Baym Geto Toyerl (At the Ghetto’s Gate)

The song is performed by an unidentified man, recorded for the Central Jewish Historical Commission, Munich 1946. The song was published in Kaczerginski’s Lider fun di Getos un Lagern (1948: words – p. 155 melody – p. 394), entitled ”Fun di Arbet” (From Work).

The first line hints to the source of the song – the well-known Yiddish song written by Mark Varshavski, “Oyfn Pripetshik” [At the Fireplace], also known in Hebrew as “Cheder Kat” (The Tiny Cheder). In the original song, the author describes a warm and welcoming cheder – a Torah school for young children taught by their Rebbe. The song from the Kovno ghetto describes the Jewish ghetto inhabitants who go to work outside the ghetto gate and return through it. In order to survive, they must smuggle food and other goods into the ghetto. The German and Lithuanian guards, warming themselves by a bonfire near the gate, carry out searches, placing the Jews in mortal danger every day. However, if they succeed to smuggle goods into the ghetto, the residents will get a loaf of bread.

On the one hand, the use of a well-known Yiddish melody brings comfort; on the other it reinforces the duality between the past and present in the ghetto, adding meaning to the song.