Legacy of horror turned into powerful lesson, Nov. 6

I was deeply touched reading about the story of Rainer Hoess.

Living with the horror of his grandfather’s legacy, and having to turn his back on family who were in denial of the atrocities, took immeasurable courage and determination. For the students hearing him speak, it must make quite an impact, compared to reading about the Holocaust in history books.

I applaud him for his efforts to educate and inspire.

Lynne Gauld, Stouffville

A poem in response to the story by Isabel Teotonio.

… if this is a poem, then it’s a miserable failure

the children

of the concentration camp

commandant

were always warned

by their loving mother

when they were

playing in the gardens of Auschwitz

under the chimney shadows

of the crematorium

“always wash

the ashes from the strawberries

before you eat them, my dears”

imagine those small

succulent seed-rich

heart-shaped

delicacies, the sweet

and pulpy delights

fruit of the rose

a crimson temptation floating in straw

how they come to the hand

from the earth

to the tongue of the child

how they weep on the chin

as though watered in tears

though the ravenous

birds of the air

eat the berries

unwashed in the garden of death

though it snow

in the summers of Europe

though they taste of the darkness at noon