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Hunger March

Recorded Sound | Digitized | RG Number: RG-91.0094

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    Hunger March

    Overview

    Description
    Hunger March commemorates the food riots that took place during the summer of 1940 in the Łódź ghetto. Staged within the first few months of the ghetto's existence, these demonstrations on behalf of the starving populace caught the Jewish administration by surprise. German forces, assisted by the Jewish police, quelled the riots, but chairman Rumkowski soon yielded to the protesters' demands and created a Department of Relief to help support the poorest households. (It is Rumkowski who is addressed in song stanza 2; his reply appears in stanza 3.) The present recording of Jankiel Herszkowicz was made by Polish radio in 1965. Jankiel Herszkowicz, a tailor with a gift for lyric writing, chronicled life in the Łódź ghetto in a series of ballads that earned him fame-and needed income-as "Yankele, the street singer." Herszkowicz's irreverant wit and love of wordplay are evident in his best known song, rumkovski khayim, a broadside aimed at the ghetto's dictatorial chairman, Chaim Rumkowski. (The title puns on Rumkowski's first name, which means "life" in Hebrew.) In the summer of 1944, Herszkowicz was deported first to Auschwitz, then to a labor camp in Braunschweig, Germany, from which he was liberated in May 1945. After the war he returned to Łódź, where he worked at a variety of jobs and actively participated in the cultural affairs of the city's Jewish community. Herszkowicz was deeply anguished by the mass exodus of Jews from Poland following the antisemitic purges that began in 1968. Increasingly isolated and insecure, yet finally unwilling to join his friends in emigration, the 61-year-old Herszkowicz ended his own life on March 25, 1972.
    Alternate Title
    Hunger-marsh
    Date
    Composed:  1940 June-1940 August
    Contributor
    Lyricist: Jankiel Herszkowicz
    Composer: unidentified
    Biography
    Jankel Herszkowicz (1910-1972) was born on July 22, 1910 in Opatów, Poland. His father, Liber Herszkowicz and his mother Ruchla Bluma Szwarcman Herszkowicz moved to Łódź with their five sons and two daughters. In 1940 the Herszkowicz family was forced into the Łódź ghetto and only one brother, Majer, managed to escape to Russia. In March 1942 Liber, Ruchla Bluma and their youngest son, Aba Lajb, were deported to the Chełmno death camp where they were murdered on arrival.

    Jankel worked as a tailor, but also composed satirical songs, and became a street singer in the ghetto. He used popular Jewish melodies and wrote satirical songs about the ghetto realities. He performed together with Karol Rozenzweig, who accompanied Jankel on a zither. Jankel sang songs about the food rations, about the abuse of power by the Chairman of the Jewish Council, Chaim Rumkowski, and about soup kitchens. He was loved by the public, who also protected him. In one instance Jankel composed a song about “three Chaims”, which angered the chairman. He was arrested and imprisoned on Franciszkanska Street, but the crowd demanded his release and the next day he was indeed let free. Jankel’s street singer’s career is described in the “Łódź ghetto Chronicle”; entry on December 5, 1941 entitled “Es geyt a yeke mit a teke”. The song described the arrival of German Jews into the ghetto.

    In August 1944 Jankel was deported to Auschwitz and after a short while he was transferred to Braunschweig labor camp. In May 1945 the camp was liberated by the US Army and Jankel returned to Łódź. He was reunited with his brother Majer (d. 1947), the only other member of his family who survived.

    In 1953 Jankel married Bogumila and they had two sons: Jurek (b. 1954) and Aleksander (b. 1955.)
    Format
    MP3

    Physical Details

    Language
    Yiddish
    Genre/Form
    Music.

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    You do not require further permission from the Museum to access this archival media.
    Copyright
    Copyright Undetermined
    Conditions on Use
    Owner of copyright, if any, is undetermined. It is possible this is an orphan work. It is the responsibility of anyone interested in reproducing, broadcasting, or publishing content to determine copyright holder and secure permission, or perform a diligent Fair Use analysis.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Geographic Name
    Łódź, Poland.

    Administrative Notes

    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
    Performed by Jankiel Herszkowicz
    Recorded Sound Source
    Bret Werb
    Record last modified:
    2024-06-10 10:46:25
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn671454

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