שלחמונות היטלערן

Shelakhmones Hitlern
[194?...]

2018
Yiddish Glory – The Lost Songs Of World War II


Triumph is of course one of the themes in this collection. More than one song refers to the evil Haman of the Jewish holiday of Purim, who was defeated through acts of bravery by the beautiful Esther and her uncle Mordecai. Haman wanted to kill all the Jews of Persia, and in the end it was the Jews who wound up killing Haman and all his followers. This revenge fantasy had a ready parallel in Hitler, of course. In “Shelakhmones Hitlern” (Purim Gifts for Hitler), an unknown poet wrote

You’ve burned my joyful home
And disgraced my daughters.
You’ve trampled my infants
And sworn to get rid of me too.
Your angry dreams are wild and silly.
We’re alive! And [we] will survive no matter what.
Your bleary end will be on Haman’s tree
While the Jewish people live on and on!

[1] Du bist nit mayn ershter soyne
Ikh hob gehat a sakh azoyne
Kh’vel nor farshraybn oykh dayn nomen
Inem tsetl, vos heybt zikh an mit “Homen”
 
Homen, Antiukhs, Torkvemada, Krushevan
Hobn di velt farhfisht frier nokh far dir
A langer tsetl “Homen's” iz faran –
S’vet nit steyen keyn papir…
 
Ir ale hot zikh a tsil geshtelt
Mir optsumekn fun der velt
Nor… nit an aykh iz es gevendt
Stalin vet shoyn kurtsn aykh di hent…
 
Mayn freydlekh hoyz hostu farbrent,
Mayne tekhter hostu geshendt,
Mayne oyfelekh hostu tsetratn
Un geshvorn mikh oys tsu ratn
 
Nor vild und narish iz dayn beyzer troymn
Mir lebn! Un veln lebn say-vi-say!
Dayn vister sof vet zayn af Homen’s boym
Ober “am Yisroel khay!!!”