ALL ROADS LEAD TO DEATH

by John Coopey

Sunday 20th October 2024 9:27 pm

In Auschwitz and in Birkenau

All roads lead to death

Treblinka, Sobibor, Dachau

In Auschwitz and in Birkenau

Jehovah will not help you now

We took our last sweet breath

In Auschwitz and in Birkenau

All roads lead to death.

In Auschwitz and in Birkenau

By bullet and by gas

Or by starvation this was how

In Auschwitz and in Birkenau

The whole wide world would disavow

We silent unter class

In Auschwitz and in Birkenau

All roads lead to death.

In Auschwitz and in Birkenau

Under Rudolf Hoess

Our God spectated and allowed

In Auschwitz and in Birkenau

Such crimes obscene nearby Krakow

And favoured the SS

In Auschwitz and in Birkenau

All Roads Lead to Death.

Comments

John Coopey

Fri 25th Oct 2024 00:17

The lesson for me, MC, is how fragile is democracy and civilisation. Germany and Yugoslavia were civilised countries. We are only ever a spider’s thread from Hell. We must defend it at all times.

M.C. Newberry

Thu 24th Oct 2024 20:37

Then there was that camp in which the prisoners were forced to carry large lumps of stone up a set of steps to no good purpose
until they were literally worked to death. Was it called Sachenhausen (spelling?). It's a long time since I read those
essential tomes by Lord Russell of Liverpool - "The Scourge
of the Swastika" and "Knights of Bushido" - chilling accounts
of war crimes by Germany and Japan. As for good people standing by and doing nothing...the realisation of the reality/
enormity was so profound as not to be believed by many for
a long time (the road to hell/good intentions aspect?) and it
was when camps were liberated - and not even then it seems
for many - that the truth was witnessed and accepted. Later,
came the added disillusion of Stalin's Gulags and the mass
murder of his own peoples for political purposes. The lesson
is there but seems more like a guidebook for later tyrants like
Pol Pot. The courage of those who fought against these
ghastly events in human history is almost beyond belief when
considering just how omnipotent and insidious the power
possessed and imposed by the "controllers" of the countries
was known to be. On a personal level,
I retain the sobering memory of a visit to Dachau back in the 1970s, set out
with Teutonic efficiency that was in
itself a chilling demonstration of how
an industrial country could use its noted efficiency to such devilish despicable ends.

John Coopey

Tue 22nd Oct 2024 21:52

I saw a couple of ugly birds while we were in Krakow, Kevin.

Kevin Walker

Tue 22nd Oct 2024 19:44

Shocking John.
We used to live not far from Belsen.
We visited the site a few times, it always moved us being there.
They say that no birds fly over the site, and we certainly didn't see any when we were there.

John Coopey

Mon 21st Oct 2024 09:35

Thankyou, Stephen and Uilleam. We have just returned from visiting there. Harrowing.
I am aware that I mispronounce “Krakow” for the purposes of rhyme in this triolet.
And thanks for the Likes, Redbrick, David, Larisa and Tobani.

Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh

Mon 21st Oct 2024 09:12

Thank you John.

"...Our God spectated and allowed...".
...and continues to do so; in my name, but without my consent.

Stephen Gospage

Mon 21st Oct 2024 08:33

A shocking reminder of what happens when good people (and gods) stand by and do nothing.
Powerful piece with a nice rhyme and rhythm, John, although it seems almost indecent to make such comments in this context.

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ALL ROADS LEAD TO DEATH

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