Shtil, di nakht iz oysgeshternt

Shtil, di nakht iz oysgeshternt , transcribed differently Schtil, di nacht is ojsgeschternt , Yiddish שטיל די נאכט איז אױסגעשטערנט , is a Yiddish partisan song whose text was composed by Hirsch Glik in World War II on the melody of a Russian folk song . As a love song, it celebrates the heroic deed of a Jewish partisan , was popularized by the Jewish United Partisan Organization (FPO) in Lithuania and later became world-famous.

history

The Vilna poet Hirsch Glik wrote the text of the song Schtil, di nacht is ojsgeschternt in the summer of 1942 after a successful campaign by Jewish partisans near Wilna (Yiddish Vilne), in which a German arms transport on trucks was destroyed, with the partisan Vitka Kempner (1920– 2012), who later became the wife of the partisan commander Abba Kovner and a campaigner in the Nakam underground organization , played a decisive role as a shooter. The song became one of the most popular among the Jewish partisans of the Fareinigte Partisaner Organisatzije (FPO). Hirsch Glik was one of them who was killed in action against the German armed forces in Estonia in 1944 . Internationally, the song and the actions of the Jewish partisans in Lithuania were practically unknown even after the Second World War, until Abba Kovner reported it to the assembled world press at the Eichmann trial .

The song became known in German-speaking countries through the German folklore duo Zupfgeigenhansel , who added the song to their repertoire and released it in 1979 on the LP Jiddische Lieder - 'ch hob gehert sogn . The song had previously been released in 1977 by the group Espe on the LP Yiddish . Other groups also took the song into their program, including the world music quartet Quadro Nuevo .

Content of the song

While Vitka Kempner destroyed an ammunition transport of the Wehrmacht with a self-made bomb in the summer of 1942, the setting for the story of the song Shtil, di nakht iz oysgeshternt is a frosty winter landscape in which the partisan drove a car full of weapons of the enemy with a bullet from a small one Pistol stops. The first of the four stanzas describes the cold, winter night before the lyrical self reminds the addressee of how he taught her how to use a weapon. In the second stanza, the heroine is described in her appearance and deed. The third stanza describes the shot that halts the enemy's transport of weapons. In the last stanza the heroine appears, full of snow in her hair and full of joy at her little victory that she has achieved for the next generation.

Text and melody

The song comprises four stanzas, each with four verses:

1. Shtil, di nakht iz oysgeshtérnt, And the frost has burned shtark. Tsi gedénkstu vi ikh raised dikh learned, haltn a shpáyer in di hent?	1. שטיל די נאכט איז אױסגעשטערנט און דער פֿראָסט האַט שטאַרק געברענט צו געדענקסטו װי איך האָב דיך געלערנט, האַלטן אַ שפײַער אין די הענט.	1. Still, the night is full of stars and the frost has burned hard. Do you remember how I taught you hold a gun in hand?
2. A moyd, a peltsl un a béret, and hold on tight to a nagán, a moyd with a sámetenem pónim, hit op dem sóynes karaván.	2. אַ מױד, אַ פעלצל און אַ בערעט, און האַלט אין האַנט פֿעסט אַ נאַגאַן, אַ מױד מיט אַ סאַמעטענעם פנים, היט אָפּ דעם שונאס קאַראַװאַן.	2. A girl, a fur coat and a beret, and holds a Nagant in her hand , a girl with a velvet face, hold back the enemy's column.
3. Getsílt, geshósn and met hot ir kléyninker pistóyl, an óyto a fúlinke with vofn farháltn hot zi with eyn koyl.	3. געצילט, געשאָסן און געטראָפֿן, האָט איר קלײנינקער פיסטױל, אַן אױטאָ אַ פֿולינקע מיט װאָפֿן פֿאַרהאַלטן האָט זי מיט אײן קױל.	3. Aimed, shot and hit has her little gun a car full of guns stopped her with a bullet.
4th Far tog fun vald aroysgekrókhn with shneygirlándn oyf di hor, gemútikt fun kléyninkn nitsókhn far úndzer náyem fráyen dor.	4th פֿאַר טאָג פֿון װאַלד אַרױסגעקראָכן, מיט שנײ גירלאַנדן אױף די האָר, געמוטיקט פֿון קלײנינקן ניצחון, פֿאַר אונדזער נײַעם פֿרײַען דור.	4th Crept out of the forest day ago with garlands of snow on their hair, encouraged by the small victory for our new free generation.

Web links

• Shtil Di Nakht ױסגעשטערנט , Partisan Lid - Partisan Song. Yad Vashem, Heartstrings - Music of the Holocaust
• Schtil, di Nacht is ojsgeschternt , sung by Zupfgeigenhansel , on Youtube
• Schtil di Nacht - Giorno della Memoria 27 gennaio 2012 , sung by Joachim Langeneck, guitar: Matteo Botti
• Quadro Nuevo - Shtil di Nakht is oysgesternt (instrumental)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jerry Silverman: The Undying Flame: Ballads and Songs of the Holocaust. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse (New York) 2002, p. 96.
2. ↑ Julia Smilga: The brave girl. The story of a Yiddish partisan song. Deutschlandfunk Kultur , April 25, 2014.