Holocaust Poerty

Homeland
Lois E. Olena

It was Christmas eve
and there was no room in the inn,
the Oswiecim inn,
so the Arrow Cross
took the children,
barefooted
and in their nighties,
out to the Danube
and filled their little bellies
not with bread
but bullets
flipping them
like tiddlywinks
into the congealing, icy river below.

It was the Red Danube
that night,
choking on the blood
of orphan Jews
whose little Blue faces
floated downstream
touring even all of Europe
until they washed up
on the shores of Eretz Yisrael (Jewish homeland)
and came back to life,
their little blue and white
bodies
raised high,
flapping in the wind.

1. How is imagery used in this poem?
   

   Imagery is used in this poem to describe how the Nazi soldiers treated the Jews

     in particular the Children. Throughout the Poem we are given a horrible image of death 

   and suffering represented by use of similes. 

   "And filled their little bellies not with bread but bullets flipping them like tiddlywinks into the congealing, icy river below"

2. Discuss the effect of the simile in this poem. The effect of the simile used in the question above expresses the treatment given to the Jewish children by the Nazi soldiers as much more personal and dramatic rather than just saying they were killed. This simile gives us the sense that what the children went through was ultimate suffering.
3. How is alliteration used in the poem? What is the effect? ?
4. How does the author juxtapose the innocence of the children to the cruelty they experienced? The author represents the children as being innocent on Christmas eve with their 'nighties' on. The Author juxtaposes this with the Nazi soldiers being the obvious opposite of this and how suddenly being taken and brutally killed.
5. What is meant by 'touring all of Europe'? The author uses this as a pun to describe how when the Children are killed and dumped in the river their bodies will float through the current and travel around Europe. The author uses understatement of this action when really we know that this would be unthinkable.