Songs of the ghettos, concentration camps, and World War II partisan outposts
Songs of Jewish Displaced Persons
The Cornstalk (Dos Zangl)
Lyrics by: Hirsh Glik
Music by: Polish folk song
Language: Yiddish
Performers: Unknown
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).
