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.

  • Miryem (Miriam) Ulinover

    Tell me Bobe dearest wise
    Tell me Beauty Dear
    How this little rose red cherry
    came onto my cheek right here

    (more…)

  • Motl Kozlovski

    Nurses have blue eyes
    like the color of late spring sky

    The dazzle of their white dresses
    cuts through the heavy strange air
    on their lips greets a gentle motherly smile

    (more…)

  • Mordkhe (Mordechai) Gebirtig

    I had a sweet dream
    still feel it so well, peace unfurled
    peace has arrived peace is here
    peace in the whole wide world

    (more…)

  • Moyshe Shimel (Maurycy Szymel)

    It is not now important what anyone says
    the grass is beautiful and sweet is the joy
    of singing.

    (more…)

  • Moyshe Shimel (1903-1942) was born in Lemberg (Lviv /  Lwów), and studied at the Polish language Jewish Humanistic High School. He wrote poetry for Chwila, Lwów’s Polish-language Jewish daily newspaper. He moved to Warsaw in 1930, and began writing poems in Yiddish as well, and publishing his works in Kiev and Palestine.

    When the Nazis arrived in Warsaw, Shimel fled back to Lwów, where he worked in the Judenrat. He is believed to have been murdered in the Lwów Ghetto in 1942.

    (more…)

  • Y L Kohn

    Time ago the street led me into work,
    today work leads me – into the street
    and I drag myself with healthy hands
    like a hundred thousand others, here and there…

    (more…)

  • Miryem (Miriam) Ulinover

    What has happened to my hair
    A wonder suddenly happened there!

    There was a blond knot cold and hard
    and overnight it’s smooth and smart

    (more…)

  • Khayim Semiatitski

    Sleep my child my dear at rest
    your father will no longer sell
    raisins and almonds
    Aye Liew Liew Liew Liew

    On the way he was beaten,
    when riding to the village
    to buy a little calf and corn –
    bloody, beaten he was carried home

    Sun is laughing on your cradle
    but I close doors and windows tight,
    the white sheep ran away in fear
    Aye Liew Liew Liew Liew

    Crying? Hard for you to sleep
    On a little pillow of hard straw?
    the feathers haven’t run away
    bad hands have made it so

    Quietly comes the cow from field
    the little sheep makes happy sounds
    in evening red I will feed you well today
    Aye Liew Liew Liew Liew

    Don’t cry, father did not ride far away
    though his parting was intense
    he only took little with him
    to the country mart

    Sleep my child my dear at rest
    your father will no longer sell
    raisins and almonds
    Aye Liew Liew Liew Liew

    (more…)

  • Borekh Olitzki (Baruch Olitzky)

    1.
    June walks around the forest with the sun
    as if he held a red fruit in his mouth
    and hangs onto every tree with love
    and tenderly caresses every plant

    (more…)

  • Borekh Gelman

    The train takes me away
    in the lonely unknown
    my heart is so tense
    unknown is the way…

    (more…)