Survivors : Hungarian Jewish Poets of the Holocaust

Poetry from Hungarian Jewish survivors of the Holocaust.

Nazi, neo-fascist and xenophobic parties are on the violent march again across Europe. Hiding behind the fear of immigrants and opposition to the EU, anti-Semitic, anti-Roma, anti-Muslim and homophobic politics are now in the political mainstream. In Greece the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn has almost 50 seats in parliament; in the Netherlands Geert Wilders Party for Freedom recently adopted the old Dutch Nazi flag; in France Marine Le Pen s Front National is currently running second in the opinion polls; the radical nationalist Jobbik is now the third largest party in Hungary. Between March 1944 and April 1945, half a million Hungarian Jews, Roma, homosexuals and political dissidents were transported to extermination camps, mostly in Poland and Austria. Tens of thousands were enslaved in labour camps. Almost three-quarters of Hungary s Jewish population perished. Survivors brings together, for the first time in Hungarian and English, poems about the Hungarian Holocaust by Dán Dalmát, Tamás Em d, György Faludy, Eszter Forrai, Ágnes Gergely, Frigyes Karinthy, Éva Láng, András Mezei, Thomas Ország-Land, Miklós Radnóti, Magda Székely and György Timár, all of whom either witnessed or foresaw the Holocaust. Survivors is an anthology of poems about political barbarism. But it is also a book about life. These poets looked evil in the face, and dedicated their lives to warning humanity about Fascism.