History of Sorts

They weren’t numbers, they all had names—
Children with dreams and lovers with flames,
Mothers with lullabies soft on their lips,
Fathers with hands roughened by grips
On shovels, on hammers, on books worn with age,
Each is bound to the world, each written on a page.

They weren’t numbers; they all had lives,
Some barely begun, some hardened by strife,
Eyes full of stories not meant to be lost,
Taken by shadows, consumed by the frost,
Of a world turned cold by hatred’s breath,
A world that forgot their life before death.

They weren’t numbers; they loved, and they bled,
They danced, they painted, they wrote, they read,
They prayed in whispers or laughed in song,
Their voices once loud, vibrant, and strong,
Now, only the silence remembers their pain,
And we hold the fragments that still remain.

They weren’t numbers, they walked with pride,
Until walls and borders drew lines to divide,
They felt the sun and knew the rain,
Once free in the fields, unchained, unclaimed—
Before they were herded, marked, and scarred,
As if they were nothing as if they were marred.

But they weren’t numbers, they all had names,
Engraved in our hearts, lit like a flame—
We carry their stories, we carry their tears,
So they live on through the passage of years.
For they were our sisters, our sons, and our friends,
And memory binds us, refusing to bend.

They weren’t numbers—they all had names,
And we whisper them softly, remembering the same.

Ilse Roer was born in Zulpich, Germany, 1925 to Max and Jenny nee Baum. During the war she was in Geleen, The Netherlands.
Ilse was murdered in the Shoah. Place of death: Auschwitz, Poland, 02/10/1942.

Avraham Bubi Yitzchak Zucker was born in Essen, Germany, 1925. He was a student. Prior to WWII he lived in ‘S Gravenhage, The Netherlands.
Avraham Bubi Yitzchak was murdered in the Shoah. Place of death: Auschwitz, Poland.

Frederik Goldsteen was born in Rheidt, Germany, 1918.
Frederik was murdered in the Shoah. Place of death: Auschwitz, Poland, 1942.

Leonard Salomon was born in Maastricht, The Netherlands, 1903. Prior to WWII he lived in Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Leonard was murdered in the Shoah. Place of death: Sobibor, Poland, 7-5-1943.

Celine Samuel was born in Maastricht, The Netherlands, 1913. During the war she was in The Netherlands, The Netherlands.
Celine was murdered in the Shoah. Place of death: Auschwitz, Poland, 30-11-1943

Sara Berlin nee Berlin was born in Leningrad, Russia (USSR), 1887. She was a housewife and married to Natan. Prior to WWII she lived in Riga, Latvia. During the war she was in Riga, Latvia.
Sara was murdered in the Shoah. Place of death: Riga, Latvia

Frida Fana Tana Shultze nee Lubasch was born in Berlin, Germany, 1898. She was a housewife. Prior to WWII she lived in Berlin, Germany.
Frida Fana Tana was murdered in the Shoah. Place of death: Terezin, Czechoslovakia, 08/08/1944.

Prof. dr. Isaak Waterman was born in Manchester, United Kingdom, 1863. He was a teacher and a widower of Zara. Prior to WWII he lived in Dublin, Ireland.
Prof. dr. Waterman was murdered in the Shoah. Place of death: Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, 1943

These were just some of the names. Read them out loud.

Source

https://www.yadvashem.org/