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Holocauste : Fragments
In
Holocaust
poet Charles Reznikoff's subject is people's suffering at the hand of another. His source materials are the U.S. government's record of the trials of the Nazi criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunal and the transcripts of the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem. Except for the twelve part titles, none of the words here are Reznikoff's own: instead he has created, through selection, arrangement, and the rhythms of the testimony set as verse on the page, a poem of witness by the perpetrators and the survivors of the Holocaust. He lets the terrible history unfold--in history's own words.
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
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About the author
Charles Reznikoff
68 books39 followersCharles Reznikoff (1894-1976) était avec Carl Rakosi, George Oppen et Louis Zukofsky un des quatre poètes du courant dit «objectiviste» américain, qui commencèrent à publier, de manière confidentielle, dans les années vingt du siècle dernier. De Charles Reznikoff ont été publiés en France, Témoignage, Les États-Unis, 1885-1890, un fragment du présent volume (Hachette/P.O.L, 1981, traduction par Jacques Roubaud), aujourd'hui épuisé ; Le Musicien, roman (P.O.L, 1986, traduction par Emmanuel Hocquard et Claude Richard) ; Holocauste (Prétexte, 2007, traduction Jean-Paul Auxeméry). Dans un entretien publié dans Contemporary Literature Charles Reznikoff, pour décrire sa démarche, citait un poète chinois du XIᵉ siècle qui disait : «La poésie présente l'objet afin de susciter la sensation. Elle doit être très précise sur l'objet et réticente sur l'émotion». Sans doute n'est-il pas inutile, aujourd'hui, de présenter avec Témoignage, Les États-Unis (1885-1915) une des illustrations les plus complètes et convaincantes de ce programme. Témoignage, Les États-Unis (1885-1915) est une vaste fresque pour décrire l'entrée des États-Unis dans l'ère moderne à travers la restitution minutieuse et la mise en forme de rapports d'audience de tribunaux amenés à juger aussi bien de conflits de voisinage ou de succession que d'accidents du travail ou de faits divers atroces. Son édition poursuit le travail entamé en 1981 avec la publication de Témoignage, Les États-Unis, 1885-1890 et du Musicien.
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September 1, 2025
Reznikoff's Holocaust
In its spareness, eloquence, and simplicity, Charles Reznikoff's poem "Holocaust" remains one of the best literary attempts to come to grips with this bleak tragedy. Reznikoff (August 31.1894 -- January 22, 1976) wrote the poem in 1975, and it was published by John Martin and Black Sparrow Press. It is good to have it back in print.
Reznikoff was little known during his life. He wrote "objectivist" poetry which took as its motto "no ideas but in things." Poetry for Reznikoff directs the reader to things -- to reality and experiences -- rather than to ego or to the feelings of the author.
"Holocaust" was Reznikoff's final work. It is based entirely on the records of the Nuremberg trials and of the Eichmann trial. There is no narrative voice or "I" in the poem. Further, there are no names given, with the exception of the salutation "Heil Hitler" by members of the S.S.
The poem is told in a roughly chronological way in 12 sections beginning with the early deportations of Jews and ending with the pending liberation of the camps. The cruelty and destructiveness of the Holocaust are shown in spare, understated short poems. Here is the concluding poem of Section IV, "Ghettos".
"One of the S.S. men caught a woman with a baby in her arms.
She began asking for mercy: if she were shot
the baby should live.
She was near a fence between the ghetto and where Poles lived
and behind the fence were Poles ready to catch the baby
and she was about to hand it over when caught.
The S.S. man took the baby from her arms
and shot her twice,
and then held the baby in his hands.
The mother bleeding but still alive, crawled up to his feet.
The S.S. man laughed
and tore the baby apart as one would tear a rag.
Just then a stray dog passed
and the S.S. man stooped to pat it
and took a lump of sugar out of his pocket
and gave it to the dog."
Here is a section from part V of the Poem, "Massacres"
"They gathered some twenty Hasidic Jews from their homes,
in the robes these wear,
wearing their prayer shawls, too,
and holding prayer books in their hands.
