Overview
- Description
- The song was written by Zelik Barditshever (1898-1937), an itinerant teacher, poet, and playwright from Belts, Bessarabia (present-day Bălții, Moldava). Collected by the Yiddish writer Leibu Levin, it first appeared in a volume of Barditshever's works published in Czernowitz, Romania (now Chernivtsi, Ukraine) in 1939.
- Alternate Title
- Khotsh
- Credit
- Accessed at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Library of Congress
- Contributor
-
Lyricist:
Zelik Barditshever
Composer: Zelik Barditshever
- Format
- MP3
Physical Details
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- You do not require further permission from the Museum to access this archival media.
- Copyright
- Library of Congress - Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS)
- Conditions on Use
- Requests for duplication of recorded sound materials at the Library of Congress begin with the Recorded Sound Research Center staff (202-707-7833), who gather basic information about the order, such as titles requested, format desired, collection restrictions (if any), and whether or not a copyright search is required. From there, the order goes to the Public Services Office for pricing and fulfillment. Refer to https://www.loc.gov/rr/record/audiodup.html for more information.
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Recorded Sound Provenance
- This song was included in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's web exhibition, "Music of the Holocaust" https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/music/ curated by the Museum's musicologist.
- Recorded Sound Notes
- Recorded by Ben Stonehill, Hotel Marseilles, New York, summer 1948.
From the Library of Congress, Ben Stonehill Collection containing field recordings of songs of European Jewish immigrants, described by Ben Stonehill as "containing almost a thousand songs collected from Jewish refugees in N.Y. City in 1948 that they brought with them from concentration camp, ghetto and hearth." Originally recorded on wire in New York City by Ben Stonehill, 1948.
Lyrics:
"What are you singing? What is this song called?
“Khotsh” (Though).
Very good.
Though I have no home, no land to live in,
The whole world hunts me, yet I don’t give in.
I live. Oh, I live.
A curse on my enemies—
What sense, what meaning
is there to my life,
to my endless wanderings?
Yet still I live. Oh, I live.
Though I have no feet, no hands, no part of me intact,
Yet I want to wildly dance.
I dance. Oh, I dance.
A curse on my enemies—
What sense, what meaning
is there to my life,
to my endless wanderings?
Yet still I dance. Oh, I dance.
A curse on my enemies—
What sense, what meaning
is there to my life,
to my endless wanderings?
Yet still I dance.
Though I have no voice left, no way to make a sound,
Yet I want to wildly sing.
So I sing. Oh, I sing.
A curse on my enemies—
What sense, what meaning
is there to my life,
to my endless wanderings?
Yet still I sing. Oh, I sing.
And so I live! - Recorded Sound Source
- Bret Werb
- Record last modified:
- 2024-02-21 07:28:58
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn671443
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Also in "Music of the Holocaust" web exhibition
Songs included in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's web exhibition, "Music of the Holocaust" https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/music/. Music was heard in many ghettos, concentration camps, and partisan outposts of Nazi-controlled Europe. While popular songs dating from before the war remained attractive as escapist fare, the ghetto, camp, and partisan settings also gave rise to a repertoire of new works. These included topical songs inspired by the latest gossip and news, and songs of personal expression that often concerned the loss of family and home. Classical music—instrumental works, art songs, opera—was also produced and performed during this period, notably by prisoners at the Theresienstadt (Terezín) ghetto and transit camp in Czechoslovakia, as well as in several other ghettos and camps. For many victims of Nazi brutality, music was an important means of preserving and asserting their humanity. Such music—particularly the topical songs—also serves as a form of historical documentation. Like “audio snapshots,” these works offer a telling glimpse into the events and emotions that their creators and original audiences experienced firsthand.
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