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Politics and Propaganda

Politics and Propaganda

From Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 until the liberation in 1945, music played an integral role in daily life under Nazism. The Nazi Party used music in its publicity, policy, and propaganda, and attempted to 'cleanse' the German musical world of 'degeneracy'.

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Resistance & Exile

Resistance & Exile

While for the vast majority of Nazi inmates armed resistance was almost impossible, isolated groups were able to engage in organised resistance—and music often supported their cause.

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Responses

Responses

The Nazi ghettos and camps housed millions of people from across Europe, and their responses to internment were as diverse as the religions, ages, and nationalities they represented.

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Memory

Memory

Music has played an integral role in Holocaust commemoration since the immediate post-war period. In the late 1940s, Jewish Holocaust survivors established a lively and diverse musical life in Displaced Persons’ camps in Allied-occupied Europe, particularly in the American zone of occupied Germany.

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Articles en vedette

Mémoire

Recueil de chansons de Deggendorf

Le "Deggendorf Songbook" illustré est à la fois un artefact fascinant et un témoignage visuel de la vie culturelle et de la réinsertion sociale dans les camps DP.

Politique et propagande
Mémoire

Lapin Jojo

Ce cours explore l'association du symbolisme visuel et musical, en se concentrant sur la façon dont le film Jojo Rabbit utilise la musique populaire et les icônes visuelles et vocales de l'Holocauste.

Résistance et exil

Des Hymnes pour la France

Pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, deux hymnes ont été adoptés par le régime de Vichy. Le premier était "La Marseillaise" et le second "Maréchal, nous voilà !"

Politique et propagande

La radio de musique classique en Grande-Bretagne pendant la guerre

Pour le meilleur ou pour le pire, la radio de la BBC a été la voix dominante de la Grande-Bretagne tout au long de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, pour laquelle la musique classique a été un élément important et révélateur.

Politique et propagande

Les Juifs et la musique dans l'Italie fasciste

La nation moderne de l'Italie existe depuis à peine plus de soixante ans lorsque, en octobre 1922, Benito Mussolini devient le premier ministre du pays.

Réponse

Brundibár

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.

Yankl Krimski

Musicien
Acteur

Yankl Krimski was a theatre artist and musician in the Vilna ghetto. One of his most popular songs was 'Dos Elnte Kind' (The Lonely Child). Krimski’s fate is uncertain, but he is believed to have perished in an Estonian labour camp in 1943.

Mordechai Gebirtig

Poète
Acteur
Compositeur

Poet, actor and songwriter Mordechai Gebirtig (1877-1942) was politically active and called 'the perfect Jewish folk poet'. His songs provide a window into daily Jewish life in inter-war Poland.

Isa Vermehren

Chanteur
Acteur

Isa Vermehren (1918-2009) volunteered to support the German troops as an entertainer between 1940 and 1943. Due to her brother's defection she was taken to Ravensbrück, where she was locked in an isolation cell.

Morgan, Paul

Chanteur
Acteur

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.

Gershon Sirota

Chantre

Gershon Sirota (1874-1943) was one of the leading cantors of Europe during the "Golden Age of Hazzanut", sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Caruso". He and his family died together in the Warsaw uprising in 1943.

Joseph Schmidt

Emigrée
Chanteur
Acteur
Chantre

When the war broke out Joseph Schmidt (1904-1942) fled to France then retreated to Switzerland. Although in possession of an American visa and well known, he was interned and, owing to a lack of medical attention, he died on 16 November 1942.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Hans Krása

Compositeur

After spending several years in Terezin being active in its musical life, Hans Krasa (1899-1944) left for Auschwitz on 16 October 1944 with his fellow composers Viktor Ullmann, Pavel Haas and Gideon Klein.

Gideon Klein

Compositeur

At age 6, Gideon Klein's (1919-1945) precocious musicality was evident and he began to study piano with the head of the Přerov conservatory. He was an organiser of cultural life at Theresienstadt.

Dovid Ayznshtat

Compositeur
Chef d'orchestre

Dovid Ayznshtat (1890–1942) continued to compose, conduct, perform, and train aspiring musicians, in the Warsaw Ghetto, despite the limitations and dangers of ghetto life.

Misha Veksler

Compositeur
Chef d'orchestre

The conductor and composer Misha Veksler (1907-1943) became an important figure in the musical world of the Vilna ghetto, serving as the conductor of the theatre orchestra and composing music for many of the revues that were performed there.

