Today is Yom Hashoah

[ikojo]

I lifted this straight from an e mail I received this morning....

The link below will take you to a rare recording of the "Hatikva " from 62 years ago.

It is profoundly moving.

It was recorded by a British reporter in May 1945 in Bergen-Belsen when the British army liberated the few thousand survivors in the concentration camp, half of whom were Jewish, and most of them at the low ebb of their strength.

The British priest organized prayers for Kabbalat Shabbat for the Jews, it was the first time after 6 years of war and after more than 10 years of persecution. With a lot of effort the Jews organized themselves and knowing they were recorded and sang " Hatikva".

As you can hear they sang the original version exactly as it was written by N aftali Imber.

http://genealogy.org.il/BergenBelsenHatikva.mp3 <http://genealogy.org.il/BergenBelsenHatikva.mp3>

[cosmik debris]

1. kick

this should not be buried as if it were trivia.

[ikojo]

4. Thanks for kicking it...looks like it

did get buried. I posted it in GD rather than the Jewish group because I thought it merited greater exposure.

[rug]

2. Chilling.

[coffeenap]

3. kick to remember...

[DemoTex]

5. Dachau was liberated 29 April 1945 (62 years ago, too)

My dad, an Army captain then, was one of the first through the gates. Do not ever deny the Holocaust to him.


Dachau, April 1945, when there was finally something to cheer.

[Critters2]

9. I have a parishioner who was with the troops who liberated Dachau

A big, strapping career miltary guy. He talks of this frequently, so that people don't forget. And every time he speaks of it, he cries.

[DemoTex]

11. Dad never speaks of it. Other than informing us as children.

But I knew all about Dachau before I knew the meaning of Korea.

[Critters2]

12. This gentleman, whom I deeply admire, says he didn't talk about it much

until he started hearing about Holocaust deniers. Now he talks about it with anyone who'll listen. He says it's more important as survivors die off.

[ikojo]

15. Did your dad ever talk about what he saw

at Dachau?

[Canuckistanian]

6. C'mon, let's have a few rec's here!

I'm even going to DL the MP3 to give a listen.

Remember!

[bonito]

7. K&R n/t

[RB TexLa]

8. very moving

[Critters2]

10. Heard this on NPR this afternoon

According to that report, the clergyman who led the Shabbat prayers wasn't a priest, but an English Jewish Chaplain. I found myself wondering what emotions he must have felt, as this powerful song rose up from those who had suffered so.

Thanks for posting this.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. FYI all military members of the clergy are known as

chaplains, nice generic term.

As to what he felt... well that recording sent shivers down my back. I'm sure it was similar

[Critters2]

33. NPR specifically said he was Jewish. I think it matters nt

[annabanana]

13. Very powerful

thank you

[HuffleClaw]

14. wow

i just finished watching the bbc documentary series 'auschwitz: inside the nazi state', a quite comprehensive history of the infamous death camp. i've always admired hannah arendt's description of the nazis as 'the banality of evi', which to me says that unless we are aware and vigilant such events can and will happen again. (and have. pol pot for example)

[Behind the Aegis]

16. My attempt at a transcription.

Announcer: Seven years ago, today, a remarkable recording was made in the German concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen. The recording became part of a radio report on the liberation of that death camp that was filed by Patrick Gordon Walker, who worked for the BBC.

Announcer: This is London calling North America.

Walker: The day I reached Belsen concentration camp, the fifth day of liberation was a Friday, the day before the Jewish Sabbath. Something like half of the surviving prisoners at Belsen were Jews and the Jewish chaplain to the British Second army, the Rev. L.H. Hartman, held an evening Sabbath service in the open air in the midst of the camp. It was the first Jewish service that many of the men and women present had taken part in for six years. It was probably the first Jewish service held on German soil in absolute security and without fear for a decade. Around us lay the corpses for there had not been the time to clear away, even after five days. Forty-thousand (40, 000) or more had been cleared but there were still one or two thousand around and people were still lying down and dying in broad daylight in front of our eyes. This was the background for this open-air Jewish service. During the service, the few hundred people gathered together were sobbing openly with joy at their liberation and with sorrow at the memory of their parents, and brothers and sisters that had been taken from them and gassed and burned. These people knew they were being recorded. They wanted the world to hear their voice. They made a tremendous effort, which quite exhausted them. Listen:



