I cannot remember ev'rything,
I must have been unconscious
most of the time;
I remember only
the grandiose moment
when they all started to sing,
as if prearranged,
the old prayer
they had neglected for so many years -
the forgotten creed!
But I have no recollection
how I got underground
to live in the sewers of Warsaw
so long a time.
The day began as usual:
Reveille when it still was dark -
Get out!
Whether you slept
or whether worries kept you awake
the whole night:
You had been separated
from your children,
from your wife,
from your parents;
you don’t know what happened to them;
how could you sleep?
The trumpets again -
Get out! The sergeant will be furious!
They came out; some very slow:
the old ones, the sick ones;
some with nervous agility.
They fear the sergeant.
They hurry as much as they can.
In vain!
Much too much noise;
much too much commotion -
and not fast enough!
The Feldwebel shouts:
»Achtung! Still gestanden! Na wird's mal?
Oder soll ich mit dem Gewehrkolben nachhelfen?
Na jut; wenn ihr's durchaus haben wollt!«
The sergeant and his subordinates hit everyone:
young or old, strong or sick, guilty or innocent.
It was painful to hear the groaning and moaning.
I heard it though I had been hit very hard,
so hard that I could not help falling down.
We all on the ground who could not stand up
were then beaten over the head.
I must have been unconscious.
The next thing I knew
was a soldier saying:
»They are all dead«,
whereupon the sergeant ordered
to do away with us.
There I lay aside
half conscious.
It had become
very still
－fear and pain－
Then I heard the sergeant shouting:
»Abzählen!«
They started slowly and irregularily:
one, two, three, four
»Achtung!«
the sergeant shouted again,
»Rascher! Nochmals von vorn anfangen!
In einer Minute will ich wissen,
wieviele ich zur Gaskammer abliefere!
Abzählen!«
They began again,
first slowly:
one, two, three, four,
became faster and faster, so fast
that it finally sounded
like a stampede of wild horses,
and all of a sudden, in the middle of it,
they began singing the Se'ma Yisroel.
Sh'ma Yisroel
Adōnoy elōhe noo
Adōnoy ehod
V'ohavto es Adōnoy elōheho
b'holl'vov' ho
oov'hol nafsh'ho
oov'hol m'ō deho
V'hoyoo hadd'voreem hoelleh
asher onōhee m'tsav v'ho hayyōm
al l'vove ho
V'shinnantom l'voneho
v'dibbarto bom
b'shivt'ho b'veteho
oov'leht'ho baddereh
oov'shohb'ho oov'koome ho.
