Music

Musical works of diverse origin and style were performed and composed during the Nazi period. The Nazi Party itself made widespread use of music at rallies and public events, particularly marching music and rousing propaganda songs. In many of the ghettos and camps that were established across Nazi-occupied Europe between 1933 and 1945, prisoners created and performed a wide range of new and existing music, particularly songs. Jewish inmates in the ghettos often wrote new Yiddish songs based on well-known melodies.

Highlighted Composition

Nom
Artiste
Catégorie
Durée
Lyrics

1940.
On my birthday
The Germans walked-walked into Holland
Germans invaded Hungary
I was in 2nd grade
I had a teacher
A very tall man, his head was completely plastered smooth
He said, "Black Crows-
Black Crows invaded our country many years ago"
And he pointed right at me
No more school
You must go away
And she said, "Quick, go!"
And he said, "Don't breathe"
Into the cattle wagons
And for four days and four nights
And then we went through…

The idea for the piece comes from my childhood. [Due to my parent’s divorce], I travelled back and forth by train frequently between New York and Los Angeles from 1939 to 1942. […] While these trips were exciting and romantic at the time, I now look back and think that, if I had been in Europe during this period, as a Jew I would have had to ride on very different trains. With this in mind, I wanted to make a piece that would accurately reflect the whole situation.

Moes, moes is courtesy of Traditional Crossroads (www.traditionalcrossroads.com).
Recorded: Kampo, New York, USA
ISBN: CD 4297
Accession Number: CD213
Singing is Adrienne Cooper accompanied by Zalmen Mlotek playing Piano.

Courtesy of Traditional Crossroads (www.traditionalcrossroads.com).
Recorded: Kampo, New York, USA
ISBN: CD 4297
Accession Number: CD213
Singing is Adrienne Cooper accompanied by Zalmen Mlotek playing Piano.

Yid, du partizaner is courtesy of Traditional Crossroads (www.traditionalcrossroads.com).
Recorded: Kampo, New York, USA
ISBN: CD 4297
Singing is Adrienne Cooper accompanied by Zalmen Mlotek playing Piano.

Original Yiddish

Oyfn pripetshik brent a fayerl,
Un in shtub iz heys,
Un der rebe lernt kleyne kinderlekh,
Dem alef-beys.

Zet zhe kinderlekh, gedenkt zhe, tayere,
Vos ir lernt do;
Zogt zhe nokh a mol un take nokh a mol:
Komets-alef: o!

Lernt, kinder, mit groys kheyshek,
Azoy zog ikh aykh on;
Ver s’vet gikher fun aykh kenen ivre –
Der bakumt a fon.

Lernt, kinder, hot nit moyre,
Yeder onheyb iz shver;
Gliklekh der vos hot gelernt toyre,
Tsi darf der mentsh nokh mer?

Ir vet, kinder, elter vern,
Vet ir aleyn farshteyn,
Vifl in di oysyes lign trern,
Un vi fil geveyn

Az ir vet, kinder, dem goles shlepn,
Oysgemutshet zayn,
Zolt ir fun di oysyes koyekh shepn,
Kukt in zey arayn!

English Translation by Translation by Professor David Shneer, University of Colorado—Boulder, December 5, 2019

On the stove, a fire burns,
And in the house it is warm.
And the rabbi is teaching little children,
The alphabet.

See, children, remember, dear ones,
What you learn here;
Repeat and repeat yet again,
“Komets-alef: o!”

Learn, children, with great enthusiasm.
So I instruct you;
He among you who learns Hebrew pronunciation faster
He will receive a flag.

Learn children, don’t be afraid,
Every beginning is hard;
Lucky is the one has learned Torah,
What more does a person need?

When you grow older, children,
You will understand by yourselves,
How many tears lie in these letters,
And how much lament

When you, children, will bear the Exile,
And will be exhausted,
May you derive strength from these letters,
Look in at them!

'Heveti shalom aleykhem' (I bring you greetings of peace), also often titled in the plural, is one of the best-known and -loved Hebrew folk songs. In this rare recording it is sung by surviving Polish children in postwar France, in a recording taken by the Latvian-American psychologist David Boder in September 1946.

