Hello out there, how are you? I hope you are well and if not rest assured my thoughts and prayers go out to you. And this is not just a phrase. I do pray for all my fellow bloggers and blog readers every day. I do not need to know you or what you are struggling with. My blessings come your way anyway. 

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day, and it is 75 years since the concentration camp Auschwitz -Birkenau was liberated. 1945 marks a year that brought the worst that my people did to an end. And it frightens me that Nazi ideology is spreading again in new guises. 

This is why I do a little jump on the world map for this weeks Music Monday to Lithuania. I also do a jump in time back to a young poet and songwriter called Hirsch Glick. Hirsch Glick is known for creating the song “Sog Nischt Keynmol”. It is the official anthem for the Lithuanian partisans fighting Hitler and his henchmen in the forest of their beautiful country. 

Hirsch Glick

Hirsch Glick grew up in Vilna and had to start working early because of his families poverty. Despite this or maybe because of this he started writing poetry aged 13. Later he met other poets and co-founded the “Young Forest” poetry circle which wrote Hebrew and Yiddish poetry. Later he became a member of the Lithuanian resistance, was imprisoned and was killed in combat with Nazi forces in 1944. Please head over to “Music and the Holocaust” to find out more about his life: “Hirsch Glick on Music and the Holocaust“

Until today I had never heard of Hirsch Glick even though his songs were part of my teenage years. My cousin was a fan of a German folk group called “Zupfgeigenhansel” who recorded Yiddish songs in the late 1970s or ’80s. She played them to me, and I loved them because of their sadness but also their hidden hope. So I got the record and listened to it for many years. 

Today I share with you the two songs Hirsch Glick was most famous for to give credit to the courage Lithuanian resistance fighters showed. May they never be forgotten. And may we learn to live in peace with each other no matter the race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical and mental abilities we have. 

Zog nit keynmol az du geyst dem letstn veg

This is the first song I want to share with you and “Music and the Holocaust wrote about it:

“‘Zog nit keynmol az du geyst dem letstn veg’ (Never say that you are walking the final road), also known as ‘The Partisans’ Song’, is perhaps the best-known of the Yiddish songs created during the Holocaust. It was written by the young Vilna poet Hirsh Glik, and based on a pre-existing melody by the Soviet-Jewish composer Dimitri Pokrass. Inspired by the news of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, the song was adopted as the official anthem of the Vilna partisans shortly after it was composed in 1943, and spread with remarkable rapidity to other ghettos and camps. The song is powerful and defiantly optimistic, acknowledging Jewish suffering in the past and present, and urging the Jewish people to continue fighting for their survival. It is one of the most frequently performed songs at Holocaust commemoration ceremonies.” You can find the English translation of the lyrics here. 

Please follow the link underneath if the video does not play here on the blog.

‘Shtil di nakht iz oysgeshternt’

This is the second song and this is what “Music and the Holocaust” wrote about it:

The beautiful song ‘Shtil di nakht iz oysgeshternt’ (The silent night is filled with stars) was written by the young Vilna poet Hirsh Glik, who also wrote the enduringly popular ‘Zog nit keynmol az du geyst dem letstn veg’ (Never say that you are walking the final road). Glik was an active member of the underground resistance in the ghetto, and wrote this song to commemorate the partisans’ first successful act of sabotage. His lyrics focus on the heroic actions of the female partisan Vitke Kempner.

Unfortunately, I could not find any translation for the lyrics. 

Please follow the link underneath if the video does not play here on the blog.

Love & Rage my friends, Love & Rage!!!!!!