Pre-Holocaust Life

Although Sachs's poem, "But Perhaps God Needs the Longing," was included in The Seeker and Other Poems, the actual date of composition of the poem is unknown. The copyright notes that several of the poems in this book had previously been published, but there is no individual notation about the date of composition for any of the poems. Yet the influences on the poem are very clear. Sachs's poetry reflects the devastation of the Holocaust on her life, which began with a series of oppressive laws that heavily restricted her life. After Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he began a series of moves that would segregate Jews from mainstream German life. The first of these actions began in 1934 when Hitler demanded that all artists must glorify Nazism. Hitler created the House of German Art in Berlin, and then condemned many of the most creative...