Benzion Moskovits

Chantre

In 1942 Cantor Benzion Moskovitsh (1907-1968) was deported to Westerbork and in 1944 to Buchenwald. There he sang for fellow prisoners and took notes of melodies he heard on a smuggled block-note.

Yehoshua Wieder

Chantre

Cantor Yehoshua Wieder and his family were deported to Auschwitz, where his wife Chana and three youngest children were killed. Wieder and his three other children survived.

Charles Lowy

Chantre

Cantor Charles Lowy (1911-1998) escaped Munich after Kristallnacht to Hungary and became chief cantor in Szolnok. From 1942 he was subjected to forced labour and liberated by the Red Army in 1945. His wife and son were killed in Auschwitz.

Henech Kon

Chanteur
Acteur

Le compositeur Henech Kon (1890-1970) s'est installé à New York avant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, où il faisait partie des écrivains et artistes immigrés qui avaient fui le nazisme. Il a continué à composer des pièces commémorant la destruction de la communauté juive polonaise.

Yonas Turkov

Songwriter
Acteur
Réalisateur

Jonas Turkow (1898-1987) was an actor, stage manager, director and writer. He received the Itzik Manger Prize for his contributions to Yiddish letters.

Diana Blumenfeld

Musicien
Chanteur
Acteur

Diana Blumenfeld (1903–1961) was a folksinger, pianist, and actress. Caught in the ghetto along with her husband, family and friends, she continued to sing, performing in cafes and in the ghetto theatre.

Martin Rosenberg

Réalisateur

In 1933, Rosebury D’Arguto’s activities with his Gesangsgemeinschaft was banned. On a return trip to Germany to settle some personal matters in September 1939, he was arrested by the Gestapo, and taken to Sachsenhausen where he organized a Jewish choir.

Kurt Gerron

Acteur
Réalisateur

A cabaret artist, theatre and film actor and director of theatre and early sound movies, Kurt Gerron (1897-1944) was a successful entertainer of the 1920s and early 1930s. He directed the Terezin propaganda film and was killed soon after.

Wolfgang Langhoff

Acteur
Réalisateur

Actor, director and leftist activist Wolfgang Langhoff (1901-1966) engaged in cultural activities in Börgemoor, organising the ‘Zirkus Konzentrazani’, as well as co-creating the song ‘Moorsoldatenlied’.

Jehovah's Witnesses

témoin de Jéhovah

Erich Hugo Frost

Musicien
témoin de Jéhovah

Composer and musician Erich Hugo Frost (1900-1987) was imprisoned several times in prisons and concentration camps between 1934 and 1945. He composed ‘Fest steht in großer, schwerer Zeit (Stand Fast in Great and Hard Times) in the spring of 1941.

Alfred Rosenberg

nazi

Alfred Rosenberg (1893-1946) a écrit Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhunderts (Le mythe du 20e siècle) en 1934, qui défendait la suprématie de la race "aryenne" et la menace que représentaient les Juifs. Il a été reconnu coupable de crimes contre l'humanité et exécuté.

Hans Pfitzner

nazi
Compositeur

Le compositeur Hans Pfitzner (1869-1949) se voyait comme un défenseur de la nation allemande, de ses valeurs et de sa culture contre une France "dégénérée" et "corrompue". Lors de son procès en dénazification, aux côtés de Furtwängler, Egk et Strauss, il a été déclaré non coupable.

Hans Joachim Moser

Musicologist
nazi

Hans Joachim Moser (1889-1967) reprochait à l'Amérique et aux Juifs de commercialiser la musique. Son engagement à célébrer l'Allemagne lui vaut l'approbation des nazis et il est promu secrétaire général du ministère de la Propagande.

Bruno Walter

Emigrée

En 1898, Bruno Walter Schlesinger (1879-1962) est directeur de théâtre musical et, quelques années plus tard, directeur de l'opéra d'État de Bavière. Mis à l'index par les nazis, il part aux États-Unis en 1938 où il dirige le New York Philharmonic.

