“Es dremlt in geto” Performed by Sara Rosen

Es dremlt in geto / The ghetto is sleeping
A Holocaust song sung by Sara Rosen, recorded by Itzik Gottesman, 1989 NYC.

………[Es dremlt in geto]

Mir zenen farriglt
mit drut un mit krad.
Ikh hob a shtetele, 
s’iż azoy sheyn. 
Ven ikh derman mekh,
es benkt zikh aheym.

…….[The ghetto is sleeping.]

We are locked in 
with wire and with chalk.
I have a small town, 
it’s so beautiful.
When I think of it,
I long to go home. 

Levune, levune, 
vus kiksti mekh un?
Az ikh bin hingerik,
dus geyt dikh nisht un.
Ikh hob a shtetele, 
s’iz azoy sheyn.
Ven ikh derman mekh,
es benkt zikh aheym. 

Moon, moon, 
why are you looking at me?
That I am hungry: 
you don’t care.
I have a small town,
it’s so beautiful.
When I think of it,
I long to go home.

Az m’et kimen fin arbet,
hingerik in mid,
Ervart indz dus esn,
kartofl mit gris. 
Ikh hob a shtetele,
s’iż azoy sheyn 
Ven ikh derman zikh,
es benkt zikh aheym.

When we’ll come from work, 
hungry and tired,
Food awaits us:
potato and grits
I have a small town,
it’s so beautiful.
When I think of it,
I long to go home. 

………   [ עס דרעמלט אין געטאָ]

מיר זענען פֿאַרריגלט
.מיט דראָט און מיט קרײַד
,איך האָב אַ שטעטעלע
.ס’איז אַזוי שיין
,ווען איך דערמאַן זיך
.עס בענקט זיך אַהיים

,לבֿנה, לבֿנה
?וואָס קוקסטו מיך אָן
,אַז איך בין הונגעריק
.דאָס גייט דיך נישט אָן
,איך האָב אַ שטעטעלע
.ס’איז אַזוי שיין
,ווען איך דערמאַן זיך
.עס בענקט זיך אַהיים

,אַז מע’ט קומען פֿון דער אַרבעט
,הונגעריק און מיד
,ערוואַרט אונדז דאָס עסן
.קאַרטאָפֿל מיט גריס
,איך האָב אַ שטעטעלע
.ס’איז אַזוי שיין
,ווען איך דערמאַן זיך
.עס בענקט זיך אַהיים

Biography of the Singer Sara Rosen by Mickey Rosen:

Sara Landerer Rosen was born in Krakow, Poland in 1925 into a Chasidic family.  She experienced an idyllic childhood until September 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, initiating World War II. The war truncated Sara’s formal education at the end of eighth grade but it didn’t stop her thirst for learning. Sara took advantage of every opportunity available; in the ghetto, in British Mandate Palestine and later, in the State of Israel and finally in the USA. In 1977, Sara graduated from Fordham University with a BA in Philosophy.  

Sara Rosen

Sara was a prolific write, publishing her memoir My Lost World in 1993. In 2008, she published Prisoner of Memory, the life story of Itka Greenberg. Itka saved about 50 Jews during World War II, with Sara and her mother being two of the fortunate survivors. In between these two books, Sara translated the songs of Mordechai Gebirtig from Yiddish to English. Sara loved speaking and singing in Yiddish and remembered many of poems and songs from her youth.

Sara emigrated to the USA in 1956 with her husband, Joseph and two sons. Her family grew in the USA with the birth of a daughter. 

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman:

Es dremlt in shtetl

This song is a Holocaust adaptation of the popular 1920s-30s song “Ven es dremlt in shtetl” (also known as “Es dremlt/drimlt dos shtetl” or “Es dremlt dos shtetl”); text written by Yoysef Heftman (1888 – 1955), music by Gershon Eskman. There are several recordings of this song, among them by Sarah Gorby, Michele Tauber, Willi Brill, Violette Szmajer, Sheh-Sheh, Zahava Seewald. Here is a link to a recording by the singer Rebecca Kaplan and tsimbler Pete Rushefsky from their CD On The Paths: Yiddish Songs with Tsimbl.

