The Song Remains – דאָס ליד איז געבליבן

The Song Remains

People of the Warsaw Ghetto merged with a map of the Nazi occupation of Poland

דאָס ליד איז געבליבן

Welcome to our collection of Yiddish poems with English translations from Nazi German occupied Poland. We’ll be publishing one new poem per week into 2027, so be sure to subscribe to get free weekly updates.

  • Y L Kohn

    My way through life, was through
    years of injustice and bitter suffering and anger
    In my young life I struggled through
    years of epidemics and hunger

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  • Y L Kohn

    Y L Kohn (1905-1940) was born in Warsaw, and worked as a metal worker. He wrote children’s literature as well as poetry, mainly in publications of the Bund. He was killed in Russia in 1940.

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  • M Goldshteyn

    My friend the dreaming poet
    is full of sunset wine,
    On his flute he sadly plays
    the song of loss of better days and time

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  • M Goldshteyn is a pseudonym for Moyshe Bershling (1900?-1941), who was born in Piaski. He later lived in Łódź and Bialystok, where he worked as a Jewish history teacher. He was an organizer in the Linke Poale-Tsiyon (leftist workers of Zion), and cofounded an organization devoted to the colonization of Birobidzhan. He wrote poems for numerous publications. He was arrested in Bialystok in July 1941, and was never seen again.

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  • Miryem (Miriam) Ulinover

    When the day is hot
    thirst becomes oppressive
    I’ve been sent out for drinks
    or to the local bar

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  • Shloyme (Shlomo) Burshteyn

    A cloud hung his tears on my window
    and clothed me in his fears.
    If I were a small crying gray cloud,
    then someone would see my tears.
    But I’m not a cloud…
    no one sees my grief,
    and my tears have no power to reach
    anyone’s windows…

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  • Shloyme (Shlomo) Burshteyn (1920-1943) was born in Białystok, and began writing poetry at age 17. He was confined in the Białystok ghetto, where he was active in the underground. He later spent a short time in the Łódź Ghetto before being deported to the Bliżyn concentration camp where he was murdered in 1943.

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  • Miryem (Miriam) Ulinover

    “Never ever take this off
    not in joy or sadness
    unless you are washing
    to eat a piece of bread.”

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  • Mordche (Mordechai) Gebirtig

    Farewell, my Kraków!
    farewell my dear
    The wagon waits before my house
    and mad enemies are here drive me out
    like you would cruelly chase a dog

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  • Hinde Nayman

    From my hair rain is running
    my cheeks are wet
    I come to muddy thresholds as a guest
    am silent, about where and to whom

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