The Man I Never Knew

Abstract

The atrocities of the Holocaust have left many without grandparents, husbands and wives, sons and daughters; generations were wiped out, cutting family trees short and memories to never be made. This poem is in honor of my grandfather whom I never had the chance to meet, but also speaks for all who were lost from this tragedy in history, for all who have “a man they never knew.” Through the power of repetition, the message strongly conveyed in this poem is about what was taken—the future and the memories of what could have been. I was truly inspired by this concept and created a poem around the sensations that I have been robbed of. For that alone, I believe that this poem will resonate with those who have lost loved ones in the Holocaust and also trigger the image of what could have been if “the man I never knew” was here today.