Holocaust Poetry

Abba Kovner. —Beit Lohamei Haghettaot, courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives (Photo #24114)

• Introduction »
• Encyclopedias and Reference Guides »
• Critical Analysis and Interpretation »
• Anthologies »
• Poetry Books and Collections »
• Additional Resources »

Introduction ↑

Shortly after World War II, philosopher Theodor Adorno asserted that “to write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.” This statement reflects the initial response of many readers when considering poetry and fiction about the Holocaust; namely that any attempt to capture life in the ghettos and concentration camps on the page simply diminishes the horror of the realities faced by those who lived and died at the hands of the Nazis. Yet many survivors and their descendants have used poetry to effectively distill the terror and dread of the Holocaust into words. For some writers, the emotional and personal nature of the form makes poetry the ideal medium in which to express ideas and sentiments that otherwise could not be adequately rendered through art. In short, poetry allows these writers to express the inexpressible.

Early poets of the Holocaust, including survivors Paul Celan and Nelly Sachs, wrestled with a variety of interrelated subjects based on their experiences, including profound loss and the nature of victimhood. These issues manifested themselves in poems of stark power and beauty. Later poets have explored themes of memory and Jewish identity in a world “after Auschwitz.” That so many of these works are accessible to many readers only in translation compounds the issues raised by these poems.

The following bibliography was compiled to guide readers to materials on Holocaust poetry as well as a variety of poetry collections that explore Holocaust-related themes. It is not meant to be exhaustive. Annotations are provided to help the user determine the item’s focus, and call numbers for the Museum’s Library are given in parentheses following each citation. Those unable to visit might be able to find these works in a nearby public library or acquire them through interlibrary loan. Follow the “Find in a library near you” link in each citation and enter your zip code at the Open WorldCat search screen. The results of that search indicate all libraries in your area that own that particular title. Talk to your local librarian for assistance.

Encyclopedias and Reference Guides ↑

• Kremer, S. Lillian, editor. Holocaust Literature: An Encyclopedia of Writers and Their Work. New York: Routledge, 2003. (Reference PN 56 .H55 H66 2003) [Find in a library near you]
  Provides comprehensive overviews of the lives and careers of over 300 poets, novelists, dramatists, and memoirists. Appendixes provide lists of works by genre, literary themes, historic events, ghettos, and camps explored in Holocaust literature. Includes extensive reading lists for further research.
  
  
• Riggs, Thomas, editor. Reference Guide to Holocaust Literature. Detroit, MI: St. James Press, 2002. (Reference PN 56 .H55 R43 2002) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents biographical entries for 223 writers and poets as well as brief critical essays about over 200 poems, books, and short stories. Includes a chronology of Holocaust literature, title index, index of authors by nationality, and a reading list for further study of the subject.
  
  
• Rosen, Philip, and Nina Apfelbaum, editors. Bearing Witness: A Resource Guide to Literature, Poetry, Art, Music, and Videos by Holocaust Victims and Survivors. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. (Z 6374 .H6 R67 2002) [Find in a library near you]
  Collects brief biographies and lists works by 33 major poets who survived the Holocaust, as well as important works of art, fiction, and music by survivors.
  
  

Critical Analysis and Interpretation ↑

• Aaron, Frieda W. Bearing the Unbearable: Yiddish and Polish Poetry in the Ghettos and Concentration Camps. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990. (PJ 5141.2 .A27 1990) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents and analyzes poetry written in the ghettos and camps, with an emphasis on themes of faith, morale, and resistance. Includes poems presented in their original language alongside English translations.
  
  
• Alexander, Edward. “Holocaust and Rebirth: Moshe Flinker, Nelly Sachs, and Abba Kovner.” In The Resonance of Dust: Essays on Holocaust Literature and Jewish Fate, 31-71. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1979. (PN 56.3.J4 A4 1979) [Find in a library near you]
  Traces the theme of “rebirth,” particularly as it relates to the founding of the State of Israel, in the writings of Moshe Flinker and Nelly Sachs. Includes excerpts from several poems as well as endnotes.
  
