"Zog nit keyn mol" (''Never Say''; , ) sometimes "Zog nit keynmol" or "Partizaner lid" 'Partisan Song'' is a

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

song considered one of the chief anthems of

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universall ...

and is sung in memorial services around the world.

History

The lyrics of the song were written in 1943 by

Hirsh Glick Hirsh Glick (1922 – 1944) was a Jewish poet and Jewish partisans, partisan. Life Glick was born in Wilno in 1922 (at the time a part of interwar Poland). He began to write Yiddish poetry in his teens and became co-founder of ''Yungvald'' (Y ...

, a young

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish inmate of the

Vilna Ghetto The Vilna Ghetto was a World War II Jewish ghetto established and operated by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the modern country of Lithuania, at the time part of the Nazi-administered . During the approximately two years of its existen ...

, for the Vilna Jewish

United Partisan Organization The ''Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye'' (; "United Partisan Organization"; ; referred to as FPO by its Yiddish initials) was a Jewish resistance organization based in the Vilna Ghetto in Lithuania that organized armed resistance against th ...

(FPO). The title means "Never Say" (lit. "don't say – ver"), and derives from the first line of the song. Glick's lyrics were set to music from a pre-war Soviet song written by Pokrass brothers,

Dmitri Dmitry (); Church Slavic form: Dimitry or Dimitri (); ancient Russian forms: D'mitriy or Dmitr ( or ) is a male given name common in Orthodox Christian culture, the Russian version of Demetrios (, ). The meaning of the name is "devoted to, de ...

and , originally "" ("

Terek Cossacks The Terek Cossack Host was a Cossack host created in 1577 from free Cossacks who resettled from the Volga to the Terek River. The local aboriginal Terek Cossacks joined this Cossack host later. In 1792 it was included in the Caucasus Line Co ...

' March Song"), later renamed into "Cossacks' Song", later titled by its first line as "" (''Those aren't clouds but thunderclouds''), lyrics by

Alexey Surkov Alexey Alexandrovich Surkov (; October 13, 1899 – June 14, 1983) was a Russian Soviet poet, editor, literary critic and high-profile nomenklatura figure, the head of the Soviet Union of Writers The Union of Soviet Writers, USSR Union of Writ ...

. The original song itself has a history, typical of the Soviet times. The song was written in fall 1936 and first performed in the 1937 Soviet documentary "Sons of the Working People" about the 1936 military exercise of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. The title of the film alludes at the Red Army

oath of allegiance An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to a monarch or a country. In modern republics, oaths are sworn to the country in general, or to the country's constitution. For ...

: "I, a son of the working people, " ("") The song title refers to "" aka the 6th Cavalry Division. The film was released in early May, but it was soon quietly removed from the distribution, supposedly because it featured marshals

Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Тухачевский, Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevskiy, p=tʊxɐˈtɕefskʲɪj; – 12 June 1937), nicknamed the Red Napoleon, was a Soviet general who was prominen ...

and

Uborevich Ieronim Petrovich Uborevich (; ; – 12 June 1937) was a Soviet military commander of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, reaching the rank of komandarm in 1935. He was executed during the Great Purge in June 1937 and was posthumously r ...

, repressed in late May 1937 (

Case of the Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization The Case of the Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization, also known as the Military Case or the Tukhachevsky Case, was a 1937 secret trial of the high command of the Red Army, a part of the Great Purge. Defendants The Case was a secret ...

), and they began to "vanish". At the same time, the November release of a disk in which

Leonid Utyosov Leonid Osipovich Utesov, also spelled Utyosov or Utiosov, born Lazar (Leyzer) Iosifovich Vaysbeyn or Weissbein (, Odessa – 9 March 1982, Moscow), was a famous Soviet estrada singer, and comic actor, who became the first pop singer to be award ...

was performing this song was removed from the distribution and replaced in December with another one, in which the film, where song originated, was not mentioned. The title "Those aren't clouds..." was used in the 1939th release of Utyosov's performance of the song. The melody of the song has nothing with traditional Cossack songs, but rather based on typical Jewish

harmonies In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

.Nikolay Ovsyannikov
"От терской походной до еврейской партизанской"
''Aleph Magazine'', March 7, 2021 Some find traces of '' Oyfn Pripetshik'' in it. Glick was inspired to write the song by news of the

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to the gas chambers of the ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, "Zog nit keyn mol" was adopted by a number of

Jewish partisan Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

groups operating in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

. It became a symbol of resistance against

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

persecution of the Jews The persecution of Jews has been a major event in Jewish history prompting shifting waves of refugees and the formation of diaspora communities. As early as 605 BC, Jews who lived in the Neo-Babylonian Empire were persecuted and deported. Antis ...

and

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. In the Soviet Union, the song was first publicly performed in 1949 by

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

under the title "The Song of the Warsaw Ghetto", sung part in English, part in Yiddish. The melody was immediately recognized by the listeners. (Probably this was an origin of the error in some sources which claim that the song was written in

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...

.) While the verse was translated into Russian in the Soviet Union, the song was never performed there again, neither in Russian, nor in Yiddish.

