Poem

Amstardam 1943

Title Amstardam 1943
Author Gearailt Mac Eoin

Instances of Publication

A published appearance of this poem.

Collection/Anthology Year of Publication Medium View Details
Labhraí Loingseach 1988 Print Collection View Details
Publication Instance Details #461
Collection/Anthology Details
Collection/Anthology Labhraí Loingseach
Date of Publication 1988
Publisher Coiscéim (Ireland)
Page Number(s) 26-27
Publication Overview
Translation Is Multilingual Explicit Irish Context? Ekphrasis Has Paratext? Reference to News, Media or Technology
No
No
No
No
No
No
Details
Human Rights Issues
War / Genocide Referenced
Languages
Genre Short Lyric
Medium Print Collection
Notes The speaker of the poem describes a scene in Herengracht, Amsterdam, during World War II. Three Jewish men, well-dressed and married, meet up on Tuesday morning to smoke a single cigarette between themselves. The Star of David - forced upon Jews as a form of ID by the Nazis - is notably mentioned in the poem. By the conclusion of the poem, at the end of the month, the three men have not reappeared. The speaker of the poem hears a tale that they were exported off to some faraway place on a train - clearly a reference to the Holocaust. The date of the poem, 1943, is significant. In this year, the Nazis undertook three major raids in Amsterdam, with hundreds of Jewish people being deported off to the concentration camps.
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