Ruth Rubin recorded a version from a “Mrs. Hirshberg” in 1947. It is called “Es dremlt a shtetele” and here is the link to the song in the Ruth Rubin Legacy: Archive of Yiddish Folksongs at the YIVO Institute. 

Es dremlt in turme

Before the war, there already was a “parody” version of this song about languishing in prison. “Es dremlt in turme” [The prison is sleeping]. The words and music are printed in the “Anthology of Yiddish Folksongs” edited by Sinai Leichter, scans of this song are attached.

Ruth Rubin sings a version of this prison song in YIVO’s Ruth Rubin Archive.

Es dremlt in geto

Sara Rosen learned this song in Bucharest after she escaped from the Bochnia ghetto near Krakow. Though she forgets the first two lines, it is cleary an adaptation of “Es dremlt in shtetl”. There are several versions of this song using the same melody, but they all differ so significantly from each other, that to call them versions of the same song is a stretch. Meir Noy wrote down a version “Shtil is in geto” in his notebooks that can be found in the National Library in Jerusalem. Another version can be found in the collection “Dos lid fun geto: zamlung” edited by Ruta Pups, Warsaw, 1962. A scan of this version is attached. A third version was printed in the collection “We Are Here: Songs of the Holocaust”, edited by Eleanor G. Mlotek et al, 1983.

Special thanks for this post to Mickey Rosen, Rachel Rosen, Michael Alpert, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, her grandchildren the musicians Benjy Fox-Rosen, Avi Fox-Rosen.

I was introduced to Sara Rosen in 1989 by the Yiddish/Hebrew singer Tova Ronni z”l  (d. 2006) who lived in the same Upper West Side apartment building in NYC. That same day she introduced me to another singer in the building, David Shear, who sings “An ayznban a naye” on this blog. 

From Anthology of Yiddish Folksongs” edited by Sinai Leichter:

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From Dos lid fun geto: zamlung, edited by Ruta Pups, Warsaw, 1962:

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“Krakovyake-vyane” Performed by Tsunye Rymer

Krakovyake-vyane
Mocking Yiddish song to accompany the
Polish dance Krakowiak

Sung by Tsunye Rymer,
recorded by Itzik Gottesman, 1985 NYC
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman.

Krakowiak by Zofia Stryjeńska, 1927

Rymer sings:
Krakovyake-vyane
shtup aroys di pani.
Di pani tor men nisht shtupn.
Zets ir oys di tseyn.

Di tseyn tor men nit zetsn.
Dos ponim tor men nisht netsn.
(Rymer spoken) Un azoy vayter.

TRANSLATION of Rymer’s Version:

Krakoviake-vyane
Push out the lady.
You shouldn’t push the lady;
Knock out her teeth.

You shouldn’t knock out her teeth,
You shouldn’t soak the face.
(Rymer spoken) …and so on.

In the spirit of Purim this week, we present a parodic dance song. Tsunye Rymer sings this fragment of a Yiddish song to accompany the Polish Krakowiak dance. This particular tune is known as Krakowiaczek jeden. Here is a version on Youtube of this melody, which is considered a children’s song:

To read about the Krakowiak dance, costume and music click here.

The Krakowiak was a complicated dance and often someone had to lead the dance (אוספֿירן דעם טאַנץ) and call out the moves, so it makes sense that a Yiddish parodic text would be created. Mariza Nawrocka was kind enough to identify which Krakowiak Rymer sang and to translate the Polish song for us; here are the first two verses.

1. Krakowiaczek jeden / one Krakowiaczek (little habitant of Kraków)
   miał koników siedem, / had 7 horses
   pojechał na wojnę, / he went on a war
   został mu się jeden. / only 1 remained
2. Siedem lat wojował, / He was fighting 7 years
   szabli nie wyjmował,  /  he was not takeing out his sabre
   szabla zardzewiała,  / the sabre got rusty
   wojny nie widziała. / it didn’t see the war.