They were led up a hill.
Here they were told to chant their prayers
and raise their hands for help to God
and, as they did so,
the officers poured kerosene under them
and set it on fire."
Reznikoff works hard so that his ego and judgment do not intrude upon the events he describes. The writing is simple, understated, and direct. The reader feels he is witnessing the events described without an overlay. To the extent possible, the reader is allowed to respond to the events directly, without the intermediary of the author, and with no suprefluities or ideological commitments beyond the events themselves.
There are bleak scenes of horrors and killings in "Holocaust", both of individual people and of masses, in gas chambers, gas trucks, firing squads, burnings, and elsewhere. There are also a small number of episodes of acts of kindness. Reznikoff presents his materials throughout lucidly, simply, and with understatement. Here is one final passage from the book, from section VI, "Gas Chambers and Gas Trucks":
"The bodies were thrown out quickly
for other transports were coming:
bodies blue, wet with sweat and urine, legs covered with excrement,
and everywhere the bodies of babies and children.
Two dozen workers were busy
opening the mouths of the dead with iron hooks
and with chisels taking out teeth with golden caps;
and elsewhere other workers were tearing open the dead
looking for money or jewels that might have been swallowed.
And all the bodies were then thrown into the large pits dug near the
gas chambers
to be covered with sand."
Reznikoff is an American poet who deserves to be read and remembered. This poem of his old age will help the reader to reflect upon the Holocaust.
Robin Friedman
In its spareness, eloquence, and simplicity, Charles Reznikoff's poem "Holocaust" remains one of the best literary attempts to come to grips with this bleak tragedy. Reznikoff (August 31.1894 -- January 22, 1976) wrote the poem in 1975, and it was published by John Martin and Black Sparrow Press. It is good to have it back in print.
Reznikoff was little known during his life. He wrote "objectivist" poetry which took as its motto "no ideas but in things." Poetry for Reznikoff directs the reader to things -- to reality and experiences -- rather than to ego or to the feelings of the author.
"Holocaust" was Reznikoff's final work. It is based entirely on the records of the Nuremberg trials and of the Eichmann trial. There is no narrative voice or "I" in the poem. Further, there are no names given, with the exception of the salutation "Heil Hitler" by members of the S.S.
The poem is told in a roughly chronological way in 12 sections beginning with the early deportations of Jews and ending with the pending liberation of the camps. The cruelty and destructiveness of the Holocaust are shown in spare, understated short poems. Here is the concluding poem of Section IV, "Ghettos".
"One of the S.S. men caught a woman with a baby in her arms.
She began asking for mercy: if she were shot
the baby should live.
She was near a fence between the ghetto and where Poles lived
and behind the fence were Poles ready to catch the baby
and she was about to hand it over when caught.
The S.S. man took the baby from her arms
and shot her twice,
and then held the baby in his hands.
The mother bleeding but still alive, crawled up to his feet.
The S.S. man laughed
and tore the baby apart as one would tear a rag.
Just then a stray dog passed
and the S.S. man stooped to pat it
and took a lump of sugar out of his pocket
and gave it to the dog."
Here is a section from part V of the Poem, "Massacres"
"They gathered some twenty Hasidic Jews from their homes,
in the robes these wear,
wearing their prayer shawls, too,
and holding prayer books in their hands.
They were led up a hill.
Here they were told to chant their prayers
and raise their hands for help to God
and, as they did so,
the officers poured kerosene under them
and set it on fire."
Reznikoff works hard so that his ego and judgment do not intrude upon the events he describes. The writing is simple, understated, and direct. The reader feels he is witnessing the events described without an overlay. To the extent possible, the reader is allowed to respond to the events directly, without the intermediary of the author, and with no suprefluities or ideological commitments beyond the events themselves.
There are bleak scenes of horrors and killings in "Holocaust", both of individual people and of masses, in gas chambers, gas trucks, firing squads, burnings, and elsewhere. There are also a small number of episodes of acts of kindness. Reznikoff presents his materials throughout lucidly, simply, and with understatement. Here is one final passage from the book, from section VI, "Gas Chambers and Gas Trucks":
"The bodies were thrown out quickly
for other transports were coming:
bodies blue, wet with sweat and urine, legs covered with excrement,
and everywhere the bodies of babies and children.
