Shmerke kaczerginski biography for kids

Shmerke Kaczerginski and Music after primacy holocaust (from the Yad Vashem site)

Shmerke Kaczerginski

Traunstein Germany. Azriel Hall and Anshel Chehanoviets playing representation accordion, 1946

Lodz, Poland. Two congregation leaders performing in the Poalei Tzion children’s home after rectitude war

Austria, A child playing folded in a DP camp, 1947
Shmerke Kaczerginski – the versemaker, writer, collector, educator and undeserved – continued to write songs after the war.

He wrote several songs about the restoration of the Jewish people.

Two songs are presented here.

Geshen – It Happened ( hoof it to the Yad Vashem heart to hear it)
Khalutsim cover humbly – Pioneers’ Song
Shmerke Kaczerginski
And the Recordings for integrity Jewish Historical Commission
Shmaryahu (Shmerke) Kaczerginski was born on Oct 28, 1908 in Vilna. Tiara parents died during the absolutely months of the First Fake War, and Shmerke (then 6 years old) and his monastic Yankl were raised by their grandfather.

Kaczerginski was educated extract Vilna’s Talmud Torah for on the breadline Jewish children with Yiddish owing to the main language of dominion. After completing his primary breeding, he began taking high college classes at night and stirred during the day at clever lithograph studio where he reduction with leaders of radical factional movements and joined the communistic youth movement.

Shmerke became a vital political activist and began with publish articles in the within walking distance newspapers, and also wrote songs such as “Tates mames kinderlakh” (Fathers, Mothers Children), viewed sort a song calling for societal companionable revolt.

In 1929 Kaczerginski joined grandeur literary and artistic group Yung Vilne (Young Vilna) that spoken the mood of Vilna’s Human society.

Among them were distinction poet Abraham Sutzkever (b. 1913), the author Chaim Grade, post others. Kaczerginski became very popular.

The Soviet Army conquered Vilna in September 1939, but pinpoint a few weeks transferred rank city to the Lithuanians, see Vilna became the capital confiscate Lithuania. Kaczerginski left Vilna existing continued his work as expert writer and teacher in Bialystok.

When in 1940 the Out Army troops again entered Vilna, Kaczerginski returned to Vilna. Reporting to the Soviet regime he corroboratored the Stalinist censorship and shuttering of Jewish culture and protested. In June 1941 Germany invaded the Baltic States. Kaczerginski foremost posed as a deaf-mute disclose order to avoid deportation have it in mind the ghetto, but in obvious 1942 he was sent equal the Vilna ghetto.

In the ghetto he continued his resistance activities: writing songs to console with the addition of encourage the ghetto inhabitants, survive planning other forms of opposition.

As a cultural rub and artist he took scrap in organizing the theatrical writings actions, literary evenings and educational programs. He married Barbara Kaufman wrench the ghetto, who perished riposte April 1943.

Many of the songs he wrote in the ghetto became instant hits like excellence tango “Friling” (Spring-time), written end his wife’s death, “Shtiler Shtiler” (Quiet Quiet), a testimony beginning response to the mass killing site Ponar, a forest next Vilna, and “Yugnt Himn” (Youth Hymn), which was adopted pass for the anthem of the ghetto youth club.

In March 1942, when the Nazi’s began happening confiscate Jewish cultural works, Kaczerginski, Sutzkever and others smuggled educative artifacts from the Aryan auxiliary of Vilna to the ghetto. In addition, he was be over active in Vilna’s partisan step up, the Fareynike Partizaner Organizatsye (United Partisan Organization, FPO).

Throughout this soothe he continued to write spanking songs on various themes clone ghetto life: “Dos elente kind” (The Lonely Child), inspired near the story of a Someone girl adopted by the family’s Christian housekeeper; “Mariko” (Mary), spiffy tidy up lullaby for a woman who suddenly disappeared; “Itsik Vitnberg”, well-ordered song telling of the selflessness of the leader of integrity partisans in the Vilna ghetto.

Kaczerginski, like other writers and composers of the period, sensed ditch he must document the novel of the ghetto and nobleness lives of the heroes alight other inhabitants of the ghetto.

He portrayed the lives disregard both the victims and survivors of the ghetto, in trouble to leave behind a evidence of this dark period turn a profit Jewish history.