  
• Bahti, Timothy, and Marilyn Sibley Fries, editors. Jewish Writers, German Literature: The Uneasy Examples of Nelly Sachs and Walter Benjamin. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1995. (PT 405 .J49 1995) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents six essays that address the themes and language of Nelly Sachs’s poetry, with emphasis on the relationship between her Jewish influences and her place in the German literary tradition. Based on papers presented at a 1992 conference at the University of Michigan.
  
  
• Bower, Kathrin. “Claiming the Victim: Tokenism, Mourning, and the Future of German Holocaust Poetry.” In German Studies in the Post Holocaust Age: The Politics of Memory, Identity, and Ethnicity, edited by Adrian del Caro and Janet Ward, 131-139. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2000. (PT 405 .G4568 2000) [Find in a library near you]
  An examination of the ways the themes of guilt, mourning, and memory manifest themselves in Holocaust poetry. Includes endnotes.
  
  
• Bower, Kathrin. Ethics and Remembrance in the Poetry of Nelly Sachs and Rose Ausländer. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2000. (PT 2637 .A4184 Z593 2000) [Find in a library near you]
  An analysis of Sachs’s and Ausländer’s poetry, with a focus on the poets’ attitudes towards memory and ethics. Includes notes, works cited, and an index.
  
  
• Colin, Amy. Paul Celan: Holograms of Darkness. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991. (PT 2605 .E4 Z594 1991) [Find in a library near you]
  A detailed analysis of the work of Holocaust poet Paul Celan. While Celan is the subject of this title, a few related poets are also considered. Contains notes, an index, and illustrations.
  
  
• Dinesen, Ruth. “At Home in Exile--Nelly Sachs: Flight and Metamorphosis.” In Facing Fascism and Confronting the Past: German Women Writers from Weimar to the Present, edited by Elke P. Frederiksen and Martha Kaarsberg Wallach, 135-150. Albany: State University of New York, 2000. (PT 405 .F295 2000) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents a brief overview of Sachs’s life and work. Offers interpretations and analyses of several poems used as examples of “literary resistance” against the Nazis. Includes poems in the original German along with English translations, notes and a bibliography.
  
  
• Felstiner, John. Paul Celan: Poet, Survivor, Jew. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995. (PT 2605 .E4 Z599 1995) [Find in a library near you]
  Literary biography of Paul Celan, with an analysis of his poetry. Poems are presented in both the original German and in English translation. Includes notes, an index and photographs.
  
  
• Garloff, Katja. Words from Abroad: Trauma and Displacement in Postwar German Jewish Writers. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2005. (PT 169 .G37 2005) [Find in a library near you]
  Provides an analysis of the contradictions in the idea of German-Jewish identity after World War II and its place in the works of Nelly Sachs. Also includes an examination of the importance of various locales in the works of Paul Celan. Includes notes, works cited, and an index.
  
  
• Goldsmith, Emanuel S. “The Holocaust Poetry of Aaron Zeitlin in Yiddish and Hebrew.” In Reflections of the Holocaust in Art and Literature, edited by Randolph L. Braham, 17-33. Boulder, CO: Social Science Monographs, 1990. (PN 56 .H55 R445 1990) [Find in a library near you]
  Reviews the poetry of survivor Aaron Zeitlin, whose works are not widely-known due to the lack of English-language publication. Includes translated excerpts of several poems as a way to introduce the major themes of these and other Yiddish and Hebrew poets of the Holocaust.
  
  
• Grimm, Erk. “Uncanny Holograms of the Past: Recent German Poetry and Writing After Paul Celan and Theodor Adorno.” In German Studies in the Post Holocaust Age: The Politics of Memory, Identity, and Ethnicity, edited by Adrian Del Caro and Janet Ward, 122-130. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2000. (PT 405 .G4568 2000) [Find in a library near you]
  An examination of modern poetic attitudes and styles towards technology and the Holocaust. Considers the connection between contemporary poets and Paul Celan. Includes notes.
  
  
• Gubar, Susan. “The Long and the Short of Holocaust Verse.” New Literary History 35, No. 3 (2004): 443-468. (Subject Files) [Find in a library near you]
  An analysis of Holocaust poetry with attention to the implications of the poet’s style and language on the meaning of selected poems. Analyzes works by poets of various nationalities and generations, including Dan Pagis, Paul Celan, Anna Rabinowitz, and Micheal O’Siadhail.
  