Two dozen workers were busy
opening the mouths of the dead with iron hooks
and with chisels taking out teeth with golden caps;
and elsewhere other workers were tearing open the dead
looking for money or jewels that might have been swallowed.
And all the bodies were then thrown into the large pits dug near the
gas chambers
to be covered with sand."
Reznikoff is an American poet who deserves to be read and remembered. This poem of his old age will help the reader to reflect upon the Holocaust.
Robin Friedman
February 28, 2023
Neverovatna knjiga. Toliko važna da zahteva posebno birane reči, izuzetnu jezičku ekonomiju. Jer kod Reznikova nema nikakvih suvišnosti. Čitanje njegovog dela je skok u samo grotlo užasa iz kojeg nema izlaza, a ono što posebno poražava je ledeni ton, bez ukrasa, dopričavanja, retoričnosti. Boli ono što je jasno i bole tačno konkretne stvari, smrti nisu stilizovane, one su proganjajuće dostupne, bliske.
'Holokaust' je nesvakidašnja, dokumentarna poema, nastala na osnovu tomova i tomova stenograma suđenja ratnim zločincima. Od ovog materijala Reznikov je, trijumfalno uspelom tehnikom sažimanja, došao do esencije jednog od najmračnijih događaja u istoriji sveta. Njegov pesnički glas je u odricanju: ne čuje se pesnikovo ja, već ja svedoka, učesnika, žrtava. Nema patosa, vrisaka, tužbalica, raspričanog bola, već samo kumulacije užasa. Ponegde poreklo stihova deluje neverovatno, kako u odnosu na sadržaj, tako i u odnosu na zvuk. Izvući iz ovakvog materijala poeziju, pa još vrhunsku, dovoljno je za mesto u istoriji književnosti. Mada, nakon susreta čak i sa delićem užasa prikazanih u knjizi, svaka ambicija, pa i postojeća muka dobijaju novu meru. Retko kad su ljudi svesni kolika je razlika između reči 'preživeti' i 'živeti', kao i to koliko smo nemarni prema nedostatku tog razlikovanja. Uz sve savremene užase i katastrofe koje su pred vratima, previđamo i dalje žive rane, bolnije od svake misli. A one peku i opominju.
Ipak, uprkos svemu, rekao bih da je sámo postojanje knjige dokaz neuništivosti i potrebe za neposustajanjem kao direktnog komentara na toliko puta spomenutu Adornovu konstataciju da je varvarstvo poeziju pisati nakon Holokausta. Varvarstvo je upravo poeziju ne pisati.
'Holokaust' je nesvakidašnja, dokumentarna poema, nastala na osnovu tomova i tomova stenograma suđenja ratnim zločincima. Od ovog materijala Reznikov je, trijumfalno uspelom tehnikom sažimanja, došao do esencije jednog od najmračnijih događaja u istoriji sveta. Njegov pesnički glas je u odricanju: ne čuje se pesnikovo ja, već ja svedoka, učesnika, žrtava. Nema patosa, vrisaka, tužbalica, raspričanog bola, već samo kumulacije užasa. Ponegde poreklo stihova deluje neverovatno, kako u odnosu na sadržaj, tako i u odnosu na zvuk. Izvući iz ovakvog materijala poeziju, pa još vrhunsku, dovoljno je za mesto u istoriji književnosti. Mada, nakon susreta čak i sa delićem užasa prikazanih u knjizi, svaka ambicija, pa i postojeća muka dobijaju novu meru. Retko kad su ljudi svesni kolika je razlika između reči 'preživeti' i 'živeti', kao i to koliko smo nemarni prema nedostatku tog razlikovanja. Uz sve savremene užase i katastrofe koje su pred vratima, previđamo i dalje žive rane, bolnije od svake misli. A one peku i opominju.
