In school I learnt <br />That music beautifies life. <br />It elevates and ennobles <br />The soul. <br /> <br />But tell me <br />My dear teacher: <br />How could the music <br />Elevate the prisoners <br />Of Treblinka? <br /> <br />How could <br />The waltz or the tango <br />Beautify the tortures <br />In Sobibor? <br /> <br />And how could <br />The symphonies <br />At Auschwitz ennoble <br />The victims? <br /> <br />The Nazis organized <br />The concerts <br />In the death camps <br />In order <br />To humiliate <br />The prisoners <br />And to mock <br />The lofty essence <br />Of human life. <br /> <br />Orchestras <br />In the lagers <br />Played to degrade <br />The lifeblood of dignity <br />To debase the marrow <br />Of the soul. <br /> <br />Inside <br />The barbed wire fences <br />Trumpets sobbed <br />Flutes and violins wept <br />As majestic melodies <br />Soared over <br />Grisly horrors.<br /><br />Paul Hartal<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/camp-concerts/