  
• Gubar, Susan. Poetry After Auschwitz: Remembering What One Never Knew. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003. (PS 153 .J4 G78 2003) [Find in a library near you]
  Key analytical work that provides a theoretical framework for the study of Holocaust verse. Contains numerous illustrations, notes, works cited, and an index.
  
  
• Gubar, Susan. “Poetry and Holocaust Remembrance.” In Teaching the Representation of the Holocaust, edited by Marianne Hirsch and Irene Kacandes, 165-179. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2004. (PN 56 .H55 T44 2004) [Find in a library near you]
  Analyzes various common elements of Holocaust poetry. Examines the unique difficulties and merits of studying Holocaust poetry in a classroom setting.
  
  
• Hakak, Lev. “The Holocaust in the Hebrew Poetry of Sephardim and New Eastern Jews.” Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 23, no. 2 (2005): 89-119. (BM 1 .S418 v. 23) [Find in a library near you]
  Explores the poetry of the Sephardim and how their works reflect their experience of the Holocaust. Presents translated excerpts of poems written in North Africa and the Near East during and after World War II.
  
  
• Kohn, Murray J. The Voice of My Blood Cries Out: The Holocaust as Reflected in Hebrew Poetry. Vineland, NJ: RiVal Publication, 2004. (PJ 5012 .H65 K613 2004) [Find in a library near you]
  Reviews the major poets of the Holocaust who wrote exclusively in Hebrew. Explores the major themes of their work, including the shock of the immediate postwar period, the lamentations of Jewish mothers for their lost children, and the profound spiritual turmoil of the survivors. Includes an extensive list of all authors and works discussed in the book.
  
  
• Langer, Lawrence L. “Gertrud Kolmar and Nelly Sachs: Bright Visions and Songs of Lamentation.” In Versions of Survival: The Holocaust and the Human Spirit, 191-250. Albany: State University of New York, 1982. (PN 56 .H55 L258 1982) [Find in a library near you]
  An examination of the individual experiences of two poets as expressed in their poetry. Contains biographical information, notes, and an index.
  
  
• Leftwich, Joseph. Abraham Sutzkever: Partisan Poet. New York: Thomas Yoseloff Publisher, 1971. (PJ 5129 .S86 Z7 1971) [Find in a library near you]
  Detailed account of Sutzkever’s life, using excerpts from many of his poems. Includes an index.
  
  
• Nader, Andres. “The Shock of Arrival: Poetry from the Nazi Concentration Camps at the End of the Century.” Poetics Today 21, No. 1 (2000): 151-186. (Subject Files) [Find in a library near you]
  Traces the publication history in Germany of Holocaust-related poetry, drawing attention to the shifting reception these works received in the decades after the war. Provides psychoanalytic analyses of poems written in the camps by well-known poets and songwriters such as Fritz Löhner-Beda and Edgar Kupfer-Koberwitz.
  
  
• Peterson, Joan. “‘Some Gold across the Water’: Paul Celan and Nelly Sachs.” Holocaust and Genocide Studies 14, no. 2 (2000): 197-214. (D 810 .J4 H6428 v.14) [Find in a library near you]
  Compares and contrasts the poetry of Paul Celan and Nelly Sachs. Reproduces and analyzes several works by both poets. Includes a bibliography.
  
  
• Rosenthal, Bianca. Pathways to Paul Celan: A History of Critical Responses as a Chorus of Discordant Voices. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 1995. (PT 2605 .E4 Z729 1995) [Find in a library near you]
  Detailed summary of critical receptions of Paul Celan’s works over his career. Includes an index and extensive bibliography.
  
  
• Rowland, Antony. Holocaust Poetry: Awkward Poetics in the Work of Sylvia Plath, Geoffrey Hill, Tony Harrison and Ted Hughes. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005. (PR 601 .R695 2005) [Find in a library near you]
  Detailed study of the works of four post-Holocaust writers, drawing comparisons between their poems and those of Paul Celan, Miklos Radnoti, Primo Levi, and Janos Pilinszky.
  
