Sample Sources
The sources below are those contained in our three curated collections—covering themes of Passover, Gender Roles, and Holocaust Resistance. They represent a fraction of the thousands of sources that will be available when the full site launches in 2024.
Departure
The rain cleaned off the steep facade of houses;
I write upon the white and stony sheet
And feel how my tired hand so softly rouses
From love poems that always, sweetly, were a cheat.
I wake in the…
Just Walk On, Condemned to Die
Just walk on, condemned to die!
in woods where winds and catscreams wail,
sentence in darkened lines
shall fall upon the pines;
hunchbacked with fear the road turns pale.
Just shrivel up, you…
Suffering and Heroism in the Jewish Past in Light of the Present
A major segment of the Jewish people—the Jewish communities in Western and Central Europe—is today experiencing one of the most difficult moments in all of Jewish history. Although we Jews as a people…
I. M. Weissenberg Memorial
We live in a prison. We have been degraded to the level of homeless and uncared-for animals. When we…
The Working Problems of the Writer in Exile
I will not dwell too long on the bitter theme of the many purely external difficulties with which the writer in exile must contend. I hope that those who have not experienced these difficulties…
On Disbelieving Atrocities
We, the screamers, have been at it now for about ten years. We started on the night when the epileptic van der Lubbe set fire to the German Parliament; we said that if you don’t quench those flames at…
The Last Days of the Jerusalem of Lithuania: Chronicles from the Vilna Ghetto and the Camps
I weep, and am amazed. I have seen death so many times and have controlled myself. Have experienced so much torment, disgrace, and humiliation, and…
Six Months under the Boot
One more incident.
A woman shows up at the president’s office and demands the immediate return of her son, who is working in Djelloula, in the Italian sector.
It is impossible to reason…
Reflections on V-E Day
Not with surprising suddenness did it come; it did not come—as in the dark days we had hoped it would—as a miraculous flash on a radio, a startling announcement lifting us from the depths of despair…
My Friends from Arnon Street
Arnon Street is not the largest street in Tel Aviv. On the contrary, it is a small street, nearly an alleyway. There is very little traffic. A double-decker bus does not go through it, or any other…
Donna Donna
On a wagon, bound for market
There’s a calf with a mournful eye
High above her, there’s a swallow
Winging swiftly through the sky
How the winds are laughing
They laugh with all their might
Laugh…
Census
Dense crowds proceed at dawn
Through Theresienstadt’s still empty streets
Five abreast curving around corners into squares.
The beast checks if anybody has stumbled.
Today God’s chosen people are…