BEHIND THE BARBED WIRE

Behind a strong barbed wire fence,
Lódz ghetto, Lódz Ghetto is sealed.

Surrounded by Germans everywhere,
Nobody can escape from here.

In the ghetto they portion out a pot of soup,
In addition, some crumbs of saccharine.

Maybe they will give us rotten radishes,
So in the ghetto, in the ghetto, we shall somehow live.

Yesterday, a big transport was sent,
It brings nothing good, nothing good.

Father went, mother went,
I stayed behind alone , I will remain alone, until the end.

Behind a barbed-wire fence
We shall all be buried.


RUMKOVSKI CHAIM

Jews are blessed with khaim (life)
Life unto death
Chaim from the house of Life (the cemetery)
Rumkovski Chaim with his great miracle
He performs miracles every day
Enough to make you cry 'Gevalt'
Everyone’s asking a different question
But Chaim just says 'Everything is fine!'

But our Chaim is great
He gives us bran
He gives us barley
He gives us manna
In times gone by, Jews ate man (manna)
in the desert
Today every wife is eating her own man
Rumkovski Chaim thought it through well
Worked hard by day and night
He created a ghetto with a diet (food store)
And he cries 'gevalt' that he is right.

Chaim Weitzmann said
He wanted Jews to go to Palestine
He told them to plow and to sow
He sent them all to hell!
But our Chaim, Rumkovski Chaim
He gives us the leftovers every day
One person gets a piece of bread
Another a piece of horsemeat
He’s sending the whole ghetto to hell

But our Chaim...

The third Chaim from the House of Life
Made a good deal with the Angel of Death
He should provide him more and more corpses
He should provide them day and night
So the Angel of Death
Got to work right away
He makes a mess out of every hero
He does it quickly
He does it well
He makes the whole ghetto weak and tired.

But our Chaim...

On a summer day
A hot day
Rumkovski goes through the streets
Looking like an emperor
A light colored suit
And dark glasses
Surrounded by police
I tell you , folks
Our emperor has grey hair
May he live to be a hundred
(not the traditional 120)

But our Chaim...

Rumkovski Chaim, the Eldest of the Jews
Is employed by the Gestapo
We Jews are his brothers
And he supplies us food
He makes miracles,
Every day
For heaven’s sake oy, oy, oy
Everyone asks
A second question oy
Chaim says: It’s good this way!


GHETTO, LITTLE GHETTO

Ghetto, little ghetto, oh ghetto my love,
You are so small and so corrupt.
Whoever has a strong arm,
Whoever wears a ‘badge’,
Gets the nicest and the best of everything,
Even a position of the highest order.
But if you’re an intellectual,
Without a cent,
You drag yourself around like a corpse
Without bread and without an address
And sing to yourself in Turkish
Oh eat! (Oh yes!)

The girls are all ashamed
No make-up no eyelashes,
No bed, nothing!
No rouge, no perm
No lunch no dinner,
No soap to wash with
But, poor things
Just don’t be all cheap tits and ass
And everyone sing the refrain along with me

Ghetto, little ghetto...

Don’t worry and don’t fret
Things will be fine again here
There will even be potatoes!
The day is almost upon us
We’ll have sponge cake for the holidays
And drink Carmel wine made from barley
But, poor things
Just don’t be all cheap tits and ass
And everyone sing the refrain along with me

Ghetto, little ghetto...


THERE ARE NO RAISINS

No raisins and no almonds,
Your father has not gone out trading,
Lu, lu, lu, my son,
Lu, lu, lu, my son.

He has left us, gone away,
To the end of the world,
Lu, lu, lu, my son,
Lu, lu, lu my son.

Owls are screeching, wolves are howling,
God have pity on us and help us,
Lu, lu, lu, my son
Lu, lu,lu my son.

Somewhere he stands and watches,
Lots of almonds and raisins,
Lu, lu, lu, my son,
Lu, lu, lu, my son.

There’s no doubt that he will come,
To watch you son, my only crown,
Lu, lu, lu, my son,
Lu, lu, lu, my son.


GYPSY SONG

The dark night, black as coal,
I’m just thinking and thinking
And my heart is beating.

We Gypsies live like no-one else,
We suffer misery, only just enough for bread.

Dzhum, dzhum, dzhum…
We flying all around like peewit (lapwing),
Dzhum, dzhum, dzhum…
Among balalaika sounds.

There is no day, there is no night.
Everybody is rambling
And only thinking and thinking.

We Gypsies…


IT'S A YEKE WALKS AROUND

There goes a Yeke
With a briefcase
Looking for butter or margarine
No way
There’s nothing to buy
He gets a visa to Marysin


SACCHARIN

A call of an street vendor: “Saccharin for five marks”.


WHO KNOCKS SO LATE AT NIGHT?

Who knocks so late at night?
Yankele my boyfirend.
Open, open Brontshele,
I am your belowed.

How can I open up?
I'm afraid of my father.
Open up, Brontshele,
No harm will come to you.

Who's knocking so late at night?
It's suffering striking the ghetto,
Three years in the ghetto,
Now we must part.

How can I open up?
I'm afraid of the old man (Rumkowski).
Open a storehouse,
I'll hide it well.


HERE IN THE GHETTO BY THE BRIDGE

Here in the ghetto by to the bridge,
A German soldier stands,
As I cross the bridge.

He’s holding a gun in his hand,
And he looks at me.
I am afraid
And I want to cry.

I can’t walk any more
Because I am dying of hunger,
My legs are paralyzed
And my hands are shaking.

Maybe he will be struck by lightning,
Maybe the cholera will take him,
And I, over the bridge,
Will hear his screaming.

If someone would punish the Germans
And rescue us from the ghetto!
On the bridge I stand and dream
That the day will come.


COLD

Cold.
How ruthless is the winter night,
I walk alone, deep in thought,
The sky is full of dreary clouds.

Cold.
The chilly wind begins to laugh,
It will rain all night.
My heart goes out to you, my love.

This is such a world,
Where people dance on money,
And purple wine is being poured,
In gold and silver goblets,
This is such a world…

Cold.
How ruthless is my deep despair,
When you went away from me
I was left here alone.

Cold.
I see closed railroad cars
Speeding by all through the night.
Where did they take you?

This is such a world…

Cold.
Snow is falling in the street,
It is freezing, dark and wet.
How sad is my soul.

Cold.
Will the time ever come?
Perhaps it will come soon?
We shall live to take revenge!


CLOSE YOUR LITTLE EYES

Close your little eyes,
Little birds are coming,
Circling around
The head of your cradle
Baggage in hand
Our home in ashes
We are setting out, my child
In search of luck

God has closed off the world
And night is all around
Waiting for us
Full of horror and fear
The two of us stand here
In this difficult, difficult, moment
Not knowing where
The road leads.

Naked and bare
We were chased from our home
In darkness
Driven into the fields
And storm, hail and wind
Have accompanied us, my child
Accompanied us into
The abyss of the world.


CHILDREN ARE GOING

Children are going, are going away,
A brother and a sister
Wondering about the world,
What a nasty world.

Here you see a yellow patch,
There you see barbed-wire fence,
We wear worn-out clothes
And wooden shoes.

The starved children here
Are crying all the time,
The fenced Lodz ghetto
They do not let us go.

Yesterday they took away the orphans
And sent them far away,
One wants to cry,
And it is sad, and it is a pity.

Children are going, are going away,
In their last days
They can only cry
As long as the train keeps going.