Ipak, uprkos svemu, rekao bih da je sámo postojanje knjige dokaz neuništivosti i potrebe za neposustajanjem kao direktnog komentara na toliko puta spomenutu Adornovu konstataciju da je varvarstvo poeziju pisati nakon Holokausta. Varvarstvo je upravo poeziju ne pisati.
January 26, 2022
This is an outstanding and very important book. It is not 'poetry' in a strict sense - but it is an attempt to describe the horrors of holocaust in an 'objective' way. And really, the question remains vital today: how to talk of the unspeakable? How to use language to encompass horrors so monstrous that our brain freezes at the sight of them? Such horrors which make our language mute, our emotions cold, our thoughts numb?
Reznikoff read the Holocaust court papers and testimonies - he didn't change their content much, and made it into 'objective' poetry. There are no direct emotions in this book, there is no subjectivity, there is no narrative, no story - but the horrors are REAL, and this makes "Holocaust" very hard to read. A chilling experience, but we owe it to ourselves, to past generations as well as the next, to read this book.
Reznikoff read the Holocaust court papers and testimonies - he didn't change their content much, and made it into 'objective' poetry. There are no direct emotions in this book, there is no subjectivity, there is no narrative, no story - but the horrors are REAL, and this makes "Holocaust" very hard to read. A chilling experience, but we owe it to ourselves, to past generations as well as the next, to read this book.
October 11, 2017
Reznikoff ger röst åt vittnena och överlevarna och lyckas på så sätt skildra både det oerhörda som är Förintelsen men också att ge något av värdighet och mänsklighet tillbaka till de många offer som får sina berättelser berättade.
Read
April 27, 2016I finished this book last night. It was difficult to do and not because it isn’t transfixing. This is a book I would not have picked up on my own and I was skeptical when my professor assigned it for workshop. I tend to avoid holocaust narratives, in part because I feel inundated with them, in part because you know they will (as Allison says) make you want to drink the bleach.
Reznikoff collaged fragments from the courtroom transcripts of various trials (e.g., the Nuremberg trials, the Eichmann trial). He focused on the first person accounts in the transcripts; he pared down the testimonials but did not add to them. He did arrange them under various subheadings: massacres, work camps, children, etc. The resulting poem is brutal. Things that will stick: the flashy/competitive brutality of the s.s. men paired with their interest in destroying all evidence/leaving no trace; the strange focus on data collection and other methods (the roll call, the body count, the torture of every 5th man, etc); the haunting image of “gold teeth” extracted from ashes and the mouths of the dead. Something about the form lends to the "absorbility" the narrative; maybe it is the rhythm imposed by the line breaks, the spare language. It is so unsettling to be in these landscapes that are cramped and overpopulated only to be emptied and erased a few lines down.
Reznikoff collaged fragments from the courtroom transcripts of various trials (e.g., the Nuremberg trials, the Eichmann trial). He focused on the first person accounts in the transcripts; he pared down the testimonials but did not add to them. He did arrange them under various subheadings: massacres, work camps, children, etc. The resulting poem is brutal. Things that will stick: the flashy/competitive brutality of the s.s. men paired with their interest in destroying all evidence/leaving no trace; the strange focus on data collection and other methods (the roll call, the body count, the torture of every 5th man, etc); the haunting image of “gold teeth” extracted from ashes and the mouths of the dead. Something about the form lends to the "absorbility" the narrative; maybe it is the rhythm imposed by the line breaks, the spare language. It is so unsettling to be in these landscapes that are cramped and overpopulated only to be emptied and erased a few lines down.
April 2, 2014
Does a poet "write" a poem, or does a poet "make" a poem?
I prefer the latter verb. And never has that verb been more true than for Charles Reznikoff's "Holocaust."
For this poem, Reznikoff doesn't write a word. The poem is built on two sources, the Nurenberg war trials and transcripts of the Adolf Eichmann trial.
Reznikoff never intrudes upon these texts: he slices, edits and lineates. He does not comment on the horrors the words recount.
And horrors there are a'plenty.
