80 Years Since the First Train from Hungary Arrived in Auschwitz

Iyar 5704 (May 1944)

Lyrics to the poem “A Small Boy on the Train” (originally written in Yiddish as “A Klein Yingle Oif Der Ban”), written in the last few days of a 12-year-old cheder boy’s life. In it, he tried to describe the feelings of a boy his age standing dazed and scared at the train station in Auschwitz.

A Small Boy on the Train – By: Yitzchak Isaac

On the long train, I, a small boy

Am travelling to Hungary, to my homeland

My mother and father are waiting at home

They are lovingly waiting for my brother and me

I look outside, the world is green and pretty

The sun is shining, the birds are singing

My heart is full of joy, with longing

To see my family, to sit with them

The train stops at a large station

Many people are screaming, pushing

I look for my mother and my father

But I do not see them, my heart is shaking

I look around, oy, I am so scared

The wind is cold, the sky is dark

Men wearing all black

Evil faces, empty eyes

Fear grips me, I want to cry

I want to go home, to my father and my mother

But nobody comes to protect

I am alone, in a strange and harsh world

Eighty years have passed, the memory lives on,

The little boy on the train, a story of poignant sorrow and longing

I will remember forever

And I will not forget the victims of the Holocaust