KARLOVKE
Lyrics: Fira Mitsel (born in 1926)
Music: Folk, with elements of “Mayn Shtetele Belz” (composer Alexander Olshanetsky (1892–1946)
Arrangement: Alice Zawadzki
English translation and transliteration: Eli Jany
Fira Mitsel, the author of this song, was a teen prisoner in a labor camp in Karlivka, a small village in Mikolaiv region of Ukraine. The camp was located on the premises of a pig-breeding factory (in barns with pigs); sometimes prisoners shared their living space with animals. Of the 5,000 Jews deported to Karlivka, only about 480 survived the war. The rest died from starvation, disease, and strenuous labor. The song mentions Malaiesti, a commandant of Karlivka labor camp. Like many such songs, this one aims to document, for the historical record, individuals involved in violence against Jews.
English
Yiddish Transliteration
If Malaiesti comes walking into town,
oy, oy, oy, then you’d better watch out
that you don’t get hit in the teeth.
All Jews are forced to work,
Not a single one should be seen here.
Then we say to ourselves:
Oy, miserable Karlovke,
oy, oy, oy, Karlovke!
Where are you, my beautiful home,
my little village?
I cannot forget,
I can never forget Karlovke.
And if the policeman Stepan comes
driving into town,
oy, oy, oy, then woe to our young lives.
A blow to this one and a shove to that one,
a slap to this one and a pinch to that one.
Then we say to ourselves:
Oy, miserable Karlovke,
oy, oy, oy, Karlovke!
Where are you, my beautiful home,
my little village?
I cannot forget,
I can never forget Karlovke.
Pretty little village
where we spent our days,
with the stretchers
we would run with along the road
in miserable Karlovke,
oy, oy, oy, Karlovke,
oy, it would be better if you had
burned down
before we recognized you.
I cannot forget,
I can never forget
Karlovke…
az se kumt malayeshti af dem gorodok tsu geyn
oy, oy, oy, demlt zolt ir zikh hitn, ir zolt nit
khapn in di tseyn.
ale yidn zoln tsu der arbet geyn
keyn eynem zol men do nit zen
demlt zogn mir tsu zikh aleyn:
oy, viste karlovke,
oy, oy, oy, karlovke!
vu bistu heymele sheyninke,
derfele kleyninke,
fargesn ken ikh nit,
fargesn ken ikh keynmol nit in karlovke.
un az s’kumt der politsey shtepan af dem
gorodok tsuforn
oy, oy, oy, demlt iz az vey tsu undzere
yunge yorn.
dem a klap un dem a shtup
dem a patsh un dem a knup
demlt zogn mir tsu zikh aleyn:
oy, viste karlovke,
oy, oy, oy, karlovke!
vu bistu heymele sheyninke,
derfele kleyninke,
fargesn ken ikh nit,
fargesn ken ikh keynmol nit in karlovke.
sheyn kleyn derfele
vu mir hobn farbrakht undzere teg
mit di nosilkelekh
vos mir flegn loyfn af dem veg
in vister karlovke,
oy, oy, oy, karlovke,
oy, beser volstu gevorn farbrent
eyder mir hobn dikh derkent.
fargesn ken ikh nit,
fargesn ken ikh keynmol nit in karlovke…
Source Documents & Recordings
DEVELOPED BY DUMASTAR
Source: VNLU, fond 190, folder 132, ll. 212–215,
original performance by Fira Mitzel is here: https://www.audio.ipri.kiev.ua/CD12.html (20)