Editorial on World War Two

By Tiffany Kwok

During World War Two, Germany’s dictator Adolf Hitler turned friends and neighbours against each other. For what he believed in, he was willing to massacre innocent Jews, and use them as a scapegoat for all the problems the country and he, himself had brought on. Yes, we all know that Hitler was to blame for the Holocaust, but he isn’t the only one to blame.

Teachers ask us this question all the time: is it worse to be the bully, or just as bad to be a bystander and do nothing, knowing that you could stop it? The same question applies to the League of Nations’ actions, or in this case, lack of. In this case, the bully would be Hitler and his Nazi party. The bystanders would be the countries which were part of the League of Nations. As the Nazis “picked on” the Jews, homosexuals, gypsies and communists, the League of Nations just stood at the sidelines and watched. Are we not just as guilty for the Holocaust? Even though we ourselves didn’t do the killing, didn’t do anything to stop it either.

We could have saved million of innocent people, but yet we chose to turn our backs on them. Canada could have saved the 907 Jews on the St. Louis from the extermination camps, yet we denied them entry. We had sent them to their death, when we were more than capable of taking them in. We were selfish; we didn’t want to be involved. Canada now prides itself as a multicultural and multi-faith mosaic of people. But less than a century ago, Canada wanted to pride itself as being an Anglo-Saxon “British” country. We have some a long way since then, but still, Canada should never forget those 907 Jews they sent to their death… those Jews could have made Canada what is it today a century ago. We’ll never know though, because we can’t go back.

World War Two Poem – Faraway Dawn

By: Tiffany Kwok


You whose heart screams
Who’s eyes stare at me
Seal away those dreams and just fight 
Faraway dawn 
 
Forgotten is the true face 
Beneath this mask 
Like the endless darkness 
That engulfs everything 
 
The morning embraced by peace
The color of blood that flows from fighters 
 
You who search 
For the future no one knows 
Azure flames tinge the sky 
Faraway dawn 
 
Forgotten are you hopes now

Buried with the dead

Killing without reason

Leaving you an empty shell 

The morning welcomed by weary men
The colour of death that flows from battlefields

You who lay
Resting with the dead
Crimson flames tinge the sky
Faraway dawn

It has come
And peace is attained
But brief respite leaves with nightfall
Until the next faraway dawn