Wolf Durmashkin

Musicien
Compositeur
Chef d'orchestre

Wolf Durmashkin (1914–1944) was a Jewish composer, conductor and pianist in Vilnius. He was deported to Klooga during the liquidation of the Vilna ghetto and was killed one day before liberation.

Teodor Ryder

Musicien
Chef d'orchestre

Conductor and pianist Teodor Ryder (1881-1944) was deportated to the Łódź ghetto in 1940. He continued to perform and organise even after the death of his wife and gave his final concert in the summer of 1943.

Alma Rosé

Musicien
Chef d'orchestre

The violinist Alma Rosé (1906-1944) luck came to an end when she was arrested in France and sent to Drancy for several months. In July 1943, she was transported to Auschwitz.

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.

Adam Kopyciński

Chef d'orchestre

Polish musician Adam Kopyciński (1907-1982) was conductor of the men's orchestra in Auschwitz. He struggled with the morality of a death camp orchestra knowing that rejecting a musician could well mean his death.

Otto Klemperer

Compositeur
Chef d'orchestre

Otto Klemperer (1885-1973) était un chef d'orchestre et compositeur juif d'origine allemande, décrit comme "le dernier des quelques vrais grands chefs d'orchestre de sa génération". En avril 1933, il s'est enfui en Autriche, laissant derrière lui sa femme et ses enfants, pour les suivre lorsqu'il aurait obtenu une résidence permanente.

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’.

Walter Starkie et l'Institut britannique de Madrid

Réalisateur

Le musicien Walter Starkie a créé "El British" et a rencontré le général Franco pour officialiser les échanges culturels entre la Grande-Bretagne et l'Espagne. Les efforts de Starkie ont contribué à maintenir la neutralité de l'Espagne pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale.

Portrait of Dame Myra Hess

Myra Hess

Musicien
Réalisateur

Dame Julia Myra Hess, DBE (1890-1965) était une pianiste anglaise, surtout connue pour ses interprétations des œuvres de Bach, Mozart, Beethoven et Schumann. Pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, elle a organisé des concerts à la National Gallery pour remonter le moral des troupes.

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

Křenek, Ernst

Compositeur
Emigrée

Compositeur autrichien du célèbre opéra de jazz Jonny Spielt Auf, Enrst Krenek (1900-1991) a émigré aux États-Unis en 1938, après que sa musique eut été interdite par le régime nazi. Il a enseigné dans plusieurs universités et a continué à composer jusqu'à sa mort en 1991.

Berthold Goldschmidt

Emigrée
Compositeur

Le compositeur émigré Berthold Goldschmidt (1903-1996) est décédé à Londres à l'âge de 93 ans. Il vivait dans le même appartement du rez-de-chaussée depuis qu'il avait quitté l'Allemagne pour fuir les nazis en octobre 1935.

Eisler, Hanns

Emigrée
Compositeur

Paul Arma

Compositeur
Emigrée

Paul Arma (1905-1987) est une figure cruciale de l'histoire de la musique de la Résistance française, tant par les chansons qu'il a composées que par ses efforts pour préserver l'énorme corpus musical créé pendant la guerre. Pour Arma, les chansons de la Résistance n'étaient pas seulement des sources d'espoir et des actes de courage en temps de guerre, mais aussi des objets d'art importants à sauver.

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.

Gustav Havemann

Musicien
nazi
Chef d'orchestre

Le violoniste et chef d'orchestre Gustav Havemann (1882-1960) est passé du statut de musicien moderniste et d'ami des compositeurs juifs radicaux à celui d'idéologue convaincu de la musique nazie, puis à celui de fervent antifasciste après la guerre.

Herbert Gerigk

nazi
Musicologist

Le Lexikon der Juden in der Musik de Herbert Gerigk (1905-1996) était si populaire qu'en 1943, des milliers d'exemplaires circulaient dans tout le Reich allemand. Même dans le cadre de l'idéologie nazie, Gerigk était connu pour être particulièrement conservateur et critique.

Karl Blessinger

nazi
Compositeur

Auteur de l'ouvrage Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, Mahler : Three Chapters of Jewry in Music as the Key to Music History of the 19th Century, publié en 1939, Karl Blessinger (1888-1962) a établi sa réputation de musicologue antisémite parmi les plus éminents du Troisième Reich.

Goebbels, Joseph

nazi

Joseph Goebbels voulait promouvoir toutes les œuvres démontrant l'hégémonie allemande en musique ; c'est, paradoxalement, pourquoi il a d'abord protégé les compositeurs ou chefs d'orchestre opposés à l'application des lois antisémites, allant jusqu'à occulter les origines juives de certains compositeurs de talent ou à protéger leurs épouses.

