Explain that one form of resistance is through music. Ask students if they know of any resistance/protest songs, and consider if/why the use of music is an effective form of resistance.
Share the lyrics Zog Nit Keyn Mol, The Jewish Partisan’s Song, and listen to a recording of the song:
Zog Nit Keyn Mol (Never Say – The Jewish Partisan Song)
Lyrics by Hirsch Glick, music by Dimitrii Pokrass
Never say that you’re going your last way
Although the skies filled with lead cover blue days
Our promised hour will soon come
Our marching steps ring out: ‘We are here!’
From green lands of palm to lands with white snow
We come with our pain and our woes
And from where a spurt of our blood falls
Will sprout our strength and our courage
Today the morning sun will accompany us
And the night will fade away with the enemy
But if the sun waits to rise
Like a password this song will go from generation to generation
This song is written with blood and not with lead
It’s not a tune sung by birds in the wild
This song was sung by people amidst collapsing walls
Sung with pistols in their hands
So never say that you’re going your last way
Although the skies filled with lead cover blue days
Our promised hour will soon come
Our marching steps ring out: ‘We are here’!
Analyze the lyrics, asking students: What is the overall message of the song? What imagery is used, and how does that help convey the message(s) of the song? What is the mood or tone of the song, considering both the lyrics and the music? Why do you think it was written? For whom was this song written? What do you think this song meant to those who heard/sung it?
Ask students to think about something that they are passionate about and would like to fight for. Ask them to write their own version of The Jewish Partisan Song.
Click here to download the PDF.