Reznikoff does not write, he winnows existing texts down to their barest essence. He takes history and allows reportage to reveal truth.
And what emerges is a poem. A poem with sections entitled "Deportation" or "Massacres" or "Gas Chambers and Gas Trucks" is a poem that can reveal the bottomless evil of mankind.
Because he doesn't write a word for this poem, Reznikoff seems to be saying that there's not a word to be said.
Nothing can capture the horror, the real visceral horror of Nazi crimes more than the words of those who saw it themselves. No poem. No novel. No song.
Let's allow all this to unspool, says the Reznikoff in my mind. And I imagine a coil of wire springing against its winding. Let's tighten all this down into history, say those who would placate us, but Reznikoff shows how the a coil of stiff wire will not yield to the turning of the spool.
Reznikoff has made a poem here. "Holocaust" is the last poem of his life, but is the first poem of his that I've read.
What an introduction.
By choosing to hide himself, to hide the poet behind the words, Reznikoff suggests that the horrors of the Holocaust cannot be encapsulated, locked down, trapped in a poem or novel. Reznikoff suggests that to actually sit down and try to create (from one's own imaginings) a piece of indelible literature about one of mankind's blackest periods is folly.
There are no words to be made. There is, however, this poem.
I prefer the latter verb. And never has that verb been more true than for Charles Reznikoff's "Holocaust."
For this poem, Reznikoff doesn't write a word. The poem is built on two sources, the Nurenberg war trials and transcripts of the Adolf Eichmann trial.
Reznikoff never intrudes upon these texts: he slices, edits and lineates. He does not comment on the horrors the words recount.
And horrors there are a'plenty.
Reznikoff does not write, he winnows existing texts down to their barest essence. He takes history and allows reportage to reveal truth.
And what emerges is a poem. A poem with sections entitled "Deportation" or "Massacres" or "Gas Chambers and Gas Trucks" is a poem that can reveal the bottomless evil of mankind.
Because he doesn't write a word for this poem, Reznikoff seems to be saying that there's not a word to be said.
Nothing can capture the horror, the real visceral horror of Nazi crimes more than the words of those who saw it themselves. No poem. No novel. No song.
Let's allow all this to unspool, says the Reznikoff in my mind. And I imagine a coil of wire springing against its winding. Let's tighten all this down into history, say those who would placate us, but Reznikoff shows how the a coil of stiff wire will not yield to the turning of the spool.
Reznikoff has made a poem here. "Holocaust" is the last poem of his life, but is the first poem of his that I've read.
What an introduction.
By choosing to hide himself, to hide the poet behind the words, Reznikoff suggests that the horrors of the Holocaust cannot be encapsulated, locked down, trapped in a poem or novel. Reznikoff suggests that to actually sit down and try to create (from one's own imaginings) a piece of indelible literature about one of mankind's blackest periods is folly.
There are no words to be made. There is, however, this poem.
December 1, 2020
5 stars, not because it's amazing, but because it's horrifying and everyone needs to read it. You think you know, but you don't.
May 24, 2021
Reads today (and, I imagine, also when it was published in '74) how we look on Brutalist architecture in the 21st century - devoid of the spirit of the future that inspired its Modernist designers. Just a calculated coldness for prisons. Holocaust is an anti-aesthetic docupoetry that might be the only way poetry could ever depict atrocity like the Holocaust.
-Theodor Adorno, "On Commitment"
The inverse approach of this, which I think is equally effective, if not facially as gut-churning, would be M. NourbeSe Philip's Zong!, which documents/evokes in a fractured & tattered style the attempted insurance fraud which was the calculated mass murder of 130 slaves aboard the British slave ship of the same name.
"I have no wish to soften the saying that to write lyrics poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric...when genocide becomes part of our cultural heritage in the themes of committed literature, it becomes easier to continue to play along with the culture which gave birth to murder."
"The organizing, unifying principal of each and every work of art is borrowed from that very rationality whose claim to totality it seeks to defy."