Though Rymer’s version is incomplete we can add more verses from other sources.

In I. L. Cahan Yidishe folkslider mit melodyes (NY YIVO, 1952) there are more stanzas and versions, originally Cahan had all of these versions under the category “Krakovyanke”. Attached at the end of this post are scans of the songs in Yiddish as published in Cahan. (Cahan1, Cahan2).

He did not publish any music with these texts:

From Chudnov, (YID – Tshidnev) Volhynia,Ukraine:

Krakoviak, herits,
Shtup aroys dem porets.
Az er vil nisht geyn
Zets im oys di tseyn!

 Krakoviatska ane,
shtup aroys di pani.
Az di pani vil nit geyn,
Hak ir oys di tseyn!  (#225, page 227)

From Brailov, (YID – Bralev) Podolya, Ukraine:

Yakov, yakov-yane,
shtup aroys di pani!
Di pani vil nit geyn.
Zets ir oys di tseyn!

Di tseyn tor men nit zetsn,
Dos ponim tor men nit netsn.
Azoy vi in Ades,
Azoy in Bukarest!  (#227, page 228)

From Priluk, (YID – Priluk)  Poltaver region, Ukraine:

Krako-krako-vyana,
Shlep arayn di pani;
Di pani vil nit geyn.
Shlep ir far di tseyn!   (#228, page 228)

From Bessarabia or Odessa:

From Zalmen Rosenthal’s collection in Reshumot vol. 2, 1926/27 in his category “Children’s Songs”

Nake, nake, nitse
shtup aroys di pritse.
Di pritse vil nit geyn.
Zets ir oys di tseyn.

Di tseyn tor men nit zetsn.
un dos ponim tor men nit netsn.

I. L. Cahan also considered a song about Beylke, though textually different and with no mention of Krakowiak, to be part of this parodic Krakowiak tradition. I assume he determined this by the melody. Versions of this “Beylke” Krakowiak song can be found in Cahan 1952, Bastomski 1923 and Tsaytshrift volume 2-3, Minsk, 1928.

Special thanks for this post to Mariza Nawrocka and  Paul Glasser.

From I. L. Cahan Yidishe folkslider mit melodyes (NY YIVO, 1952):

“Af mayn tatns dakh” Performed by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman

Af mayn tatns dakh (On My Father’s Roof)
Performed by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (BSG)
recorded by Itzik Gottesman, Bronx 1991.

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

From 1947 to 1951 Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (BSG)  lived in displaced persons camps in Vienna. Two of them were Arzberger and Rothschild Hospital where her husband, Jonas Gottesman was the chief physician. She arrived there after two years in Bucharest. Since she was born in Vienna in 1920 (but grew up in Chernovitz) she could legally leave Bucharest at that time, while her husband, mother and brother had to cross into Austria illegally.

In Vienna circa 1949, from left: Lifshe Schaechter-Widman (mother), Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (daughter), friend Mitsi Weininger.

BSG believed she learned this song in Vienna during this time and wrote down the words in a notebook. In 1991 we found that notebook and I asked her to sing the songs she had written down in it.

The first line of the refrain “Sheyn bikh ikh sheyn, sheyn iz oykh mayn nomen” and text of the second verse are better known with a different melody in a  children’s song. Ruth Rubin includes it in her print collection Jewish Folk Songs and recorded it. More recently it can be heard on the CD “Voices of Ashkenaz”, featuring the singing of Svetlana Kundish and Deborah Strauss.

TRANSLITERATION:

Af mayn tatns dakh hengt a gildener krants
hant oder morgn, vu’zhe darf ikh zorgn?

Sheyn bin ikh sheyn, sheyn iz mayn numen,
Vel ikh nemen a khusndl fun same rabunim.

Bay di rabunim iz di Toyre groys,
ikh vel zan a kalele – a  bliendkie royz.

Sheyn bin ikh sheyn, sheyn iz mayn numen,
Vel ikh nemen a khusndl fun loyter rabunim.

