Creator Bio
Pavel Friedman
1921–1944
Born in Prague, Pavel Friedman was a poet. He was deported to Theresienstadt in April 1942. In June of that year he inscribed “The Butterfly” on a piece of paper that was discovered after the war. In September 1944, he was deported to Auschwitz. The poem was donated to the Jewish Museum in Prague and remains one of the most famous literary documents from the war.
Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator
Primary Source
The Butterfly
He was the last. Truly the last.
Such yellowness was bitter and blinding
Like the sun’s tear shattered on stone.
That was his true color.
And how easily he climbed, and how high.
Certainly, climbing…