In 1942, World War two was a horrible time for the Jews because of the persecution by the Hitler and his Nazi party of Germany. We get a look into what life was like for the Jews through the numerous poems written by children that explained the kind of life they lived in the concentration camp Terezin, found in Theresienstadt.  One of the poems that captured my interest was a poem, “Birdsong,” written by a young child, unfortunately we no longer know the child who wrote the poem.  This poem made me wonder what life was like for most of the children and what the history was behind “Birdsong?”

"Birdsong" is one of the many poems found in a collection of poems written by children while in the concentration camp Terezin and was published into a book "I Never Saw Another Butterfly" (Lee). The writer of this particular poem is unknown. Some of the authors of the other poems are known and are survivors of the Holocaust. “Birdsong” was found in the concentration camp Terezin after World War Two. “Birdsong” is more of a happy dream rather than the horror that their lives really were. Even though the writer is in a horrible place, the writer explains the positive things in the world.  “Birdsong” is about a bird that needs to open up to see the beautiful things in the world.  Then the writer of the poem goes on to describe the simple things in the world like dew in the grass and the singing of a blackbird in the morning.  This poem gives us a great example of how to be happy and positive even through hard times.

The children experienced the hard and cruel times of the Holocaust at Terezin or Theresiensdadt concentration camp which was built in 1780. Terezin is similar to a city-fortress that was built near Prague.  At the beginning, the Germans deceived the Jews into thinking Terezin would be a safe and good place to live.  The German leaders created commercials and propaganda showing Jews happily working and studying in classes within the Terezin Camp.  They established schools for the children, "almost all children up to fifteen years of age received some kind of schooling" (Green 138), cafe's, and post offices .  The Germans did this to make the Jews think Terezin would be a good place to live and made it easy for the Germans to remove the Jews from their original homes.  This is why Terezin was known as “The Fake City of Safety” (Lee 1).   

Terezin was chosen to be a concentration camp because it could be guarded cheaply (Green) . On the first day the camp was fully open 139,654 Jews were taken to the camp. After April 20, 1945 another 13,454 Jews arrived for containment at the camp.  The Germans kept bringing in more and more Jews until it became over crowded.  Most Jews thought that Terezin was a good place, but did not know that as they moved East,  they would be killed in other camps.  There was a group of Jewish children from the Bialystock camp that arrived to Theresienstadt then moved eastward to the camp Auschwitz where they were killed.  Some Jews were forced to go Theresienstadt and were told that if they worked there, their families would not go East to other camps, "most of them understood that transport meant death" (Green 138 ). Later on, several people were hung and died.   Soon, the old people were hung and then the Jews were sent to gas chambers where they were killed in large numbers.  The Germans did not want the Jews to know that they would be killed so they burned the dead bodies in a special room, “more than fifteen thousand interened at Terezin, about 150 lived" (Green 138).  Most of the poems by the children were found in cracks of walls and under the beds (Lee 1).

Not all people the Jews died from being hung or gassed.  There was a group of children that entered Terezin and were scared to death (Green).  Later on, most died from the Typhus a disease spread through fleas and mites carried by rodents.  Some of the Jews were taken out to a muddy field and stood there all day long without food or water with gunned officers around them.  Some fainted and most died out there.  The Jews that were left alive were taken back to the camp (Green).  Still more and more people were killed by gas.  The Nazi German officers at Terezin were cruel and mean.  

There were many artists and writers in Terezin.  In Fact, some of them were children.  The poem “Birdsong” was written by a child.  Lots of the children wrote and drew about their life and some wrote about their dreams, as the author Green wrote, "In there hopeful minds they saw butterflies, and flowers, and the joyful life they had left behind.”  One of the collections of poems that was found with Birdsong was the poem “At Terezin.”  This poem explains the life of the children coming and going in the concentration camp.  It demonstrates how a new child comes and is confused and doesn't know what He is doing at Terezin. The child in the poem doesn't want to live with black potatoes for dinner or sleeping on the ground and wants a normal life with good food and a good place to sleep.  The child writes how life was like hell (Lee 3).  Another poem that was found in Terezin was “Fear”.  Of course the poem explains the fear of most Jews, and how they want to live and not die (Green).  Most of these poems were found in a collection of nine poems that were put in a musical cantata.  Another poem that stands out is “The Garden.” This poem explains the sweet life of a little boy in a gareden and is like a flower beginning to blossom, but he suddenly does not return (Lee 2).   A lot of these poems are sad and some, like “Birdsong,” explain the dreams these little children had.

Most of the children were treated badly. Yet there is nothing we can do about it now, except to learn from history and never allow another Holocaust to occur. Remember that it is best to think of the positive things in life just like the writer of “Birdsong.”