We only wanted to get away, only escape and arrive safely, nothing else.

—Anne Frank. Wednesday, 8 July 1942

Whenever I close my eyes

I see them wander

There from this old farmhouse destroyed by the war

To another ruined house yonder.

High above them, in the clouded sky

I see others swarming, surging, many!

There they wander, braving icy blizzards

(Homes and aims they haven’t any),

Searching for a land where peace reigns,

No more fire, no more thunder,

Nothing like the world they’re leaving,

Mighty crowds too great to number.

—From “Children’s Crusade,”
Bertolt Brecht