  
• Rudnick, Ursula. Post-Shoa Religious Metaphors: The Image of God in the Poetry of Nelly Sachs. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1995. (PT 2637 .A4184 Z85 1995) [Find in a library near you]
  Detailed analysis of the poetry of Nelly Sachs. Notes the critical reactions to Sachs’s works and her significance in Holocaust literature, including a detailed examination of the theme of spirituality in her poems. Includes to appendixes, a bibliography, and notes.
  
  
• Samuels, Clarise. Holocaust Visions: Surrealism and Existentialism in the Poetry of Paul Celan. Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1993. (PT 2605 .E4 Z75 1993) [Find in a library near you]
  An investigation into the surreal nature of Paul Celan’s writing and their connection to existentialism. Excerpts appear in German and English. Contains a bibliography.
  
  
• Wickersham, Erlis Glass. “Women as Agents of Suffering and Redemption in the Poetry of Nelly Sachs.” In Women and the Holocaust: Narrative and Representation, edited by Esther Fuchs, 63-87. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1999. (D 804.47 .W65 1999) [Find in a library near you]
  An examination of the roles of women and the family in Sachs’s work. Includes notes.
  
  
• Young, Gloria. “The Poetry of the Holocaust.” In Holocaust Literature: A Handbook of Critical, Historical and Literary Writings, edited by Saul S. Friedman, 547-574. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993. (D 804.3 .H6475 1993) [Find in a library near you]
  Examines the conditions and motivations surrounding the creation of Holocaust verse. Provides brief analysis of several poems. Includes biographical information and a bibliography of Holocaust poetry.
  
  
• Yudkin, Leon I. “Poet and Activist: Abba Kovner.” In Literature in the Wake of the Holocaust, 65-84. Saint Denis, France: Suger Press, 2003. (PN 56 .H55 Y83 2003) [Find in a library near you]
  An analysis of the poetry and prose of Abba Kovner. Contains biographical information.
  
  

Anthologies ↑

• Buchholz, Ronald, editor and translator. And They Will Call Me--: Poems from the Holocaust in Yiddish and English Translation. Waltham MA: Dept. of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University, 1982. (PJ 5191 .E3 A53 1982) [Find in a library near you]
  Collection of poems that originally appeared in the Yiddish anthology Lider Fun di Getos un Lagern, edited by H. Leyvik (New York: Tsiko, 1948). Includes brief biographical notes about each poet.
  
  
• Fishman, Charles, editor. Blood to Remember: American Poets on the Holocaust. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 1990. (PS 595 .H64 B57 1990) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents poems, some written by survivors, that represent American views of the Holocaust, chronicling the events from Kristallnacht to the present day. Includes notes to the poems, commentary by the poets, contributor details, a list of sources cited, and indices of poets and titles. A revised, second edition was published in 2007 by Time Being Books (PS 595.H64 B573 2007).
  
  
• Florsheim, Stewart J., editor. Ghosts of the Holocaust: An Anthology of Poetry by the Second Generation. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1989. (PS 595 .H64 G47 1989) [Find in a library near you]
  Collection of poetry written by those whose parents were either victims or perpetrators. Conveys the struggles of the “second generation” to cope with the Holocaust and its aftereffects on their lives and families. Includes biographical notes on each poet and an index.
  
  
• Gillon, Adam, editor. Poems of the Ghetto: A Testament of Lost Men. New York: Twayne, 1969. (PG 7445 .E3 G5 1969) [Find in a library near you]
  Anthology of verse composed by survivors of ghettos and camps, or by Poles who were spared Nazi persecution but who were nevertheless affected by the Holocaust. Includes brief notes about each author. All poems were translated from the original Polish.
  
  
• Kramer, Aaron, editor. The Last Lullaby: Poetry from the Holocaust. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1998. (PJ 5191 .E3 L37 1998) [Find in a library near you]
  Anthology of poems written during the Holocaust as well as works by survivors. Includes dozens of poems and songs written as lullabies for children. Also includes the first published translation of the 1944 opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis, composed in Theresienstadt.
  
  
• Langer, Lawrence L, editor. Art from the Ashes: A Holocaust Anthology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. (D 804.3 .A78 1995) [Find in a library near you]
  Comprehensive, interdisciplinary anthology of Holocaust-related fiction, poetry, and drama, as well as diary excerpts, essays, and reproductions of artwork by survivors. Includes over 70 poems by six major poets.
  
