#hundredcities (37) Juri Camisasca - Il carmelo di Echt - 1991 (The May mornings
filled the air
the scents in the cloisters
of the Carmelite order in Echt.
Within the enclosure
someone passing by
selected the angels.
And in your desire for heaven
a voice was heard in the air:
the Jews are not human.
And on a truck
or a motorcycle, whichever it was
they took you to Auschwitz. [1991]
Juri Camisasca) A song about Edith Stein, doctor of philosophy and Catholic religious of Jewish origin.
To protect her from racial persecution, the Carmelite order transferred her to Echt, in the Netherlands, in 1938. The German invasion extended the racial legislation and deportations to the Netherlands as well. The population and the religious authorities did not endure this without resistance: on July 20, 1942, the Dutch bishops' conference had a statement read in all churches condemning the racist policies of the invader. A week later, the Germans responded by tightening repression and began deporting even the so-called "discriminated," like Edith Stein and her sister, who were interned first in Westerbork and then in Auschwitz, where Edith was killed on August 9, 1942.