A Project For Your School
Recite or sing the Partisans’ Song in your home tongue, or in a language you have learnt.
The Power Of Words
The background and context
The ‘Partisans’ Song’ – Zog Nit Kein Mol–written by Hirsch Glik, 22, in the Vilna Ghetto in 1943 is one of the most powerful songs of resistance and defiance ever written.
While Hitler boasted that his Reich would endure for a thousand years, it is the Jewish people who resisted the forces of hatred and have endured, not the murderous Third Reich, which lasted twelve years.
Today, 75 years on, long after the demise of Hitler’s murderous regime, the partisans’ song is now sung worldwide to mark the Jewish spirit of resistance.
Michael Cohen, educator Melbourne Australia
This English version by poet Aaron Kremer is recited by Freydl Mrocki of Shalom Aleichem College, Melbourne, Australia
Never say that there is only death for you,
Though leaden skies may be concealing days of blue,
Because the hour we have hungered for is near;
Beneath our tread the earth shall tremble — we are here!
From land of palm tree to the far-off land of snow,
We shall be coming with our torment and our woe;
And everywhere our blood has sunk into the earth,
Shall our bravery, our vigor blossom forth.
We’ll have the morning sun to set our day aglow,
And all our yesterdays shall vanish with the foe;
And if the time is long before the sun appears,
Then let this song go like a signal through the years.
This song was written with blood and not with lead;
It’s not a song that summer birds sing overhead;
It was a people among toppling barricades,
That sang this song of ours with pistols and grenades.
Never say that there is only death for you,
Though leaden skies may be concealing days of blue,
Because the hour we have hungered for is near;
Beneath our tread the earth shall tremble, — we are here!
Simcha TV: The Global Partisans’ Song Project
In four languages: Yiddish, Hebrew, English & Noongar (Australian Aboriginal)
For more info:
JPEF Compilation
World ORT Compilation
Key Words From The Poem
“Zog nit keyn mol, az du geyst dem letstn veg……. Never say that you have reached the end of the road……
Mir zaynen do! WE ARE HERE!
“This says that although it looks like the last moments of the life of the Jewish people, it is not, and where the blood was shed, will begin a new, a heroic and a wonderful Jewish life!”
(Quote: Cantor H Fox, LA)
YIDDISH, HEBREW, ENGLISH, POLISH, BELARUSIAN, RUSSIAN, GERMAN, SPANISH, CZECH, DUTCH, ITALIAN, ROMANIAN, FRENCH, SWEDISH, PORTUGUESE, NORWEGIAN, JAPANESE, FINNISH, SWISS GERMAN, SLOVAK, GREEK, AFRIKAANS, UKRAINIAN, SERBIAN, MONGOLIAN, NOONGAR , ARABIC, XHOSA, ZULU , CHINESE, LADINO and MÀORI
In this way we can share the song’s powerful and positive message and, at the same time, embrace the legacy of the partisans, of those who were incarcerated in the ghettos and the camps and of the Holocaust survivors.
World Premiere in Yiddish & Maori
New Zeland Parliament – 27 January 2022
MÀori – New – October 2020
Translated by Hēmi Kelly
Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Tahu-Ngāti Whāoa
Researcher | Te Ipukarea, The National Māori Language Institute
Auckland University of Technology (AUT)
Kaua rawa e mea ko te mate anahe tō huarahi,
Ahakoa āraia ana te kiko o te rangi e te pōuriuri,
Kei te tata mai te wā kua roa e tāria ana;
Ka rū te whenua i te takahi a ngā wae – ki te haka!
Mai i te whenua o te nīkau, ki te whenua kōkēi o te huka,
E haere nei mātou i runga i te kōharihari me te tiwhatiwha;
Katoa ngā wāhi i pipī ai ō mātou toto ki te papa,
Ka puāwai mai i reira tō mātou māia me tō mātou kaha.
Ka whiti tonu te rā i te ata, ka ao te rangi,
Katoa ngā raru o nanahi ka ngaro me te hoa kakari;
Ā, ki te roa te wā i mua i te aranga mai anō o te rā,
Tukua mā tēnei wai ngā tau e whakaaomārama.
I titongia ai tēnei waiata ki te toto, kaua ki te matā;
Ehara i te waiata e haria ai e ngā manu o ō te raumati rā
Engari nā te iwi i te kauhanga riri a Tū,
Tēnei waiata a mātou i hari ki te pū me te pohū.
Kaua rawa e mea ko te mate anahe tō huarahi,
Ahakoa āraia ana te kiko o te rangi e te pōuriuri,
Kei te tata mai te wā kua roa e tāria ana;
Ka rū te whenua i te takahi a ngā wae – ki te haka!
In 2018 ORT schools recited the poem in different languages:
It is so easy, that schools are now recording the song on their travels:
JDS 8th Graders from Seattle WA sang the Partisans’ Song while visiting Yad Vashem and Masada in Israel:
Seattle School Video – Zog Nit Keynmol
Seattle School Video – Zog Nit Keynmol
Yad Vashem May 18
Source: youtu.be/O8ZOBgVrxNs
Some useful tips for making videos
For any queries, please contact me at eli@elirab.com
Eli Rabinowitz
ORIGINAL in YIDDISH
Zog nit keyn mol, az du geyst dem letstn veg,
Khotsh himlen blayene farshteln bloye teg.
Kumen vet nokh undzer oysgebenkte sho,
S’vet a poyk ton undzer trot: mir zaynen do!
Fun grinem palmenland biz vaysn land fun shney,
Mir kumen on mit undzer payn, mit undzer vey,
Un vu gefaln iz a shprits fun undzer blut,
Shprotsn vet dort undzer gvure, undzer mut!
S’vet di morgnzun bagildn undz dem haynt,
Un der nekhtn vet farshvindn mit dem faynt,
Nor oyb farzamen vet di zun in der kayor –
Vi a parol zol geyn dos lid fun dor tsu dor.
Dos lid geshribn iz mit blut, un nit mit blay,
S’iz nit keyn lidl fun a foygl oyf der fray,
Dos hot a folk tsvishn falndike vent
Dos lid gezungen mit naganes in di hent.
To zog nit keyn mol, az du geyst dem letstn veg,
Khotsh himlen blayene farshteln bloye teg.
Kumen vet nokh undzer oysgebenkte sho –
Es vet a poyk ton undzer trot: mir zaynen do!
Examples of How To Recite The Poem:
In English
The Sheet Music
The Melody
Audio PlayerStudents can even just play and record the melody:
This is from Sophia Turnbow at JDS Seattle WA
Audio Playerשיר הפרטיזנים
Giedrius
POLISH
Nie mów nigdy: „Oto jest ostatnia z dróg;
mrok sinego nieba dni pogodę zmógł”.
Przyjdzie dzień ów, wytęskniony z wszystkich dni,
Zadudni światu krok nasz werblem: oto my.
Od kraju palm aż do dalekich śnieżnych pól
jesteśmy, z nami nasza męka i ból,
a gdzie trysnęła kiedyś w ziemię nasza krew,
tam zakwitnie nasze męstwo, bunt i gniew.
Słońce jutra opromieni nasze dziś,
nasze „wczoraj” zniknie z wrogiem jak zła myśl.
Choćby się dla nas słońce nie zdążyło wznieść,
jak hasło poprzez pokolenia pójdzie pieśń.
Ołowiem pieśń ta napisana jest i krwią.
To nie ptak wolny, co swobodę nuci swą.
To naród pośród ścian, kruszących się już w gruz
piosenkę w wargach, a nagany w dłoniach niósł.