  
• Lévy, Isaac Jack, editor. And the World Stood Silent: Sephardic Poetry of the Holocaust. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989. (PC 4813.7 .A75 1989) [Find in a library near you]
  Collection of poetry commemorating the nearly 160,000 Sephardic Jews who died in the Holocaust. Presents the original poems in Ladino, French, Italian, or Greek, alongside English translations. Includes a brief history of Sephardic Jewry as well as an overview of Ladino poetry.
  
  
• Schiff, Hilda, editor. Holocaust Poetry. New York: St. Martins Press, 1995. (PN 6110 .H45 H65 1995) [Find in a library near you]
  Thematically-arranged collection of 119 poems by 59 poets. Contributors include W. H. Auden, Primo Levi, Elie Wiesel, and Anne Sexton, along with relatively unknown poets, many of whom were victims of the Holocaust. Includes biographical notes and indices of poets, translators, titles, and first lines.
  
  
• Striar, Marguerite M., editor. Beyond Lament: Poets of the World Bearing Witness to the Holocaust. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1998. (PN 6110 .H45 B49 1998) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents approximately 280 poems from poets who perished, poets who survived, and second generation poets. Includes bibliographical notes and indices to translators and authors.
  
  
• Survivors Speak Out. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, 1989. (PN 6110 .H45 G74 1989) [Find in a library near you]
  Collection of close to 40 poems and short stories written by survivors of the ghettos and camps.
  
  
• Teichman, Milton, and Sharon Leder, editors. Truth and Lamentation: Stories and Poems on the Holocaust. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994. (PN 6071 .H713 T78 1994) [Find in a library near you]
  Brings together 90 poems and 20 short stories written by a wide variety of Jewish and non-Jewish writers, including many relatively unknown authors, that explore the experiences of Holocaust survivors and mourning for those who were lost. Includes brief biographies of each contributor as well as a bibliography.
  
  
• Volavková, Hana, editor. I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children’s Drawings and Poems from Terezín Concentration Camp, 1942-1944. New York: Schocken Books, 1993. (N 352 .D42513 1993) [Find in a library near you]
  Collection of poetry and drawings made by the children of Theresienstadt. Provides background information about the camp, notes, an epilogue, and chronology of events. Includes one of the most well-known Holocaust poems: “The Butterfly,” by Pavel Friedman.
  
  
• Zych, Adam A., editor. The Auschwitz Poems: An Anthology. Oświęcim: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, 1999. (PG 7141 .A87 A9 1999) [Find in a library near you]
  A collection of poems about Auschwitz from people who were imprisoned in the camp, were related to prisoners, and others. Presents works translated from Polish and other languages, with some originally written in English. Includes bibliographic notes on the contributors, and an index of poems and translators.
  
  

Poetry Books and Collections ↑

• Agosín, Marjorie. Dear Anne Frank: Poems. Translated by Richard Schaaf. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1998. (PQ 8098.1 .G6 A268 1998)
  
  
• Amichai, Yehuda. Open Closed Open: Poems. Translated by Chana Bloch and Chana Kronfeld. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2006. (PJ 5054 .A65 P3813 2006)
  
  
• Birenbaum, Halina. Sounds of a Guilty Silence: Selected Poems. Translated by June Friedman. Krakow: Centrum Dialogu, 1997. (PJ 5054 .B537 S6 1997)
  
  
• Borenstein, Emily. Night of the Broken Glass: Poems of the Holocaust. Mason, TX: Timberline Press, 1981. (PS 3552 .O72 N5 1981)
  
  
• Brett, Lily. The Auschwitz Poems. Brunswick, Australia: Scribe, 1986. (PR 9619.3 .B693 A94 1986)
  
  
• Brodsky, Louis Daniel. The Eleventh Lost Tribe: Poems of the Holocaust. St. Louis, MO: Time Being Books, 1998. (PS 3552 .R623 E43 1998)
  
  
• Bryks, Rachmil. Ghetto Factory 76: (Chemical Waste Conversion): Poem. Translated by Theodor Primack and Eugen Kullman. New York: Bloch, 1967. (PJ 5129 .B7623 G54 1967)
  
