Releases
Shtiler Shtiler, Quiet Quiet
Composer: Alec Volkoviski
11-year- old Alec Volkoviski composed an award winning lullaby in the Vilna ghetto. The symmetrical, yet poignant melody, disguised his father’s lyrics which documented the massacres at nearby Ponar.
Fest Steht, Stand Fast
Composer: Erich Hugo Frost
Frost was a Jehovah’s Witness interned Sachsenhausen. He wrote 7 verses to his original anthem, which gave his fellow Witnesses the courage to remain in the camp after being offered their freedom if they vowed to worship Hitler.
Tzvey Taybelech, Two Doves
Origin: Vilna Ghetto
Composer: Liuba Levitska
Liuba Levitska sang this love song in the Vilna ghetto. The two doves are torn from one another by an evil force, symbolizing peoples’ sorrow and tragedy during the Holocaust.
Zog Nit Keynmol, Never Say You're Walking the Final Road
Emblematic Holocaust Song
Composer: Hirsh Glik
Dr. Freeman teaches the audience how to sing what is considered the National Anthem of the Holocaust, which was written by Hirsh Glik, a Vilna partisan.
Dachau Lied, Dachau Song
Lyrics: Jura Soyfer
Music: Herbert Zipper
While imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp, Soyfer and Zipper collaborate while pulling a heavy cart filled with boulders. They intentionally created a challenging song to keep the prisoners’ minds sharp.
Dachau Lied, Dachau Song
Dr. Freeman Conducting
Dachau Lied conducted by Dr. Freeman at the 2018 Ridgewood NJ Interfaith Holocaust commemoration at Westside Presbyterian Church, Ridgewood NJ
Der Tango fun Osiventshim
Composer: Authour Unknown
A 12-year old girl wrote lyrics about a “slave tango” which describe the tension between the horrors of Auschwitz and the relief of music.
Ani Mamim
Emblematic Holocaust Song
Composer: Reb Azriel David Fastag
“Ani Mamin” (“I Believe”) is based on the 13 Articles of Faith written by Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (1135-1204), known as Moses Maimonides. Holocaust victims sang this song while interned in the Warsaw ghetto, on death marches, and throughout war-torn Europe.
Ghetto
Origin: Vilna Ghetto
Composer: Kasriel Broydo
Kasriel Broydo (1907-1945) was a director of theatre revues and concerts in the Vilna ghetto. In January 1945, Broydo was transferred to Germany and was forcibly drowned in the Baltic Sea. “Ghetto” exclaims, “Geto! Dikh fargesn vel ikh keyn mol nit!” “Ghetto! In my memory you’ll never die!”
Vu Ahin Zol Ikh Geyn
Origin: Warsaw Ghetto
Composer: S. Kortnayer & Oscar Strock
“Where Shall I Go?” was written before WWII and was popular in the ghettos and displaced persons camps. S. Kortnayer, a Yiddish actor and the song’s lyricist, died in the Warsaw ghetto in 1942. The song asks, “Vu ahin zol ikh gyn, ver kon entfern mir? Vu ahin zol ikh geyn, az farshlosn z’yede tir?” “Tell me where shall I go, who can answer my plea? Tell me where shall I go, every door is barred to me.”
“Oyb Nit Keyn Emune”
Origin: Treblinka
Composer: unknown
“Oyb nit keyn emune in got borukh-hu, vos zhe toyg mir ales vos ikh tu?” “If I do not have faith in God blessed be He, what’s the use of everything that I do?”
“Oyb Nit Keyn Emune”
Origin: Treblinka
Composer: unknown
“Oyb nit keyn emune in got borukh-hu, vos zhe toyg mir ales vos ikh tu?” “If I do not have faith in God blessed be He, what’s the use of everything that I do?”
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