Holocaust Poetry #2

Homeland
Lois E. Olena

It was Christmas eve
and there was no room in the inn,
the Oswiecim inn,
so the Arrow Cross
took the children,
barefooted
and in their nighties,
out to the Danube
and filled their little bellies
not with bread
but bullets
flipping them
like tiddlywinks
into the congealing, icy river below.

It was the Red Danube
that night,
choking on the blood
of orphan Jews
whose little Blue faces
floated downstream
touring even all of Europe
until they washed up
on the shores of Eretz Yisrael (Jewish homeland)
and came back to life,
their little blue and white
bodies
raised high,
flapping in the wind.
How is imagery used in this poem? Imagery plays a big part in this poem for example when the Author writes " and filled their little bellies not with bread but bullets" this creates an image of the Jewish children Being shot by the Nazi soldiers which tells us just how cruelly the Nazi's treated the Jews. 
 
Discuss the effect of the simile in this poem. The simile in this poem 'flipping them like tiddlywinks into the congealing, icy river below.' the effect this has on the poem is telling us in a graphic way how the Jewish children were treated by the Nazi Soldiers.
 
How is alliteration used in the poem? What is the effect? The alliteration in this poem is "filled their little bellies not with bread but bullets." The effect is that it creates the image and the emotions that you would see and hear. and the image you get from this poem is innocent children being shot by the Nazi soldiers, and the emotions you would feel are sadness, and sympathy for the family of the children.
 
How does the author juxtapose the innocence of the children to the cruelty they experienced?
 
What is meant by 'touring all of Europe'? This means that the Jewish Prisoners were taken all around Europe to get to the concentration camps.