Translated and Compiled by Anna Turi Simoni and Aitanga Petrucciani Gargini of Pistoia, Italy
Anna and Aitanga wrote to us, "Thanks to your kind information; we found on the Internet the interview of Inge Auerbacher (child survivor of Terezín Camp) in the global magazine, An End to Intolerance (1994). We read it with great interest and wrote to Ms. Auerbacher in order to understand better some of her answers and to ask her advice for our research. Now we are wondering how we could publish our translation in your student magazine.
We published 53 poems from editions of Prague Hebraic Museum of 1959 and 1993 and from an Italian edition of 1985 of Terezín poems. We are asked at times by teachers working on the Holocaust to speak to their classes about the Terezín children and their poems. We are very keen to work together, so let us know how we can contribute.
We've selected six poems from the Prague edition in English of 1993. The Italian translation derives from the Czech text and the poems, "Domande e una risposta," "Pensieri," and "Fino a che," have been published the first time in Italy with our translation in 1996. In this work, we were helped by a Czech woman, Jana Mlcochova."
Selected Poems from: I Have Not Seen a Butterfly Around Here -- Children's Drawings and Poems from Terezín. The Jewish Museum: Prague, 1993. Poesie scelte da: I ragazzi di Terezín -- Poesie da un lager (presentate da Aitanga Petrucciani Gargini e Anna Turi Simoni), Milano, Fabbri Editori, 1996.
Make no impatient move, my son, my young green tree, While yet your eyes have hardly seen the day, And in your pram these reins still hold you carefully. Grow big and wise before you fly away. You musn't be in haste, your world is still newborn, You can't have everything the days reveal. The world's a thorny place, you may get pricked and torn, You need a hero's heart, a shield of steel. When you are grown a man, to build the world anew, Your soul will sink worn down by doubts and fears, And sick and fainting, torn with longing to renew The briefest fairy tale, the childhood years. Make no impatient move, my son, my young green tree. Wait, wait for all, content to live in measure. Live all these foolish longings, they're just vanity. You need not want while you are Mother's treasure.
Non muoverti ragazzino, alberino verde, fino a che i tuoi occhi non vedono il mondo, fino a che nella tua carrozzina i lacci ancora ti stringono, fino ache il volto di qualcuno ti porge dolcezza di borragine. Sei ancora piccolo, a che ti affretti? non puoi avere tutto ciò chr colgon gli occhi tuoi. La terra è spinosa, potresti pungerti. Devi avere il cuore e lo scudo di acciaio! Quando da grande costruirai di nuovo il mondo, l'anima tua conoscerà l'abisso quando incespicherai, vorrai tornare indietro dentro la favola più breve, la fanciullezza. Non muoverti ragazzino, alberino verde, anche tu un giorno starai dentro la vita! Lascia tutti i folli desideri che sanno inebriare fino a che sei il tesoro di mammina non importa volere. Zdenek Ohrenstein (10.1.1929 - Liberato)
By Stephanie Rounds
Some day we shall outrun this hour, Some day there will be comfort for us, And hope again burst into flower, And peace and guardian care restore us. The jug of tears will break and spill, And that be ordered: "Hush, be still!" The true dawn will come at last, Wine from water be revealed, Some day all our tears be past, Some day all our wounds be healed. All our slavish chains, some day, God will smite and strike away. Some day Herod, mad with fear, Shall go raving to his ending, And Shepherd-king appear, In royal purple robes ascending, He who once suffered, even as we, By King Saul's hate and cruelty. Some day all sorrows will take flight, This life thus wretched and laborious. The saviour will appear in might, With his all-conquering power victorious. Some day, if God will, we'll stand Freemen in promised land. Some day the aloes will bloom fair, Some day the palms bear fruit again, Some day the burden of despair Be lifted to assuage our pain. And in God's house we'll live anew. Some day all these things will be true!
Una volta una volta arriva Una volta la consolazione appare Una volta compare la speranza Una volta terribilmente si sfoga Una volta una brocca di lacrime scoppia Una volta alla morte dice 'Taci ormai'! Una volta arriva il giorno giusto Una volta d'acqua sarà il vino Una volta di piangere smettiamo Una volta le ferite si rimarginano Una volta Giuseppe, Dio questo vincolo di schiavitù getta Una volta anche Erode muore impazzendo dal terrore Una volta Davide pastore di porpora si colorirà la tunica colui che lo inseguiva diventa storpio il vecchio re Saul Una volta ha fine anche il dolore della malinconica esistenza una volta arriva il salvatore per levare il giogo ai soggiogati Una volta saremo se vuole il Signore a Canaan portati Una volta l'aloe fiorira Una volta la palma i frutti da Una volta tutto quello che e paura Una volta passa la nostra poverta Una volta entriamo nella tenda di Dio Una volta, una volta per noi germogliera Ivo Leo Katz (11.4.1932 - 18.12.1943)
Severed by Stan Kaplan