Zog nit keyn mol

The lyrics of the song were written in 1943 by Hirsh Glick, a young Jewish inmate of the Vilna Ghetto, for the Vilna Jewish United Partisan Organization (FPO).{{Cite web |title="Zog nit keyn mol" (Never Say) {{!}} Music of the Holocaust |url=https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/music/never-say.asp |access-date=2022-02-03 |website=Yad Vashem |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Gilbert |first=Shirli |date=2008 |title=Buried Monuments: Yiddish Songs and Holocaust Memory |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25473010 |journal=History Workshop Journal |issue=66 |pages=121 |jstor=25473010 |issn=1363-3554 }} The title means "Never Say" (lit. "don't say – [n]ever"), and derives from the first line of the song.

Glick's lyrics were set to music from a pre-war Soviet song written by Pokrass brothers, Dmitri and {{ill|Daniil Pokrass|lt=Daniil|ru|Покрасс, Даниил Яковлевич}}, originally "{{lang|ru|Терская походная}}" ("Terek Cossacks' March Song"), later renamed into "Cossacks' Song", later titled by its first line as "{{lang|ru|То не тучи - грозовые облака}}" (Those aren't clouds but thunderclouds), lyrics by Alexey Surkov. The original song itself has a history, typical of the Soviet times. The song was written in fall 1936 and first performed in the 1937 Soviet documentary "Sons of the Working People" about the 1936 military exercise of the Red Army. The title of the film alludes at the Red Army oath of allegiance: "I, a son of the working people, " ("{{lang|ru|Я, сын трудового народа...}}") The song title refers to "{{lang|ru|6-я казачья кавалерийская Кубанско-Терская Чонгарская дивизия имени Буденного}}" aka the 6th Cavalry Division.

The film was released in early May, but it was soon quietly removed from the distribution, supposedly because it featured marshals Tukhachevsky and Uborevich, repressed in late May 1937 (Case of the Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization), and they began to "vanish". At the same time, the November release of a disk in which Leonid Utyosov was performing this song was removed from the distribution and replaced in December with another one, in which the film, where song originated, was not mentioned. The title "Those aren't clouds..." was used in the 1939th release of Utyosov's performance of the song. The melody of the song has nothing with traditional Cossack songs, but rather based on typical Jewish harmonies.Nikolay Ovsyannikov, [http://www.alefmagazine.com/pub5096.html "От терской походной до еврейской партизанской"], Aleph Magazine, March 7, 2021 Some find traces of Oyfn Pripetshik in it. {{cn|date=April 2022}}

Glick was inspired to write the song by news of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. During World War II, "Zog nit keyn mol" was adopted by a number of Jewish partisan groups operating in Eastern Europe. It became a symbol of resistance against Nazi Germany's persecution of the Jews and the Holocaust.

In the Soviet Union, the song was first publicly performed in 1949 by Paul Robeson under the title "The Song of the Warsaw Ghetto", sung part in English, part in Yiddish. The melody was immediately recognized by the listeners. (Probably this was an origin of the error in some sources which claim that the song was written in Warsaw Ghetto.) While the verse was translated into Russian in the Soviet Union, the song was never performed there again, neither in Russian, nor in Yiddish.

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Yiddish in transliteration

Zog nit keyn mol, az du geyst dem letstn veg,

Khotsh himlen blayene farshteln bloye teg.

Kumen vet nokh undzer oysgebenkte sho,

S'vet a poyk ton undzer trot: mir zaynen do!

Fun grinem palmenland biz vaysn land fun shney,

Mir kumen on mit undzer payn, mit undzer vey,

Un vu gefaln s'iz a shprits fun undzer blut,

Shprotsn vet dort undzer gvure, undzer mut!

S'vet di morgnzun bagildn undz dem haynt,

Un der nekhtn vet farshvindn mit dem faynt,

Nor oyb farzamen vet di zun in dem kayor –

Vi a parol zol geyn dos lid fun dor tsu dor.

Dos lid geshribn iz mit blut, un nit mit blay,

S'iz nit keyn lidl fun a foygl oyf der fray,

Dos hot a folk tsvishn falndike vent

Dos lid gezungen mit naganes in di hent.

To zog nit keyn mol, az du geyst dem letstn veg,

Khotsh himlen blayene farshteln bloye teg.

Kumen vet nokh undzer oysgebenkte sho –

S'vet a poyk ton undzer trot: mir zaynen do!

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English translation

Never say that you're going your last way

Although the skies filled with lead cover blue days

Our promised hour will soon come

Our marching steps ring out: 'We are here!'

From green lands of palm to lands with white snow

We come with our pain and our woes

And from where a spurt of our blood falls

Will sprout our strength and our courage

Today the morning sun will accompany us

And the night will fade away with the enemy

But if the sun waits to rise

Like a password this song will go from generation to generation

This song is written with blood and not with [pencil] lead

It's not a tune sung by birds in the wild

This song was sung by people amidst collapsing walls

Sung with pistolsNote: The original text uses the term נאַגאַן, nagan, referring to the Nagant M1895 pistol, produced in the Soviet Union and used in great numbers during World War II. in their hands

So never say that you're going your last way

Although the skies filled with lead cover blue days

Our promised hour will soon come

Our marching steps ring out: 'We are here'!