Lyrics

Original lyrics

in transliteration 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 s'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 dem 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 – S'vet a poyk ton undzer trot: mir zaynen do! English translation Never say that you're going your last way Although the skies filled with lead cover blue days Our promised hour will soon come Our marching steps ring out: 'We are here!' From green lands of palm to lands with white snow We come with our pain and our woes And from where a spurt of our blood falls Will sprout our strength and our courage Today the morning sun will accompany us And the night will fade away with the enemy But if the sun waits to rise Like a password this song will go from generation to generation This song is written with blood and not with encillead It's not a tune sung by birds in the wild This song was sung by people amidst collapsing walls Sung with pistols''Note:'' The original text uses the term נאַגאַן, ''nagan'', referring to the

Nagant M1895 The Nagant M1895 is a seven-shot, gas-seal revolver designed and produced by Belgian industrialist Fabrique d'armes Émile et Léon Nagant, Léon Nagant for the Russian Empire. The Nagant M1895 was chambered for a proprietary cartridge, 7.62×38 ...

pistol, produced in the Soviet Union and used in great numbers during

. in their hands So never say that you're going your last way Although the skies filled with lead cover blue days Our promised hour will soon come Our marching steps ring out: 'We are here'! Original Yiddish ,זאָג ניט קיין מאָל, אַז דו גייסט דעם לעצטן וועג .כאָטש הימלען בלײַענע פֿאַרשטעלן בלויע טעג – קומען וועט נאָך אונדזער אויסגעבענקטע שעה !ס׳וועט אַ פּויק טאָן אונדזער טראָט: מיר זײַנען דאָ ,פֿון גרינעם פּאַלמענלאַנד ביז ווײַסן לאַנד פֿון שניי ,מיר קומען אָן מיט אונדזער פּײַן, מיט אונדזער וויי ,און וווּ געפֿאַלן ס׳איז אַ שפּריץ פֿון אונדזער בלוט !שפּראָצן וועט דאָרט אונדזער גבֿורה, אונדזער מוט ,ס׳וועט די מאָרגנזון באַגילדן אונדז דעם הײַנט ,און דער נעכטן וועט פֿאַרשווינדן מיט דעם פֿײַנט – נאָר אויב פֿאַרזאַמען וועט די זון אין דעם קאַיאָר .ווי אַ פּאַראָל זאָל גיין דאָס ליד פֿון דור צו דור ,דאָס ליד געשריבן איז מיט בלוט, און ניט מיט בלײַ ,ס׳איז ניט קיין לידל פֿון אַ פֿויגל אויף דער פֿרײַ דאָס האָט אַ פֿאָלק צווישן פֿאַלנדיקע ווענט .דאָס ליד געזונגען מיט נאַגאַנעס אין די הענט ,טאָ זאָג ניט קיין מאָל, אַז דו גייסט דעם לעצטן וועג .כאָטש הימלען בלײַענע פֿאַרשטעלן בלויע טעג – קומען וועט נאָך אונדזער אויסגעבענקטע שעה !ס׳וועט אַ פּויק טאָן אונדזער טראָט: מיר זײַנען דאָ Hebrew Translation by Avraham Shlonsky אַל נָא תֹּאמַר: "הִנֵּה דַּרְכִּי הָאַחֲרוֹנָה, אֶת אוֹר הַיּוֹם הִסְתִּירוּ שְׁמֵי הָעֲנָנָה!" זֶה יוֹם נִכְסַפְנוּ לוֹ עוֹד יַעַל וְיָבוֹא וּמִצְעָדֵנוּ עוֹד יַרְעִים: אֲנַחְנוּ פֹּה! מֵאֶרֶץ הַתָּמָר עַד יַרְכְּתֵי כְּפוֹרִים אֲנַחְנוּ פֹּה בְּמַכְאוֹבוֹת וְיִסּוּרִים וּבַאֲשֶׁר טִפַּת דָּמֵנוּ שָׁם נִגְּרָה הֲלֹא יָנוּב עוֹד עֹז רוּחֵנוּ בִּגְבוּרָה. עַמּוּד הַשַּׁחַר עַל יוֹמֵנוּ אוֹר יָהֵל. עִם הַצּוֹרֵר יַחֲלֹף תְּמוֹלֵנוּ כְּמוֹ צֵל. אַךְ אִם חָלִילָה יְאַחֵר לָבוֹא הָאוֹר כְּמוֹ סִיסְמָה יְהֵא הַשִּׁיר מִדּוֹר לְדוֹר. בִּכְתַב הַדָּם וְהָעוֹפֶרֶת הוּא נִכְתַּב; הוּא לֹא שִׁירַת צִפּוֹר הַדְּרוֹר וְהַמֶּרְחָב, כִּי בֵּין קִירוֹת נוֹפְלִים שָׁרוּהוּ כָּל הָעָם, יַחְדָּיו שָׁרוּהוּ וְנאַגאַנִים בְּיָדָם. עַל כֵּן אַל נָא תֹּאמַר: דַּרְכִּי הָאַחֲרוֹנָה אֶת אוֹר הַיּוֹם הִסְתִּירוּ שְׁמֵי הָעֲנָנָה. זֶה יוֹם נִכְסַפְנוּ לוֹ עוֹד יַעַל וְיָבוֹא, וּמִצְעָדֵנוּ עוֹד יַרְעִים: אֲנַחְנוּ פֹּה!

References

*Fisher, Adam. ''An Everlasting Name: A Service for Remembering the Shoah.'' West Orange, NJ: Behrman House, 1991. *Kalisch, Shoshana and Barbara Meister. ''Yes, We Sang! Songs of the Ghettos and Concentration Camps.'' New York: Harper & Row, 1985.

External links

Music and the Holocaust – Zog Nit Keynmol
with archive recording by Dr David Boder. * ''Zemerl.com''.
זאָג נישט קיינמאָל!
Yiddish text.
Leaden Skies, musical physical theater workOral history interview and recording of Zog Nit Keynmol
from the

Yiddish Book Center The Yiddish Book Center (formerly the National Yiddish Book Center), located on the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, is a cultural institution dedicated to the preservation of books in the Yiddish language, ...

{{Authority control Vilna Ghetto Songs about the Holocaust Songs of World War II Jewish resistance during the Holocaust Songs in Yiddish 1943 songs Yiddish culture in Lithuania Anti-fascist music

History

Lyrics

Original lyrics

See also

References

External links