Seeing the Yellow Star of David squeezes my heart,
Stifles my breath.
Some of my family were likely forced to wear
The six-pointed star,
“JUDE” stamped on it.
“Likely” because those were the ones
We never heard from again.
The cloth stars, symbols of selection.
The Jewish people selected
By Hitler
By others in power
To bear the blame
For hard times in Europe.
Economy weakening.
Jobs lessening.
Citizens struggling.
Those in power
Point their finger away
Toward the Jewish people.
They are different.
They have money.
They are educated.
They are the threat.
Round them up.
Kill them.
Every one of them.
First identify them.
Make them wear the Yellow Star of David.
Take their possessions.
Take their dignity.
Put them on trains.
Herd them into concentration camps.
March them into gas chambers.
And so they did.
Six million people were murdered.
More than eight times all the people living in Alaska today!
That’s what the Yellow Star of David means to me.
Joyanne Bloom,
Juneau
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