This song was sung in the ghetto of Biala Podlaska. Author and composer unknown.
In a Polish town at break of dawn
Is heard a scream, a clamor and a moan,
People half crazy, stirring about,
Suddenly a call – hey, Jew, get out!
Ukrainians, militia, full of police
To murder the Jews, this gives them peace;
There’s fear and there’s panic they slaughter and maim,
They’re taking the Jews off to the train.
No pen can write how it feels,
The sound, motion of the wheels
Cars packed, bodies strain,
Jews riding to their death, in God’s name,
To Treblinka, to Treblinka.
Our brothers who live across the sea,
Can’t know our pain, our misery,
Cannot know how bitter, how our world’s bereft,
Each hour, each minute we face death.
People’s tears will soon be flowing
From their finding, from their knowing
A grave, largest in the world –
Jews millions, rest in that soil,
In Treblinka, in Treblinka.
In a poylisher shtot, gants fri far tog.
Hert men a geshrey, a yomer, a klog;
Mentshn halb meshuge naket un bloyz;
Plutslung hert men: yidn. shnel aroys!
Zhandarmen, ukrainer, politsey fil.
Tsu mordn di yidn – dos iz zeyer tsil;
Zey mordn un shlogn a moyre, a shrek,
Men firt di yidn tsum ban avek.
Bashraybn dos ken nit keyn feder,
Vi es dreyen zikh di reder.
Di vagonen zenen ful,
Es forn yidn af kidush-hashem.
Keyn treblinka ! keyn treblinka!
Undzere brider un shvester fun yener zayt yam,
Zey kenen nit filn undzer bitem tam.
Zey kenen nit visn undzer bitere noyt,
Az undz dervart yede minut der toyt.
Kvaln trern veln rinen,
Ven men vet a mol gefinen
Dem grestn keyver in der velt!
Dorft ruen yidn milyonen fil:
In treblinka! in treblinka!
אין אַ פּױלישער שטאָט, גאַנץ פֿרי פֿאַר טאָג,
הערט מען אַ געשרײ, אַ יאָמער, אַ קלאָג;
מענטשן האַלב משוגע, נאַקעט און בלױז;
פּלוצלינג הערט מען; ייִדן, שנעל אַרױס!
זשאַנדאַרמען, אוקראַיִנער, פּאָליצײ פֿיל,
צו מאָרדן די ייִדן — דאָס איז זײער ציל;
זײ מאָרדן און שלאָגן אַ מורא, אַ שרעק,
מען פֿירט די ייִדן צום באַן אַװעק.
באַשרײַבן דאָס קען ניט קײן פֿעדער,
װי עס דרײען זיך די רעדער.
די װאַגאָנען זײַנען פֿול,
עס פֿאָרן ייִדן אױף קידוש־השם.
קײן טרעבלינקע! קײן טרעבלינקע!
אונדזערע ברידער פֿון יענער זײַט ים,
זײ קענען ניט פֿילן אונדזער ביטערן טעם,
זײ קענען ניט װיסן אונדזער ביטערע נױט,
אַז אונדז דערװאַרט יעדע מינוט דער טױט.
קװאַלן טרערן װעלן רינען,
װען מען װעט אַ מאָל געפֿינען,
דעם גרעסטן קבֿר אין דער װעלט!
דאָרט רוען ייִדן מיליאָנען פֿיל:
אין טרעבלינקע! אין טרעבלינקע!
Song Title: Treblinke
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.
