors
will die with me,
but the Simon Wiesenthal Center will live on as my legacy.”
Simon Says:
“My epitaph should read simply “SURVIVOR.”
Simon Says (in the afterlife... to the six million Jews murdered in the
Holocaust):
“I didn’t forget you.”
