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Never again?

We're learning from the past in issue #294 of your weekly poetry shot

Second World War
victory day
and still "never
again" is a
promise we
haven't been able to keep.

Today, May 8, is in some places WWII Victory Day. It's something I had to get used to, because in The Netherlands we are celebrating Liberation Day on 5 May, whilst our Remembrance Day is on May the 4th.

As we are celebrating the end of WWII this week, there is one thing that keeps bothering me. Eighty-one years ago, we told ourselves, as humanity: "Never Again". But look at where we are now. The wars raging and war crimes committed have maybe never been as multitudinous as they are in 2026.

So this week, think about that. And how you can help to let us finally deliver on that promise of "Never Again".


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Poésie de la vie

Visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp thirteen years ago made a great impact. One of the things was standing in front of a building where people from my hometown were kept. People of all ages. People, had I lived then, who could have been my class mates, teachers, friends. I made a short video about that, then.

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