Weill, Kurt

Emigrée
Compositeur

Comme peu d'autres, Kurt Weill (1900-1950) et Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) sont synonymes de l'innovation culturelle de la République de Weimar. Surtout connu pour son Die Dreigroschenoper, le duo a représenté tout ce que les nazis ont déclaré être leur ennemi.

Schönberg, Arnold

Emigrée
Compositeur

Ullmann, Viktor

Professeur de musique
Compositeur
Chef d'orchestre

Carlo Taube

Musicien
Compositeur
Chef d'orchestre

In December 1941, pianist, composer and conductor Carlo Sigmund Taube (1897-1944) was deported to Theresienstadt with his wife and child.

Rafael Schächter

Musicien
Compositeur
Chef d'orchestre

Rafael Schächter (1905-1944) made his name as an accompanist and vocal coach, working in opera and theatre before deportation to Terezin in Nov 1941. A pioneer of cultural life in the ghetto, he was deported to Auschwitz on 16 Oct 1944.

Karel Berman

Chanteur

Bass singer Karel Berman (1919-1995) was deported to Terezin on 6 Mar 1943. He sang in operas and recitals and was cast as 'Death' in Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis. Transported to Auschwitz on 28 Sep 1944 and liberated from the Allach camp.

Marysia Ayznshtat

Chanteur

Marysia Ayznshtat (1921-1942) était l'une des figures musicales les plus appréciées du ghetto de Varsovie. Elle a été abattue par un officier SS à l'âge de vingt et un ans.

Khayele Rozental

Chanteur

Khayele Rozental (1924-1979) was one of the most popular singers in the Vilna ghetto. She established her talents in drama and singing aged 16, when she was chosen to represent Vilna at the Festival of Songs in Moscow.

Yankl Trupyanski

Songwriter
Professeur de musique

Yankl Trupyanski was (1909-1944) a music teacher and composer of children's songs in Warsaw and Vilna. He composed many of the songs sung by children in the Yiddish schools of the inter-war years.

Zofia Czajkowska

Professeur de musique
Musicien
Chef d'orchestre

The Polish music teacher Zofia Czajkowska arrived in Auschwitz on 27 April 1942 on a transport from her home town of Tarnow. She was to become the original organiser and first conductor of the Birkenau women’s orchestra.

Hans Neumeyer

Professeur de musique
Compositeur

From the age of fourteen, Hans Neumeyer (1887-1944), a composer and teacher of musical composition, was completely blind. He died whilst interned in Theresienstadt on 19 May 1944.

James Simon

Compositeur

In spring 1944, composer, pianist and musicologist James Simon (1880-1944) was sent to Westerbork. On April 4 he was deported with 1000 other inmates to Terezín. On 12 October 1944 he boarded the transport to Auschwitz.

Zikmund Schul

Compositeur

The composer and violinist Zikmund Schul (1916-1944) and his father left Germany in October 1933, taking residence in Prague. He was transported to Terezín on 11 November 1941 where he continued to compose pieces, few of which survive.

Egon Ledeč

Musicien
Compositeur

Egon Ledeč (1889-1944) was a Czech violinist and composer sent to Theresienstadt. He appears as the concertmaster in Karel Ančerl’s orchestra in the Nazi propaganda film of the camp.

Wladyslaw Szlengel

Poète

Władysław Szlengel (1912-1943) was a Jewish-Polish poet, lyricist, journalist, and stage actor. He was shot along with his wife at the age of 28.

Avraham Sutzkever

Partisan
Poète

Avraham Sutzkever (1913-2010) is one of the most important contemporary Yiddish poets. During the war, Sutzkever was involved in many acts of resistance and helped save many important texts. He escaped to Moscow with his wife.

Leah Rudnitski

Partisan
Poète

Leah Rudnitski (1916-1943) wrote one of the most beautiful lullabies to have survived the Vilna ghetto, entitled ‘Dremlen feygl oyf di tsvaygn’ (Birds doze on the boughs). She was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Treblinka, where she was murdered.