This poem tells the story of Maria Lazum, one of the many nameless victims of the Lety concentration camp in Bohemia in todays Czech Republic.
Her story was brought to light by Paul Polansky's book "Black Silence" which told of Lety and its victims, and brought to print for the first time the stories of the survivors.
A postcard she sent from the train as she
To Auschwitz and her death she was brought
Though her parents had their own house and work yet they
To Lety camp they were sent when caught
For the issue was not one of character
As portrayed: of the person, their nature within
Whether you were good or bad, a lot or nothing you had
You were condemned regardless for colour of skin
And a postcard to her father she wrote
Of the horrors of the transporting train
That it got through is a miracle
And today that card does remain
As a testament of the condemned
Who for mere skin colour to their deaths were sent
Her heartbroken father learned after the war
On her Mengele himself did experiment.
United in death he is with his daughters
He who wrote to Hitler himself to save their life
To no avail, his children were murdered
And his heart was broken when they killed his wife
His daughter postcard today can be read
As testament to in inhumanity of men
And the saddest part is in our hearts we know
It could all, all too soon, happen again.
