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Papirosn (Yiddish: פאפירוסן,English: Cigarettes) is a Yiddish song that was written in the 1920s.[1]
His author, Herman Yablokoff, a member of the Yiddish theater that was active in Lithuania and Poland in the years following World War I, wrote the poem inspired by children who tried to make a living selling cigarettes in the streets.[2] The sight of the children reminded him of his childhood in World War I in Grodno, when he tried his luck like a peddler offering cigarettes to passers-by.[2]The song tells a story of a Jewish boy that have to sell cigarettes to survive in the street. During the song the boy tells about his tragic fate. First he lost his parents and then his younger sister has died on the bench[2]and eventually he loose his hope too.[3]
In 1924 Yablokoff came to the United States and the song was published in an American radio program in Yiddish in 1932. The song become a hit in a musical of the same name , which came on stage in 1935. and many music sheets of the song were sold.[4] Eventually a silent movie was made bearing the same as a song.The role of the Jewish boy was played by Sidney Lumet[5]
During the Holocaust the song was amended to mirror the tribulations of Holocaust in the ghettos of Poland and Lithuania.[1]The song used as a base to many Holocaust songs for example in Lodz and Vilna Ghettos.[6] Shmerke Kaczerginski found two alternative versions one is penned by Yankele Hershkowitz a famous street singer from the Lodz Ghetto. It follows the same story as original song but tells a story of ration coupons in the Ghetto.[3]The other version was written by young Jewish poet Rilke Glezer[7] describe the Ponary massacre and only the tune is used but not the story of the original song [8].The additional version from Warsaw Ghetto make direct allusion to the original but instead selling cigarettes the boy sells a ghetto black bread[3].There were other versions of the song including non-Yiddish rewriting.[3]
In Soviet Union the song was not officially prohibited but it was usually played on private events though seldom it was allowed to be played in public because it was argued that the lyrics was not about Soviet Jews.[2]
References
- ^ a b "Papirosn". web.nli.org.il. Retrieved 2018-06-18.
- ^ a b c d Shternshis, Anna (2006). Soviet and Kosher: Jewish Popular Culture in the Soviet Union, 1923-1939. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253218411.
- ^ a b c d Adler, Eliyana R. (2006-07-12). "No Raisins, No Almonds: Singing as Spiritual Resistance to the Holocaust". Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies. 24 (4): 50–66. doi:10.1353/sho.2006.0078. ISSN 1534-5165.
- ^ Jewish Companion Bk Cd. Hal Leonard Corporation. 2002. ISBN 9781928918240.
- ^ Strom, Yale (2011). The Book of Klezmer: The History, the Music, the Folklore. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 9781613740637.
- ^ Rosen, Alan (2013-11-14). Literature of the Holocaust. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107008656.
- ^ ORT, World. "Music and the Holocaust". holocaustmusic.ort.org. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
- ^ FLAM, GILA; פלם, גילה (1993). "משמעות הקונטרפקט בשירים ביידיש מימי השואה / THE MEANING OF CONTRAFACT IN YIDDISH SONGS OF THE HOLOCAUST". Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies / דברי הקונגרס העולמי למדעי היהדות. יא: 267–274.