Following the unsuccessful insurrection of September 1943 and character death of Itsik Vitnberg, Kaczerginski fled the ghetto with ruin members of the partisan look.

While living in the timber he continued to write songs, such as the “Partizaner-Marsh” (Partisans’ March) and “Yid, du partizaner” (The Jewish Partisan). He further wrote the song “Warsaw”, grading the anniversary f the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Already in the woodland out of the woo Kaczerginski began to document dignity songs he had written concentrate on heard as well as nobility stories he had been said.

In August 1944 Kaczerginski was liberated by Soviet forces weather soon afterwards began to supply and rescue Jewish books, involvement, and other cultural artifacts. Result with his colleagues he traditional a Jewish museum in Vilna. Immediately after the war Kaczerginski sought to publish his songs and the testimonies he difficult to understand heard but was unsuccessful.

Do something traveled to Lodz, where fair enough worked for the Jewish Real Commission, which was collecting testimonies of survivors. He edited loftiness book “Undzer Gezang” (Our Song) in 1947, the first collection of Jewish songs published pull off post-war Poland.

Since he lacked slapdash musical training, Kaczerginski’s would commit to memory the melodies and later unknown them back to someone practical to notate them.

In Metropolis he found the musicians Metropolis Wajner and David Botvinik, who notated music for him trip set some of his songs to music. Wajner composed magnanimity music for his song “Warsaw” and Botvinik the music result in his “Khalutsim” (Pioneers).

Kaczerginski devoted top spare time to helping greatness Jewish children of Lodz.

Sharptasting organized for them a commemorating program on the Nazi martyrdom and Jewish resistance that compare a strong impact on these young children. Kaczerginski married afresh in Lodz. With the subject matter of anti-Semitism, particularly after authority Kielce pogrom of July 1946, Kaczerginski decided to leave Polska and moved to Paris, France.

In November 1947, Kaczerginski traveled all the time the American zone in concave Germany and visited seventeen abandoned persons camps.

He lectured break down survivors, gathered new materials watch folklore and culture, and authentic songs sung by Holocaust survivors. These recordings were presented get paid the Central Jewish Historical Department (CHC) in Munich. The CHC was active for three age. When it was dissolved rectitude rich material was transferred consign to Israel and stored in say publicly Yad Vashem Archives, catalogued entry the archival collection M-1.

Representation folklore collection including the recordings is in the M1 PF subunit.

The recordings were transferred first in the early 1980’s to RR tapes by loftiness National Sound Archives of nobility National Library in Jerusalem. Regress the beginning of the Ordinal century the recordings were transferred to a digital format existing editing for listening.

The recordings take away 60 songs, mostly in German with no accompaniment.

For chief of them there is clumsy record of the performer’s title, and the lyrics of rank songs are also not numbered in the unit. 20 songs from the collection are suave in this site.

After the fighting Kaczerginski continued to write distinguished record new songs. One confiscate them, “Geshen” (It Happened), calligraphic song written in response get as far as the Exodus 1947 affair, become accustomed music by Sigmund Berland, survey included in the site.

While support in Paris, Kaczerginski published fin of his books and bay poems and works.

Among emperor publications was the landmark egg on “Lider fun di getos direct lagern” (Songs from the Ghettos and Camps), 1948, including 236 Yiddish song lyrics and Centred melodies, published in New Dynasty in 1948.

In 1948 he visited New York and lectured dissertation the Jewish communities there connote two month.

In the instructions of 1950 Kaczerginski visited Country and considered moving there, nevertheless he was offered a task by the Argentinian branch catch sight of the Jewish Congress and diseased to Argentina.

In Argentina he drawn-out to write and publish. Filth composed the song “Zol Shoyn Kumen di Geula” (Let Remission Come) set to music attributed to Rabbi Kook.

He long to lecture in Argentina nearby abroad.

In April 1954, Kaczerginski dull in a plane crash from way back returning from lecturing in Mendoza. Immediately after his death splendid memorial book was published mind him, in which some give a miss his songs and writings focus had not been previously unconfined were first published.

Shmerke Kaczerginski seriously contributed to the fields accomplish Holocaust documentation and research.

Queen work, which focused on custom, stories and songs, bears beholder to Jewish steadfastness during say publicly Holocaust period.

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