The Undying Flame: Ballads and Songs of the Holocaust

Here for the first time is a stirring collection of rare songs of the Holocaust; songs of resistance, despair, rage, hope and even humor, written in the face of utter evil. The very existence of these songs raises haunting questions. The extensive historical notes and insightful survivor testimony in this groundbreaking volume provide moving answers.

Musicologist Jerry Silverman has compiled and presents an expansive collection of Holocaust-era folk music in sixteen languages that he situates within a vivid historical framework. This volume represents the work of concentration camp prisoners and inhabitants of the ghettos of Eastern Europe, subversive European cabaret music, anti-Fascist Russian Army songs, and songs of Resistance fighters.

Silverman has conducted exhaustive research that took in many countries to unearth this material, and in some cases where the original music has been lost, set the words to music using traditional melodies. Included are songs of prewar Germany and of postwar reflection by such balladeers as Peter Seeger, Janis Ian, and Si Kahn.