  
• Celan, Paul. Glottal Stop: 101 Poems. Translated by Nikolai Popov and Heather McHugh. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2000. (PT 2605 .E4 A25 2000)
  
  
• Celan, Paul. Last Poems. Translated by Katherine Washburn and Margret Guillemin. San Francisco, CA: North Point Press, 1986. (PT 2605 .E4 A28 1986)
  
  
• Celan, Paul. Selected Poems and Prose of Paul Celan. Translated by John Felstiner. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001. (PT 2605 .E4 A22 2000)
  
  
• Celan, Paul. Speech-grille, and Selected Poems. Translated by Joachim Neugroschel. New York: Dutton, 1971. (PT 2605 .E4 A6 1971)
  
  
• Delbo, Charlotte. Auschwitz and After. Translated by Rosette C. Lamont. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995. (D 805 .P7 D41613 1995)
  
  
• Delbo, Charlotte. Days and Memory. Translated by Rosette Lamont. Marlboro, VT: The Marlboro Press, 1990. (PQ 2664 .E5117 M413 1990)
  
  
• This is a representative sampling of Holocaust-related poetry collections in English or in translation.
  
  
• Duba, Ursula. Tales from a Child of the Enemy. New York: Penguin Books, 1997. (PS 3554 .U239 T35 1997)
  
  
• Ficowski, Jerzy. Odczytanie popiołów = A Reading of Ashes. Translated by Keith Bosley and Krystyna Wandycz. Browarna: Wydawn Browarna, 1993. (PG 7158 .F42 O35 1993)
  
  
• Gershon, Karen. Selected Poems. London: Gollancz, 1966. (PR 6057 .E7 A17 1966)
  
  
• Glatstein, Jacob. I Keep Recalling: The Holocaust Poems of Jacob Glatstein. Translated by Barnett Zumoff. Hoboken, NJ: Ktav Publishing House, 1993. (PJ 5129 .G535 K513 1993)
  
  
• Gurdus, Luba Krugman. Painful Echoes--: Poems of the Holocaust. New York: Holocaust Library, 1985. (Oversize PG 7158 .G971 A6 1985)
  
  
• Heyen, William. Erika: Poems of the Holocaust. New York: Vanguard Press, 1984. (PS 3558 .E85 E7 1984)
  
  
• Heyen, William. Shoah Train: Poems. Silver Spring, MD: Etruscan Press, 2003. (PS 3558 .E85 S56 2003)
  
  
• Hyett, Barbara Helfgott. In Evidence: Poems of the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1986. (PS 3558 .E4744 I5 1986)
  
  
• Katzenelson, Yitzhak. The Song of the Murdered Jewish People. Translated by Noah H. Rosenbloom. Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House, 1980. (PJ 5129 .K38 L483 1980)
  
  
• Klein, A. M. Complete Poems. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990. (PR 9199.3 .K588 A17 1990)
  
  
• Klein, A. M. The Second Scroll. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000. (PR 9199.3 .K48 S43 2000)
  
  
• Kolmar, Gertrud. Dark Soliloquy: The Selected Poems of Gertrud Kolmar. Translated by Henry A. Smith. New York: Seabury Press, 1975. (PT 2605 .H54 A27 1975)
  
  
• Kolmar, Gertrud. The Shimmering Crystal: Poems from ‘Das Lyrische Werk’. Translated by Elizabeth Spencer. London: Millennium Publications, 1995. (PT 2605 .H54 A27 1995)
  
  
• Korwin, Yala. To Tell the Story: Poems of the Holocaust. New York: Holocaust Library, 1987. (PS 3561 .O75 T6 1987)
  
  
• Kovner, Abba. My Little Sister and Selected Poems, 1965-1985. Translated by Shirley Kaufman. Oberlin, OH: Oberlin College, 1986. (PJ 5054 .K6 M9 1986)
  
  
• Levi, Primo. Collected Poems. Translated by Ruth Feldman and Brian Swann. London: Faber and Faber, 1988. (PQ 4872 .E8 A24 1988)
  
  
• Lifshin, Lyn. Blue Tattoo: Poems of the Holocaust. Desert Hot Springs, CA: Event Horizon Press, 1995. (PS 3562 .I4537 B57 1995)
  
