This song was wrilten by Hirsh Glik (1922-1944) in 1942 after partisans blew up a German convoy of trucks. A member of the literary group of young poets, Yungvald, before the war, Glik was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Estonia and was killed by the Germans in 1944. Composer unknown.
Still the night and full of starlight,
And the frost burned on the land;
Do you still remernher how I taught you
To hold a revolver in your hand?
A girl. a sheepskin and a beret.
In her hands she holds a gun,
A girl with her face as smooth as velvet
Keeps watch of the enemy’s caravan.
An aim, a shot right on the target,
Her small pistol had reached its mark,
An auto filled high with ammunition
Her shot had stopped it in the dark.
At dawn she crept out of the woodland,
With snowy garlands in her hair.
Encouraged by her little victory
For our future freer heirs.
Shtil, di nakht iz oysgeshternt,
Un der frost — er hot gebrent:
Tsi gedenkstu vi ikh hob dikh gelernt
Haltn a shpayer in di hent.
A moyd, a peltsl un a beret,
Un halt in hant fest a nagan.
A moyd mit a sametenem ponim
Hit op dem soynes karavan.
Getsilt, geshosn un getrofn
Hot ir kleyninker pistoyl.
An oyto, a fulinkn mit vofn
Farhaltn hot zi mit eyn koyl.
Far tog, fun vald aroysgekrokhn.
Mit shney-girlandn af di hor.
Gemutikt fun kleyninkn nitsokhn
Far undzer nayem, frayen dor.
שטיל די נאַכט איז אױסגעשטערנט
און דער פֿראָסט — ער האָט געברענט;
צי געדענקסטו װי איך האָב דיך געלערנט
האַלטן אַ שפּײַער אין די הענט.
אַ מױד, אַ פּעלצל און אַ בערעט,
און האַלט אין האַנט פֿעסט אַ נאַגאַן,
אַ מױד מיט אַ סאַמעטענעם פּנים
היט אָפּ דעם שׂונאס קאַראַװאַן.
געצילט, געשאָסן און געטראָפֿן
האָט איר קלײנינקער פּיסטױל,
אַן אױטאָ אַ פֿולינקן מיט װאָפֿן
פֿאַרהאַלטן האָט זי מיט אײן קױל.
פֿאַר טאָג פֿון װאַלד אַרױסגעקראָכן,
מיט שנײ־גירלאַנדן אױף די האָר,
געמוטיקט פֿון קלײנינקן נצחון
פֿאַר אונדזער נײַעם פֿרײַען דור.
Song Title: Shtil Di Nakht
Compiled by sisters Malke Gottleib and Chana Mlotek, this collection of 40 songs, issued on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, reflects the suffering, despair, longing, as well as the strength, hope and courage that led the last remnant of enfeebled Jews to take up arms against the mammoth Nazi war-machine. Save for five songs, this compilation comprises songs that were actually written or sung in the ghettos and concentration camps. Four exceptions written after the war: “Babi Yar,” “Moyshelekh un Shloymelekh,” “Kadish,” and “Mayn mame hot gevolt zayn oyf mayn khasene” are often presented at commemorative gatherings and were therefore included. The fifth song “Am Yisroel Khay” was written in a D.P. camp and is an affirmation of the will of the survivors to build new lives for themselves, holding high their belief in the endurance of the Jewish people. To enable readers and singers not conversant with the Yiddish alphabet to utilize this collection, We Are Here! Songs of the Holocaust provides parallel transliterations and singable English translations by Roslyn Bresnick Perry.
