9/11 and the Holocaust

The following poem was written by Marianne Goldstein and shared as part of the Memory Project.

On 9/11 and in the Holocaust,

So many lives senselessly were lost.

These two events will live in History,

So similar in many ways,

The cause of each—no mystery—

Both causing grief for many days.

Though more than sixty years elapsed

Since Hitler first tormented Jews

To when the New York towers in flames collapsed

And planes sent by Bin Laden first made news,

Both were so terribly unfair,

Caused by persons with evil intent,

Yet in some ways one can compare

One with the other, lives uselessly spent.

Both were caused by persons with a greed for power,

Both wanting to eliminate

People they considered a class “lower,”

Both events were fueled by hate!

The Holocaust intended to rid the world of few

Not fitting a predetermined “mold”—

Those deemed undesirable, not only Jew,

But Catholics and mentally disturbed this did enfold.

9/11 on the other hand,

Was aimed at no specific group or sect;

It was directed at each American,

An unexpected coup no one could predict.

Crematory chimneys belching smoke,

Or that pouring from New York’s tall towers,

Each in its own way did evoke

Terror lasting many days, not hours.

Stench from each permeated the air,

Attesting to two malevolent powers,

Both acts so terribly unfair,

Raining down like unwelcome showers.

We want never to see again

Times so horrid as these

And hope that terror will cease to reign,

So all may live in peace.

—Marianne Goldstein