This in observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day late.
In 2013, I wrote this poem in Israel the morning I heard the news of Gisèle’s death. I was attending a conference on Women and the Holocaust in Israel, and my talk was about her heroic and unusual life as a Tunisian Jewish woman who joined the resistance during World War II, and experienced the war both in France and in Tunisia.
On This Day
On this day, women gathered to remember women, like you
Turning a flicker of hope, an act of kindness, a mother’s touch into a flame of eternal Memory
A humbling act indeed, for me, to name you
Hero
I shall not easily forget the twinkle in your eyes that told me you
Resisted
Persisted
Subsisted
Even after you had stopped using words, your actions spoke for you,
For your
Memory
On this day, women, young, old, and in-between, shared stories of
Survival
And even those who did not live, who do not live, who cannot live
Forever
Will always be among us now; their stories become ours as we
Resist
Persist
Subsist
Even after we stop using words, our actions will speak for us,
For our
Memory
In your
Memory
And so the flame remains eternal
On this day, you will be remembered
N.B.L., Nahariyah, Israel, March 5, 2013
Beautiful poem, Nina!
Love, Ute
Thank you Ute! So glad Gisèle’s life and actions are also remembered by many.
Thank you for this post. We should never forget. Never again!
Thanks for your comment Dina. It may feel repetitive sometimes, but even if we remember it, write about it, talk about, sing about, act about it, paint about it, cry about it millions of times, it is not enough.