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Original Yiddish

,זאָג ניט קיין מאָל, אַז דו גייסט דעם לעצטן וועג

.כאָטש הימלען בלײַענע פֿאַרשטעלן בלויע טעג

– קומען וועט נאָך אונדזער אויסגעבענקטע שעה

!ס׳וועט אַ פּויק טאָן אונדזער טראָט: מיר זײַנען דאָ

,פֿון גרינעם פּאַלמענלאַנד ביז ווײַסן לאַנד פֿון שניי

,מיר קומען אָן מיט אונדזער פּײַן, מיט אונדזער וויי

,און וווּ געפֿאַלן ס׳איז אַ שפּריץ פֿון אונדזער בלוט

!שפּראָצן וועט דאָרט אונדזער גבֿורה, אונדזער מוט

,ס׳וועט די מאָרגנזון באַגילדן אונדז דעם הײַנט

,און דער נעכטן וועט פֿאַרשווינדן מיט דעם פֿײַנט

– נאָר אויב פֿאַרזאַמען וועט די זון אין דעם קאַיאָר

.ווי אַ פּאַראָל זאָל גיין דאָס ליד פֿון דור צו דור

,דאָס ליד געשריבן איז מיט בלוט, און ניט מיט בלײַ

,ס׳איז ניט קיין לידל פֿון אַ פֿויגל אויף דער פֿרײַ

דאָס האָט אַ פֿאָלק צווישן פֿאַלנדיקע ווענט

.דאָס ליד געזונגען מיט נאַגאַנעס אין די הענט

,טאָ זאָג ניט קיין מאָל, אַז דו גייסט דעם לעצטן וועג

.כאָטש הימלען בלײַענע פֿאַרשטעלן בלויע טעג

– קומען וועט נאָך אונדזער אויסגעבענקטע שעה

!ס׳וועט אַ פּויק טאָן אונדזער טראָט: מיר זײַנען דאָ

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Hebrew Translation by Avraham Shlonsky

אַל נָא תֹּאמַר: "הִנֵּה דַּרְכִּי הָאַחֲרוֹנָה,

אֶת אוֹר הַיּוֹם הִסְתִּירוּ שְׁמֵי הָעֲנָנָה!"

זֶה יוֹם נִכְסַפְנוּ לוֹ עוֹד יַעַל וְיָבוֹא

וּמִצְעָדֵנוּ עוֹד יַרְעִים: אֲנַחְנוּ פֹּה!

מֵאֶרֶץ הַתָּמָר עַד יַרְכְּתֵי כְּפוֹרִים

אֲנַחְנוּ פֹּה בְּמַכְאוֹבוֹת וְיִסּוּרִים

וּבַאֲשֶׁר טִפַּת דָּמֵנוּ שָׁם נִגְּרָה

הֲלֹא יָנוּב עוֹד עֹז רוּחֵנוּ בִּגְבוּרָה.

עַמּוּד הַשַּׁחַר עַל יוֹמֵנוּ אוֹר יָהֵל.

עִם הַצּוֹרֵר יַחֲלֹף תְּמוֹלֵנוּ כְּמוֹ צֵל.

אַךְ אִם חָלִילָה יְאַחֵר לָבוֹא הָאוֹר

כְּמוֹ סִיסְמָה יְהֵא הַשִּׁיר מִדּוֹר לְדוֹר.

בִּכְתַב הַדָּם וְהָעוֹפֶרֶת הוּא נִכְתַּב;

הוּא לֹא שִׁירַת צִפּוֹר הַדְּרוֹר וְהַמֶּרְחָב,

כִּי בֵּין קִירוֹת נוֹפְלִים שָׁרוּהוּ כָּל הָעָם,

יַחְדָּיו שָׁרוּהוּ וְנאַגאַנִים בְּיָדָם.

עַל כֵּן אַל נָא תֹּאמַר: דַּרְכִּי הָאַחֲרוֹנָה

אֶת אוֹר הַיּוֹם הִסְתִּירוּ שְׁמֵי הָעֲנָנָה.

זֶה יוֹם נִכְסַפְנוּ לוֹ עוֹד יַעַל וְיָבוֹא,

וּמִצְעָדֵנוּ עוֹד יַרְעִים: אֲנַחְנוּ פֹּה!

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• {{lang|it|Bella ciao}} – Italian partisan song
• {{lang|it|Bandiera Rossa}} – Italian revolutionary song
• {{lang|it|Fischia il vento}} – song associated with the Italian partisans
• {{lang|it|{{ill|Siamo i ribelli della montagna|it}}}} – Italian partisan song

{{Reflist}}

• Fisher, Adam. An Everlasting Name: A Service for Remembering the Shoah. West Orange, NJ: Behrman House, 1991.
• Kalisch, Shoshana and Barbara Meister. Yes, We Sang! Songs of the Ghettos and Concentration Camps. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.

• [http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/ghettos/vilna/zog-nit-keynmol/ Music and the Holocaust – Zog Nit Keynmol] with archive recording by Dr David Boder.
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071024025927/http://zemerl.com/cgi-bin//show.pl?title=Zog+Nit+Keynmol "Zog Nit Keynmol"]}} Zemerl.com.
• [http://www.zemereshet.co.il/song.asp?id=162 זאָג נישט קיינמאָל!] Yiddish text.
• [http://www.shoaheducation.com/resistancesongs.html Songs of the Holocaust]{{dead link|date=July 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• [http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/arts/muspart.htm Music of the Partisans]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20111227230427/http://www.leaden-skies.com/ Leaden Skies, musical physical theater work]
• [https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/oral-histories/excerpts/woh-ex-0002469/zog-nit-keyn-mol-dolph-sings-partisan-hymn Oral history interview and recording of Zog Nit Keynmol] from the Yiddish Book Center

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Category:Vilna Ghetto

Category:Songs about the Holocaust

Category:Songs of World War II

Category:Jewish resistance during the Holocaust

Category:Songs in Yiddish

Category:1943 songs

Category:Yiddish culture in Lithuania

Category:Anti-fascist music