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Songs of the ghettos, concentration camps, and World War II partisan outposts

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Songs of Jewish Displaced Persons

The Cornstalk (Dos Zangl)

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Lyrics by: Hirsh Glik

Music by: Polish folk song

Language: Yiddish


Performers: Unknown

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    The Cornstalk

    Hirsh Glik, “the partisan poet,” created “The Cornstalk” in early 1943 at the Lithuanian forced labor camp Biała-Waka, where he worked mining peat from the surrounding swampland. The song’s romantic,…

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Hirsh Glik, “the partisan poet,” created “The Cornstalk” in early 1943 at the Lithuanian forced labor camp Biała-Waka, where he worked mining peat from the surrounding swampland. The song’s romantic, optimistic lyrics—while seemingly incongruous—greatly pleased an audience in need of escapist fare. When the Germans shut down Biała-Waka, Glik and other prisoners were sent to the nearby Vilna ghetto, and the song became popular there as well. Stonehill’s recording captures a lively performance by an unnamed Yiddish folk duo (a power fluctuation resulted in the loss of a few words from the recording).

Related Links

  • For Glik's biography, see “Never Say That You Have Reached the Final Road.”

David Boder Collection We Long for a Home (Es benkt zikh nokh ahaym)

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