KARTUZ BEREZA 1993 YZKOR

 

Chapter VI – I

 

BRANA-GORIE (Brona Gura)

 

By Reizel Navi (Tuchman)

 

Izgadal Veizkadash Smhmei Rabá

(His Eternal Name is Exalted and Sanctified)

 

Until the last one they were murdered, nobody was left

In the skies their last screams still float,

They clamor not to forget their suffering and pain

 

Forget them? Never! Until the last instant,

Eternally we will cry for the innocent blood,

They lived modestly; they respected their roots,

Until a Hitler arrived, and everything was erased.

 

Numerous families lived there during centuries

The very well educated youth, knitted illusions,

The Nazi when they came destroyed everything,

No Jew of Bereza had the happiness of surviving.

 

Brana-Gorie (Brona Gura), a forest that adorned our town,

There we took the children in Lag Baomer,

And in summer, we joyously went for a walk on Saturdays

And this place Germans chose for the common grave.

 

Contained in boxcars Jews were brought,

Gestapo severely watched over, that none was left alive

Murdered mass, in prepared graves,

Murdered until the last one, before finishing the day.

 

Many still alive, they were all covered

And the blood sprang from the earth like a river,

For along time, the innocent blood sprouted,

Said Gentiles that looked from a distance.

 

The question tortures my thought,

First they took youth, sick and old.

Who was assigned to be the last one

That would see the pain and the suffering of dear people?

 

My dear mother! I want to ask,

Who left first to the eternal road?

Sure you have seen the suffering,

How? Did they throw your children to graves?

 

Oh! How terrible should have been your last minutes,

Were you alone, or next to dad?

And maybe G-d saved you of the pain

And did you die first in that place?

 

I know the children were next to you,

Maybe they curled up next to their mom

And for sure swallowed bitter tears

When the Shemá (Israel listen!) of dad was heard.

 

This picture I always have in my memory

They are rooted in me, they are part of me.

Neither time nor consolation will erase them

Until the end, when my eyes will be covered.

 

Words are pale to describe

The misfortune, the pain that our generation suffered.

I stayed alive, but I feel like a stone,

Because I lost everything, I am alone.