-Theodor Adorno, "On Commitment"
The inverse approach of this, which I think is equally effective, if not facially as gut-churning, would be M. NourbeSe Philip's Zong!, which documents/evokes in a fractured & tattered style the attempted insurance fraud which was the calculated mass murder of 130 slaves aboard the British slave ship of the same name.
April 20, 2019
Charles Reznikoff is the poet laureate of police reports. His huge poetic compilation, Testimony, is a line-break rewriting of volumes of police reports and paints a scene of the worst of humanity and the US of A. It's like a Hieronymus Bosch in words rather than paint. Its cumulative effect is devastating, and even in short doses it rattles consciousness.
Holocaust is his rendering of transcripts from the Nuremberg Trials, and Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem, and tells the history of the Holocaust in chapters. It is another devastating volume.
Thanks to Black Sparrow Press for keeping Mr. Reznikoff in print.
Holocaust is his rendering of transcripts from the Nuremberg Trials, and Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem, and tells the history of the Holocaust in chapters. It is another devastating volume.
Thanks to Black Sparrow Press for keeping Mr. Reznikoff in print.
May 15, 2019
Wow…I’m very glad (and horrified) that I read this. This collection of prose poems are taken directly from source material from the Nuremberg Trials and the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem. They are stunning in their barbarity. They are stunning in their inhumanity. It was an important reminder to me of what it looks like to be human - in all of its glory and in all of its depravity. It’s a stunning, stunning read. I’m very glad I read it - and I hope it changes me.
February 14, 2022
5
Casi veinte judíos jasídicos fueron
sacados de sus casas,
con sus túnicas,
y sus mantos de oración, también
y llevando libros de oración en sus manos.
Los condujeron a la cima de una colina.
Allí les dijeron que cantaran sus oraciones
y que levantaran los brazos pidiendo ayuda a Dios
y, mientras lo hacían,
los oficiales vertían parafina bajo ellos
y les prendieron fuego.
Casi veinte judíos jasídicos fueron
sacados de sus casas,
con sus túnicas,
y sus mantos de oración, también
y llevando libros de oración en sus manos.
Los condujeron a la cima de una colina.
Allí les dijeron que cantaran sus oraciones
y que levantaran los brazos pidiendo ayuda a Dios
y, mientras lo hacían,
los oficiales vertían parafina bajo ellos
y les prendieron fuego.
December 13, 2023
Det där Adornocitatet så klart, om omöjligheten i att skriva poesi efter Auschwitz. Ändå är det poesi, ändå är det kanske inte det. Drabbande förstås eftersom kanske inget kan vara mer drabbande, men vad gör denna formen, har den tillfört eller tagit ifrån, jag vet inte.
Read
September 22, 2020Allowing history to speak for itself. A masterpiece.
May 10, 2023
I read this in high school and it continued the general fucking up of my world view that started when I found out my grandmother was a Holocaust survivor when I was 5.
November 28, 2022
God bless the witnesses for their courage to relive horrors.
March 1, 2011
Does one ever really "like" holocaust books? This book is daunting, despite it's brevity, and haunting.
That being said, I think it will really change the way I teach the book Nightthis year. I think there is a certain truth to it that most memoir doesn't convey. While the trials are made up of testimony/memories themselves, the process of making testamonies in court seems to have more validity than most diary-style memoirs.
The challenge is going to be choosing which poems to teach. How Reznikoff edited the trials down to these is beyond me.
That being said, I think it will really change the way I teach the book Nightthis year. I think there is a certain truth to it that most memoir doesn't convey. While the trials are made up of testimony/memories themselves, the process of making testamonies in court seems to have more validity than most diary-style memoirs.
The challenge is going to be choosing which poems to teach. How Reznikoff edited the trials down to these is beyond me.
January 16, 2014
This is one of those collections of poetry that just leave you hurting. Reznikoff used courtroom transcripts to create poems that are maddeningly painful. By choosing not to use names, he created work that exemplifies what could happen to anyone, and makes us question the hows and whys of the Holocaust. Additionally, he does not shy away from details, some of which after having read many books about WWII, I have never heard. Furthermore, he exacerbates what is common knowledge, and explodes it in ways I think only he could through his methods. I would recommend this book to all readers, and ask them to look at the values of such work.
