I first read "If This is a Man" many years ago and it is still the only book about the Holocaust that I've read...and the only one I intend to read. The clarity and the scientist's dispassionate approach to the subject matter brings the true horror of his experiences into perfect focus. This poem is right at the start of the book and, I must confess, that I hadn't read it until today.
You who live safe
In your warm houses,
You who find warm food
And friendly faces when you return home.
Consider if this is a man
Who works in mud,
Who knows no peace,
Who fights for a crust of bread,
Who dies by a yes or a no.
Consider if this is a woman
Without hair, without name,
Without the strength to remember,
Empty are her eyes, cold her womb,
Like a frog in winter.
Never forget that this has happened.
Remember these words.
Engrave them in your hearts,
When at home or in the street,
When lying down, when getting up.
Repeat them to your children.
Or may your houses be destroyed,
May illness strike you down,
May your offspring turn their faces from you.
Primo Levi was a remarkable man and a great writer! I urge any one of you out there to search out his books and see for yourselves!
Your Saturday questions are:- Comedian Roy Walker was born today in 1940 in Belfast and hosted which TV game show from 1986 to 1999?
Chemist and writer Primo Levi (right) was born today in 1919 and wrote the best-selling book "If This is a Man" recounting his experiences in which concentration camp?
- Astronauts from which spacecraft were the first to use the Lunar Rover on the Moon today in 1971?
Yesterday's Answers: 1. Los Angeles; 2. "Million Dollar Baby"; 3. Paul Anka
1939?