  
• Molodowsky, Kadia. Paper Bridges: Selected Poems of Kadya Molodowsky. Translated by Kathryn Hellerstein. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1999. (PJ 5129 .M7 A25 1999)
  
  
• Pagis, Dan. The Selected Poetry of Dan Pagis. Translated by Stephen Mitchell. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. (PJ 5054 .P32 A25 1996)
  
  
• Radnóti, Miklós. Foamy Sky: The Major Poems of Miklós Radnóti. Translated by Zsuzsanna Ozsváth and Frederick Turner. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992. (PH 3321 .R27 T313 1992)
  
  
• Ranasinghe, Anne. Not Even Shadows. Colombo: English Writers Cooperative of Sri Lanka, 1991. (PR 9440.9 .R35 N6 1991)
  
  
• Reznikoff, Charles. Holocaust. Boston: David R. Godine, 2007. (PS 3535 .E98 H6 2007)
  
  
• Rosensaft, Menachem Z. Fragments, Past and Future: Poems. New York: Shengold Publishers, 1968. (PS 3568 .O83 F7 1968)
  
  
• Sachs, Nelly. O the Chimneys: Selected Poems, Including the Verse Play, ELI. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1967. (PT 2637 .A4184 A6 1967)
  
  
• Schmuller, Aaron. Treblinka Grass. New York: Shulsinger Brothers, 1957. (PJ 5191 .E3 S35 1957)
  
  
• Sklarew, Myra. From the Backyard of the Diaspora: Poems. Washington, DC: Dryad Press, 1981. (PS 3569 .K57 F7 1981)
  
  
• Snodgrass, W. D. The Führer Bunker: A Cycle of Poems in Progress. Brockport, NY: Boa Editions, 1977. (PS 3537 .N32 F8 1977)
  
  
• Soyfer, Jura. It’s Up to Us!: Collected Works of Jura Soyfer. Translated by Horst Jarka. Riverside, CA: Ariadne Press, 1996. (PT 2639 .O93 A25 1996)
  
  
• Soyfer, Jura. The Legacy of Jura Soyfer 1912-1939: Poems, Prose, and Plays of an Austrian Antifascist. Translated by Horst Jarka. Montreal: Engendra Press, 1977. (PT 2639 .093 Z64 1977)
  
  
• Sutzkever, Abraham. Burnt Pearls: Ghetto Poems of Abraham Sutzkever. Translated by Seymour Mayne. Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press, 1981. (PJ 5129 .S86 A25 1981)
  
  
• Taube, Herman. Autumn Travels, Devious Paths: Poetry & Prose. Washington DC: Dryad Press, 1992. (PS 3570 .A86 A9 1992)
  
  
• Taube, Herman. Between the Shadows: New and Selected Works by Herman Taube. Takoma Park, MD: Dryad Press, 1986. (PS 3570 .A86 B4 1986)
  
  
• Taube, Herman. A Chain of Images: Poetic Notes. New York: Shulsinger Bros, 1979. (PS 3570 .A86 C5 1979)
  
  
• Taube, Herman. Echoes: Poetic Notes. Washington DC: DIN, 1981. (PS 3570 .A86 E3 1981)
  
  
• Taube, Herman. Looking Back, Going Forward: New & Selected Poems. Takoma Park, MD: Dryad Press, 2002. (PS 3570 .A86 L65 2002)
  
  
• Taube, Herman. Looking Back, Going Forward: New & Selected Poems. Takoma Park, MD: Dryad Press, 2002. (PS 3570 .A86 L65 2002)
  
  
• Taube, Herman. Questions: Poetic Notes. Washington, DC: D.I.N. Yiddish of Greater Washington, 1982. (PS 3570 .A86 Q84 1982)
  
  
• Whitman, Ruth. The Testing of Hanna Senesh. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1986. (PS 3573 .H5 T47 1986)
  
  

Additional Resources ↑

• Subject Files
  Ask at the reference desk to see the subject files labeled “Poetry” containing poems and related newspaper and periodical articles.
  
  
• Subject Headings
  To search library catalogs for materials on Holocaust poetry, use the following Library of Congress subject headings to retrieve the most relevant citations:
  
  • Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poetry
  • Holocaust survivors--Poetry
  • Jews--Poetry
  • Poetry, Modern--20th century
  
  

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