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.

Shmerke Kaczerginski

Musicien
Partisan
Poète

[Translated to "French" by "deepL"] Poète et combattant partisan, Shmerke Kaczerginski (1908-1954) était un collectionneur de chants yiddish de la Shoah. Il a été envoyé dans le ghetto de Vilna au début de l'année 1942 où il a composé des chansons pour consoler les prisonniers et encourager la résistance.

Hirsh Glick

Partisan
Poète

Hirsch Glick (1922-1944) was a Jewish poet and partisan. He began to write Yiddish poetry in his teens and became co-founder of Yungvald, a group of young Jewish poets.

Isaiah Shpigl

Poète

Writer, poet and teacher of Yiddish literature, Isaiah Spiegel (1906-1990), was an inmate of the Lodz Ghetto from its inception in 1940 until its liquidation in 1945. In August 1944, Shpigl hid some of his writings in a cellar and took the rest with him to Auschwitz.

Moshe Diskant

Poète

An important poet and song writer in the Kovno ghetto, Moshe Diskant was critical of the divisions between wealthy and poor in the ghetto.

Avrom Akselrod

Poète
Compositeur

Avrom Akselrod was a well-known poet and songwriter in the Kovno ghetto, known for his cynical, humorous and realistic depictions of the misery and occasional joys of ghetto life.

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.

Lyube Levitski

Chanteur

Soprano Lyube Levitski's beautiful voice made her a star at the age of 21. In the Vilna ghetto she was lashed, kept in solitary confinement for a month, and eventually killed at Ponar.

Broydo, Kasriel

Songwriter
Chanteur

Yankele Hershkovitsh

Chanteur

In 1940, Yankele Hershkovitsh (1910-1972) was deported to the Łódź ghetto. He became the much-loved voice of the ghetto, singing in the courtyards and streets, and documenting and commenting on events.

Fania Fénelon

Musicien
Chanteur
Compositeur

Fania Fénelon (1922-1983) was a French pianist, composer and cabaret singer whose contested 1976 memoir, Sursis pour l'orchestre, about survival in the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz during the Holocaust was adapted as the 1980 television film, Playing for Time.

Aleksander Kulisiewicz

Musicien
Poète
Chanteur

Alexander Kulisiewicz (1918-1982) was a poet, player, and songwriter of ballads in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp that often evoked his native Poland with nostalgia and patriotic zeal.

Jozef Kropinski

Musicien
Partisan
Compositeur

The Polish musician Jozef Kropinski was born on 28 December 1913 in Berlin. On 7 May 1940, Kropinski was arrested by the Gestapo for publishing an underground newspaper, and sent to Auschwitz.

Jan Vala

Musicien
Partisan

Jan Vala was a self-taught guitarist, singer and composer. He had been the owner of a popular bar in Ostravia, where he had entertained his patrons with comedy sketches and musical performances. He spent 2,060 days in German prisons and camps.

The Troubadours of the French Resistance

Partisan

Songs of the French resistance were collected by Paul Arma with his wife Edmée to rescue from obscurity the numerous songs that were written as acts of resistance during World War II, and to recognise the efforts made and dangers faced by their creators.

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.

Leo Strauss

Songwriter
Musicien

Leo Straus (1897-1944) was arrested along with his wife Myra and sent to Theresienstadt where he was involved in cabaret productions, both as a librettist and performer. In October 1944, they were deported to Auschwitz and killed.

Artur Gold

Musicien

Artur Gold (1897-1943) était un violoniste et compositeur polonais. Il a collaboré avec son frère Henryk Gold et avec Jerzy Petersburski, avec qui il a arrangé de la musique. Lui et ses collègues musiciens ont été assassinés pendant les dernières semaines de Treblinka.

Wladyslaw Szpilman

Musicien

The musical career of Wladyslaw Szpilman (1911-2000) was interrupted by the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. Szpilman and his family were driven, along with hundreds of thousands of other Jews, into the Warsaw ghetto.

Avrom Brudno

Musicien
Compositeur

Avrom Brudno was a musician and composer in the Vilna ghetto. He created many of the ghetto’s most successful songs including the melody for ‘Friling’. He died in Klooga.

Dovid Beyglman

Musicien

David Beigelman (1887–1945) was a Polish violinist, orchestra leader, and composer of Yiddish songs. In the Łódź ghetto established a small theatre where he composed prolifically and wrote his own lyrics.

Michael Hofmekler

Musicien

One of the remarkable reunions to take place in the immediate aftermath of the war was that of the Jewish brothers Michael (1898-1994) and Robert Hofmekler (1905-1994), in June 1945, at the Saint Ottilien Displaced Persons’ camp.