April 5, 2012
Needless to say, everytime I read this book it made me very sad. I hated that people would be so cruel to other people. I hated reading about it. I also hated discussing this book in class. Going over and over and over what the poem ment, and why it was put in the book. I hated it. This book is a great work of art though. It go the message across effectively, but I hated reading it. It made me feel ill. Charles Reznikoff is a genius. He put the pieces and testimonies of these crimes together amazingly. However, I will never, ever read this book again unless I have to.
November 25, 2013
Full of things i knew already, artfully rendered to remind me how goddamned incomprehensibly awful they really were. The note at the end that explains how he created the poems from the testimonies was exceedingly helpful and illustrative of the process of turning people's words into poems. Also, if you're ever feeling pretty satisfied with how people treat one another in general--here is your rebuttal.
March 18, 2015
documentary poetry at its serious finest. this book is one of my favorite teachers. utilizing only text gathered from testimonies at the nuremberg trials, you have to be ready to sit with the horror. (checked this book out from the library, but had to just hold it on a shelf/in my bag/in my hands for weeks before i could crack it open [had to be in the right space to take it in]. but when i did, i read it in one sitting.)
April 22, 2015
This book is actually a long poem cut into sections that represent different aspects of the Holocaust. This topic has been an area of intense study for me since childhood and have read many books about the Holocaust.
I found that Mr. Reznikoff's poem was heartfelt, touching and objective. Although this subject can be very disturbing, this book gives the horrific details without being too graphic for the reader. Also, have some Kleenex nearby!
I found that Mr. Reznikoff's poem was heartfelt, touching and objective. Although this subject can be very disturbing, this book gives the horrific details without being too graphic for the reader. Also, have some Kleenex nearby!
March 26, 2010
What makes this book amazing is not emotion in its contents, but emotion invoked in its readers. The poems are made up, not from fiction surrounding the real life events of the Holocaust, but by choosing carefully actual fragments of statements given as testimony by survivors and witnesses of these atrocities.
May 5, 2012
The work of the archive is morally fraught, even moreso when they approach the archive AS a moralist. Reznikoff puts himself in a tricky situation by setting himself up as CURATOR of manuscripts rather than just witness to them. I think this book doesn't look good held up next to the more radical, more caustic 'transcript,' but it still has what it takes to ruin your weekend good and thoroughly.
April 21, 2016
I bought Holocaust after a recommendation from one of my university lecturers, and I’m so glad that I did – Reznikoff has a refreshing voice, and even though this is the only one of his books that I’ve read, I consider myself to be a fan. Basically, he writes about the human side of the holocaust, with a poetic voice that I’m jealous of. If that sounds like your sort of thing, read it.
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November 13, 2025Not sure about this one. An interesting experiment, and an excellent use of historical documents, but good poetry? I think you could get a lot more by just reading Those Were the Days, edited by Ernst Klee (they even describe many of the same events). It's certainly a necessary read, but not necessarily “art”.
August 14, 2009
Amazing and disturbing collection of poems written from the transcripts of war crime trials. Be prepared to be slapped in the face by the unemotional descriptions of tragic and horrifying events. Very powerful.
August 19, 2012
Poetry of witness selscted and arranged by Reznikoff. Testimony revisited. Did I like it? Not at all but it does what it set out to do: lay out the facts in such a way that one cannot look away.
February 9, 2013
If you love this work track down the out of print Testimony, a collection of poems that use original testimonies from Americans in the 1890s to early 1900s, sectioned by location (South, North) to explore what people do to one another and the world through the lens of his musicality.
January 2, 2015
I like this for its relevance and important status. Of course, the five stars doesn't reflect how I feel about the actions taken in this work. I found it very hard to stomach. Not for the easy-queasies. Highly recommend this, but prepare yourself.
September 18, 2010
More so for how Reznikoff handles tone and understatement and juxtaposes it with the subject matter of the Holocaust, which underscores the atrocities that much more.
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