Songs of the Vilna Ghetto
Compilation album by
Various artists
Released1969[1]
GenreJewish music
LanguageYiddish
LabelCBS Records

Songs of the Vilna Ghetto is a compilation LP record featuring twelve Yiddish songs from World War II era. The songs were composed by the inmates of the Vilna Ghetto during the Holocaust and are sung by Nechama Hendel, Chava Alberstein, and Shimon Israeli with accompaniment from the CBS Israel Orchestra and Choir, conducted by Gil Aldema. The album contains an 8-page booklet with lyrics in the Yiddish language, photographs from the ghetto, and historical information about the songs in English. According to the liner notes, the recording "was prepared by the Yitzhak Kalznelson House of the Ghetto Fighters, at Kibbutz Lochamei Hagetaot, Israel, in co-operation with the Vilna Organisation [sic] of Haifa."

Track listing

# Song English translation Length[2] Performer Lyrics by[2] Notes
1 "Vilna" Vilnius 3:33 Chava Alberstein Efraim-Leyb Wolfson
(1870–1946)		 From the early 1930s. Composer Alexander Olshanetsky.[3]
2 "Partizaner Lied" Partisan Song 3:30 Shimon Israeli with CBS Israel Orchestra Hirsh Glick Set to Russian folk melody. About the first attack of the Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye
3 "Vig-Lied" Lullaby 3:34 Helena (Nama) Hendel Lea Rudnitski
4 "Farvos iz Der Himmel" Why Are The Heavens 2:44 Choir L. Ofeski
5 "Ich Beink Aheim" I Long for Home 3:53 Helena Hendel Leyb Rozental
(1916–1945)
6 "Yugent Hymn" Youth Hymn 2:35 Choir Shmerke Kaczerginski Dedicated to the youth club of the ghetto. Features upbeat rhythm and encouraging lyrics.[4]
7 "Unter Deine Veisse Shtern" Under Your White Stars 3:00 Helena Hendel and Choir Abraham Sutzkever
8 "Itzik Wittenberg" 3:20 Shimon Israeli Shmerke Kaczerginski Set to a Russian melody. About arrest and murder of Yitzhak Wittenberg in July 1943.[5]
9 "Shtiller, Shtiller (Ponar - Lullaby)" Quiet, Quiet 3:16 Chava Alberstein Shmerke Kaczerginski Composer Alexander Wolkovsky. A lullaby by a mother to her son about the Ponary massacre.[6]
10 "Tsu Eins, Zwei, Drei!" One, Two, Three! 3:02 Choir Leyb Rozental
11 "Freeling" Spring 4:05 Chava Alberstein with CBS Israel Orchestra Shmerke Kaczerginski Set to a tango melody. Written following the death of Kaczerginski's wife, Barbara Kaufman (Kaczerginski), in April 1943.[7]
12 "Zog Nit Kein Mol" Never Say 2:55 Shimon Israeli and Choir with CBS Israel Orchestra Hirsh Glick Composer Dmitry Pokrass

References

  1. ^ "Songs of the Vilna Ghetto". Stereo and Mono. Archived from the original on 2016-08-07. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  2. ^ a b "Songs Of The Vilna Ghetto". Dartmouth Jewish Sound Archive. Archived from the original on 2016-08-26. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  3. ^ Peppler, Jane (January 21, 2014). "Vilne, Vilne - a song of old Vilna". Polish Jewish Cabaret. Archived from the original on 2016-08-16. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  4. ^ "Yugnt himn". Music and the Holocaust. World ORT. Archived from the original on 2016-07-19. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  5. ^ "Itsik Vitnberg". Heartstrings. Music of the Holocaust. Yad Vashem. Archived from the original on 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  6. ^ "Shtiler, Shtiler – Quiet, Quiet". Heartstrings. Music of the Holocaust. Yad Vashem. Archived from the original on 2018-06-24. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  7. ^ "Friling – Spring". Heartstrings. Music of the Holocaust. Yad Vashem. Archived from the original on 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
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