Henry Meyer

Musicien

A doctor put Henry Meyer’s ID on a corpse and hid the violinist. Meyer (1923-2006) was transferred to Birkenau, where he played in the orchestra. After brief time in other camps and surviving a death march, he survived and emigrated to the US.

Anita Lasker-Wallfisch

Musicien

Anita Lasker-Walfisch (1925-present) was arrested with her sister and sent to Auschwitz where she played in the orchestra. In 1996 she published her memoir "Inherit the Truth 1939-1945".

Arno Nadel

Musicologist
Poète
Compositeur

Jewish musicologist, composer, playwright, poet, and painter Arno Nadel (1878-1943) had an exit visa to England but he was too weak to make the journey. On 12th March 1943 he was deported to Auschwitz where he was murdered the same year.

Hans Keller

Emigrée
Musicologist

Le musicologue et critique musical britannique d'origine autrichienne Hans Keller (1919-1985), qui a apporté d'importantes contributions à la musicologie et à la critique musicale, a été arrêté par les nazis et contraint de quitter l'Autriche après l'Anschluss en 1938.

Paulina Braun

Songwriter
Compositeur

Paulina Braun (1915-1943) was a songwriter and composer in the Warsaw ghetto. Before being forced into ghetto’s cramped quarters, she had established a name for herself as a composer in the Polish theatre world of Warsaw.

Alek Volkoviski

Songwriter
Compositeur

Pianist and song writer Alek Volkoviski (1931-2019) won a competition in 1943 at age eleven in the Vilna ghetto for his lullaby ‘Shtiler, shtiler’.

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.

Leyb Rozental

Songwriter

Leyb Rozental (1916-1945) was a poet, publishing his first poetry book at the age of 14. In the Vilna ghetto he became one of the most successful writers of musicals and theatre revues.

Rikle Glezer

Songwriter

Rikle Glezer (1924-) was only 16 when the Nazis invaded her home city of Vilna. She wrote several songs during her years of imprisonment in the Vilna ghetto. She escaped during deportation and joined the partisans in the forests around Vilna.

Khane Khaytin

Songwriter

Khane Khaytin (1925-2004) was a Lithuanian-Jewish songwriter who wrote many popular songs in the Shavli ghetto.

Salomon Kannewasser

Songwriter
Musicien
Chanteur

Salomon Meijer Kannewasser (1916-1945) was the lead singer in a popular young musical duo from Amsterdam known as Johnny & Jones. Their popularity began in 1938 and they went on to record six albums under the Panachord music label.

Arnold Simeon van Wesel

Songwriter
Musicien
Chanteur

Arnold Simeon van Wesel (1918-1945) played guitar in a popular young musical duo from Amsterdam known as Johnny & Jones. Their popularity began in 1938 and they went on to record six albums under the Panachord music label.

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.

Peter Gellhorn

Emigrée
Professeur de musique
Musicien
Compositeur
Chef d'orchestre

Le chef d'orchestre, compositeur et pianiste allemand Peter Gellhorn (1912-2004) a fui l'Allemagne dans les années 1930 et s'est installé à Londres. Il a dirigé le Royal Opera House, Sadler's Wells et Glyndebourne.

Walter Bricht

Emigrée
Professeur de musique
Musicien
Compositeur

Walter Bricht (1904-1970) était un compositeur autrichien dont les années en tant que compositeur professionnel ont coïncidé avec l'ascension d'Hitler et le début de l'austro-fascisme en 1933.

Featured Music

Nom
Artiste
Catégorie
Durée

'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.

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.

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.

Translation by Daniel Kahn & Yeva Lapsker.

In the little village Smilchyntsi
In the camp the Jews are living miserably
Hear the women crying
Crying without end
Where is our homeland?
When will we return?

In the stall we live like pigs
Hungry as dogs are we
A child without a mother
A mother without child
Where is our homeland?
When will we return?

Jews, o Jews, o how we suffer
Nothing like it was ever known
The tears we’ve wept
Could be rivers
The blood we’ve spilled
Could be an ocean
The tears we’ve wept
Could be rivers
The blood we’ve spilled
Could be an ocean

In dem kleinem Dorf in Smiltchynti
wohnen Juden in dem Lager umgliklikh
Und die Frauen weinen,
weinen on ein grunt:
Voy ist unser haymayt,
wann zaynen wir zuhaus?

In der Stall wie Schweinen leben wir
und wie Hunde hungrig zaynen wir,
das Kind hat keine Mutter,
die Mutter hat kein Kind
Voy ist unser haymayt,
wann zaynen wir zuhaus?

