So, as not to be lost in GD...

[Behind the Aegis]

ikojo (1000+ posts) Sun Apr-15-07 07:53 AM
Original message
Today is Yom Hashoah
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 >

Behind the Aegis (1000+ posts) Sun Apr-15-07 10:48 PM
Response to Original message
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.)

[Lurking Dem]

1. Lump in throat.

Thank you.