When I Was Young in Poland (Honoring Jules Zaidenweber)

Unpublished

When I was young in Poland,
there were three million Jews.
But when the war was over,
most of them we did lose.
To the force of hatred
by Hitler from above.
Until the Allied forces
Put the Nazis on the run.

In the land of Poland,
Jewish life was rich.
My mother she kept kosher
the food upon my dish.
Until the German soldiers
just came walking in
to divide Poland,
which is what they did.

My father was a salesman.
He sold textile and cloth.
Both he and my sister
in the war were lost.
From our homes into the ghetto,
We were surrounded by barb wire.
While the German soldiers
set the world on fire.

First they conquered Poland,
Belgium, Holland, France.
They were strong and getting stronger.
There was no turning back.
And if you did not listen,
they would sic their dogs on you.
From the ghetto to the factory,
just because you are a Jew.

We were deprived, with little rations.
For the price of a gold ring,
from those outside the ghetto,
a loaf of bread they’d bring.
To solve the Jewish question
over beer and wine,
The Nazis pushed us into cattle cars
with a lock on the outside.

From Dachau to Treblinka.
“Work will make you free”
above the gates of Auschwitz.
I still cannot believe.
While the Allied forces
pushed the Germans from the west,
from the east came the Russians
after millions met their death.

On the day of liberation,
May 1, of ’45
I’m the last of a minute remnant
of those who survived
the force of hatred
by Hitler from above
until the Allied forces
put the Nazis on the run

When I was young in Poland,
there were three million Jews.
But when the war was over,
most of them we did lose.

Word & Music by Larry Long
Copyright Larry Long 1999 | BMI

*Lyrics collectively written with students from the Talmud Torah of St. Paul.

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