כָּל עוֹד בַּלֵּבָב פְּנִימָה (Kol od ballevav penimah) (So long as within a Jewish breast,)
,נֶפֶשׁ יְהוּדִי הוֹמִיָּה (Nefesh yehudi homiyah) (Beats true a Jewish heart,)
,וּלְפַאֲתֵי מִזְרָח קָדִימָה (Ulefa'atei mizrach kadimah) (And Jewish glances turning East,)
.עַיִן לְצִיּוֹן צוֹפִיָּה (Ayin letziyon tzofiyah) (To Zion fondly dart,)

במקהלה (Refrain)

עוֹד לֹא אָבְדָה תִקְוָתֵנוּ (Od lo avedah tikvatenu) (Our hope will not be lost,)
הַתִּקְוָה הַנּוֹשָׁנָה (Hatikvah hannoshanah) (Our ancient hope)
.לָשׁוּב לְאֶרֶץ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ (Lashuv le'eretz avoteinu) (To return to the land of our fathers,)
.לְעִיר בָּהּ דָּוִד חָנָה (Le'ir bah david chanah) (The city where David encamped; )

עוֹד לֹא אָבְדָה תִקְוָתֵנוּ (Od lo avedah tikvatenu) (Our hope will not be lost,)
הַתִּקְוָה הַנּוֹשָׁנָה (Hatikvah hannoshanah) (Our ancient hope)
.לָשׁוּב לְאֶרֶץ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ (Lashuv le'eretz avoteinu) (To return to the land of our fathers,)
.לְעִיר בָּהּ דָּוִד חָנָה (Le'ir bah david chanah) (The city where David encamped; )


Unknown speaker: Am Y’israel Chai! The Children of Israel still liveth.

Survivors of Bergen-Belsen singing Hatikva at Shabbat services, in April 20th, 1945, following their liberation by British troops of the Second Army. That transcription of a short-wave broadcast made in New York City by Moe Ash. The recently discovered recording comes to us from the Smithsonian Center for American Folklife.

The Israeli National Anthem: הַתִּקְוָה
"Hatikva" ("The Hope")

כל עוד בלבב פנימה (Kol od baleivav p'nimah) (As long as in the heart, within,)
נפש יהודי הומיה, (Nefesh y'hudi homiyah) (A Jewish soul still yearns,)
ולפאתי מזרח קדימה (Ulfa'atei mizrach kadimah) (And towards the end of the East)
עין לציון צופיה (Ayin l'tziyon tzofiyah) (An eye still watches toward Zion,)

עוד לא אבדה תקותנו, (Od lo avdah tikvateinu) (Our hope is not yet lost,)
התקווה בת שנות אלפים, (Hatikvah bat sh'not alpayim) (The hope of two thousand years,)
להיות עם חופשי בארצנו (Lihyot am chofshi b'artzeinu) (To be a free nation in our own land,)
ארץ ציון ירושלים. (Eretz tziyon y'rushalayim) (The land of Zion : Jerusalem.)

[Bluebear]

27. A beautiful and haunting anthem. nt

[Behind the Aegis]

17. kick. n/t

[Hekate]

18. My husband just came into the room to listen with me. I forwarded this thread to his email.

His parents are both Holocaust survivors -- no denial in this family.

Thanks so much for posting this -- it's incredibly moving.

Hekate

[barb162]

19. kick and thanks for posting

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Kick

and as I seat here I cannot help but shudder

I got some books from my parents... and as a holocaust survivor my dad even bought one of the earliest holocaust denial books, pubhished in '56 in Spain. (Yes folks Franco's Spain)

He didn't understand the significance of that book. He got it becuase he could not believe it. I just brought it up from their home after a visit becuase that crap has to be preserved... and confronted.

Oh and the book... highly formal and "well sourced."

Its main thesis, the defeat of nazi germany was a world defeat.

[rockymountaindem]

22. Thanks for posting this. For those who are wondering, here are the lyrics:

As long as in the heart, within,
A Jewish soul still yearns,
And towards the end of the East
An eye still watches toward Zion,
Our hope is not yet lost,
The hope of two thousand years,
To be a free nation in our own land,
The land of Zion : Jerusalem.

Kaddish.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. kick

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. kick

[Warren DeMontague]

25. K&R. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. kick

[LeftishBrit]

30. k & r

[LeftishBrit]

31. delete (misplaced post)

[Hekate]

28. Kick

Just listened to it again. Amazing -- despite the age and quality of the recording I could hear that the people were singing in parts. So moving.

Hekate

:kick:

[The Witch]

29. Wow. Hallelujah.

That's incredible. Thank you.Thank you SO MUCH for posting this. :cry:

[LeftishBrit]

32. kick