Juden, Juden Leid ist uns
was von dem wusst kein Mann
Von di treren unzere
kanen Flüssen sein
fun dem Blut fun uns’ren
kann sein an okean.
Von di treren uns’re
keinen Fluessen sein
fun dem Blut fun uns’ren
kann sein an okean.

Translation by Daniel Kahn & Yeva Lapsker.

One, two, three, one, two, three
Couples spinning round—couples spinning round—
Do you know how?—Do you know how?
Trees in the woods are spinning round,
When you ride by—in a passing train.
One, two, three, one, two, three
When the fiddle plays—she spreads out the trails.
Do you know which ones? – Do you know which ones?—
A girl’s soft hands—under your feet—
spins you up in the air like rising smoke.
One, two, three, one, two, three.
When the mandolin—is ringing just like that—
Do you know what she does?—Do you know what she does? —
Your young days, those that are left behind—
She crumbles them one over the other—she crumbles them…
One, two, three, one, two, three.
When the little flute fifes—When the little flute fifes—
Do you know what you hear?—Do you know what you hear?—
The dead in the ground—they cry that way—
Why are they crying? —Why are they crying?
One, two, three, one, two, three.
When the drum sounds,—When the drum sounds,—
Do you know what it is?—Do you know what it is?—
That’s just the noise—the noise of the world—
That deafens in you—the fear of death.
One, two, three, one, two, three,
As the life is—such a spin.—
The cello is crying, “One—two—three.”
Everyone will leave this world.—
It pains me so, it pains me so!

Eyns, tsvey, dray, Eyns, tsvey, dray,
Porlekh dreyen zikh – porlekh dreyen zikh –
Veystu vi azoy, veystu vi azoy?
Beymer in vald dreyen zikh azoy –
Ven du forst farbay, in a ban farbay
Eyns, tsvey, dray, Eyns, tsvey, dray,
Az di fidl shpilt—shpreyt zi vegn oys—
Veystu vosere?—Veystu vosere?
Vaykhe meydl hent—unter dayne fis
Kroyzlen zikh aruf—vi a roy’kh aruf.
Eyns, tsvey, dray, Eyns, tsvey, dray,
Az di mandolin—tsimblt ot azoy—
Veystu vos zi tut?—Veystu vos zi tut?
Dayne yunge teg—di fargangenen
Breklt zi fanand, —breklt zi fanand.
Eyns, tsvey, dray, Eyns, tsvey, dray,
Az dos fleytl fayft,—az dos fleytl fayft,—
Veystu vos du herst?—Veystu vos du herst?
Toyte in der erd—veynen dos azoy,
Vos-zhe veynen zey?—Vos-zhe veynen zey?
Eyns, tsvey, dray, Eyns, tsvey, dray,
Az di poyk baroysht,—az di poyk baroysht,
Veystu vos dos iz?—Veystu vos dos iz?
Dos iz dokh der roysh—ot der velt-geroysh—
Vos fartoybt in dir—pakhed farn toyt.
Eyns, tsvey, dray, Eyns, tsvey, dray,
Az dos lebn iz—a gedrey aza.—
Veynt di vilontshel: eyns, tsvey, dray.
Veln fun der velt—ale zikh tsegeyn.
Tut mir azoy vey, tut mir azoy vey….

Translation by Daniel Kahn & Yeva Lapsker.

PART 1:
When we arrived in Auschwitz,
They took away the women and the children.
A great tumult happened there:
“In half an hour we will be in heaven.”

At night, on the plank-beds,
We put away our skinny bones.
We sleep with a hole in our hearts.
We will be set free shortly.

PART 2:
Heavens, oh heavens, where is my luck?
The moon and the snow are hidden by your look.
Where are our children? In what country are they?
In Auschwitz, in Treblinka, torn apart and disgraced.

PART 1:
Azoy vi mir zaynen nokh Oyshvits gekimen,
Froyen in kinder hot men tsigenimen
Iz dort gevorn a groyser timl
“In a halbe shu veln mir zayn in himl.”

In di nakht oyf di nares
Leygn mir avek di beyndelakh di dare.
Shlofn mit ofenung oyfn hertsn.
Oyf der fray veln mir zayn in kertsn.

PART 2:
O himlen, o himlen, a vu iz mayn glik?
Levone in shneyern bahaltn mit ayer blik.
Vu zenen undzere kinder? In velkhn land?
In Oyshvits, in Treblinke, tseshpolt in tsushand.

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!