Holtz in der kamer, a vaser in hoz.
Ale mise bukhirim fun shteytele aros.

Sheyn bin ikh sheyn, sheyn iz mayn numen,
Vel ikh nemen a khusndl fun loyter rabunim.

Eyner vet zan maner,  a sheyner, a faner,
Zetst zikh nor nit leybn mir, bist nokh nit mit mane.

Sheyn bin ikh sheyn, sheyn iz mayn numen,
Vel ikh nemen a khusndl fun loyter rabunim.

Got vet dir bashern vesti mane vern,
Vesti zetsn leybn mir, vet keyner dikh nisht shtern.

Sheyn bin ikh sheyn, sheyn iz mayn numen,
Vel ikh nemen a khusndl fun loyter rabunim.

Fli feygele fli,  fli zhe tsi man khusn!
Vet er mir shikn a halbn livyusin.

Sheyn bin ikh sheyn, sheyn iz mayn numen,
Vel ikh nemen a khusndl fun loyter rabunim.

TRANSLATION:

On my father’s roof hangs a golden wreath.
Today or tomorrow: so why should I worry?

Pretty, I am pretty and pretty is my name.
I will only choose a groom from among the rabbis.

For the rabbis the Torah is great:
I will be a bride – a blossoming rose.

Pretty, I am pretty and pretty is my name.
I will only choose a groom from among the rabbis.

Wood in the shed, water in the house
All ugly boys – get out of town.

Pretty, I am pretty and pretty is my name.
I will only choose a groom from among the rabbis.

One will be mine – a handsome  and a fine one.
But don’t sit next to me – you’re not mine yet.

Pretty, I am pretty and pretty is my name.
I will only choose a groom from among the rabbis.

God will destine it for you and become mine.
If you will sit next to me, then no one will bother you.

Pretty, I am pretty and pretty is my name.
I will only choose a groom from among the rabbis.

Fly, birdie, fly, fly to my groom.
And he will send me half of the Leviathan.

Pretty, I am pretty and pretty is my name.
I will only choose a groom from among the rabbis.

“Sara troyer” Performed by I. Berkovitch

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

The singer of Sara troyer, a Romanian Yiddish partisan song from the second world war, is the Yiddish poet Israel Berkovitch (Israil Berovici). He was born in 1921 in Botoshan, Moldavia and died in Bucharest in 1988. He directed the Jewish State Theater of Bucharest, a Yiddish theater which still exists, for many years. For more on his life, see Dr. Elvira Grozinger‘s essay from the book Under the Red Banner at this link. His archives are at the University of Potsdam, Germany.

In 1985, I traveled to Romania with my parents to visit ‟the old country‟, and particularly my father‘s hometown Siret. At that time, we still had relatives living in Bucharest and Suceava. While in Bucharest we were able to get together with some of the Yiddish writers and activists living there then: writer Chaim Goldenstein, journalist and translator Anton Celaru (Yosl Faierstein) and Israel Berkovitch. At one get-together, I believe at the Berkovitches apartment, I asked if someone knew Yiddish songs, and Berkovitch took me to a back room, so no one else would hear, and sang this song for me. Ceausescu was still the dictator then, and everyone in Bucharest was very wary of everything, so I guess he didn‘t want others to know about the song. I have not found any other information on the song or variants.

Sara troyer in di Moldavishe stepn.

Sara troyer in di Moldavishe stepn.
Vi umetik un troyerik s‘iz dort.
Es benkt un es veynt zikh nokh epes,
tor me nisht redn keyn vort.

Such a sadness in the Moldavian steppes.
How lonesome and gloomy it is there.
One longs and cries for something,
but not one word is allowed to be spoken.

Teg un nekht zenen tribe.
Es busheven zhandarmen, politsay.
Akh! Basarabye mayn libe!
Ven vestu zayn amol fray?

The days and nights are sad,
Gendarmes and police run rampant.
Oh! My dear Bessarabia!
When will you ever by free?