The Song Remains
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.
1.
The night – a hungry dark dog –
has licked the red blood of the west
and quietly laid down on the earth
Three crows stand on my roof and curse;
one pecks at my heart,
the heart has bloodied my way
now dogs lick at my ways
When the boys arrive
Together with the girls
Hearts get lit
And faces glow in flame
They will play in love
Couples stroll together
The little town is blooming
A new world is here
Hersh Danilewicz / Danilevitsh (1882-1941) was born in the countryside of Lipno (Lipne), and then moved to Warsaw. Hershele, as he was known by the people of Warsaw, was encouraged to write as a youth by Y. L. Peretz. He was one of the founders of the Łódź Yiddish Literary Group. He wrote children’s songs, humorous poems, and translations from Polish and Russian to Yiddish. His songs were so popular they were thought to be folk songs. He died of hunger with his wife and two children in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1941. Katsenelson, writing under the pen name of Khayim Goldberg in his poem Di Khronik fun Hershele’s Toit (“The Chronicle of Hershele’s Death”) reports that Hershele left a thousand poems.
(more…)Tell me Bobe dearest wise
Tell me Beauty Dear
How this little rose red cherry
came onto my cheek right here
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
I had a sweet dream
still feel it so well, peace unfurled
peace has arrived peace is here
peace in the whole wide world
It is not now important what anyone says
the grass is beautiful and sweet is the joy
of singing.
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…)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