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Heil, Sachsenhausen!

Aleksander Kulisiewicz
Languages: Polish, German


Aleksander Kulisiewicz

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[?]
Musica: Sull'aria di “Heh, Madagascar!”, canzone yiddish
Testo: Aleksander Kulisiewicz
Music: To the tune of “Heh, Madagascar!”, Yiddish hit tune
Words: Aleksander Kulisiewicz

helldepths


Aleksander Kulisiewicz: Songs From The Depths Of Hell
Folkways Records Album N° FSS 37700 (1979)
PDF Booklet Available
Annotated by Peter Wortsman

La copertina dell'album, ispirata a questa canzone, è di Gertrude Degenhardt, moglie di Franz-Josef Degenhardt.
The album cover, inspired by this song, is by Gertrude Degenhardt, Franz-Josef Degenhardt's wife.


kulisw


Aleksander Kulisiewicz (1918-1982) was a law student in German-occupied Poland when, in October 1939, he was denounced for anti-fascist writings, arrested by the Gestapo, and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, near Berlin. An amateur singer and songwriter, Kulisiewicz composed 54 songs during nearly six years of imprisonment at Sachsenhausen. After liberation he remembered his songs, as well as those learned from fellow prisoners, dictating hundreds of pages of text to his attending nurse at a Polish infirmary.


Polish – Music: Melody of the Yiddish hit tune, “Heh Madagascar!”
Words: Aleksander Kulisiewicz

This was a camp satire written to poke fun at the Nazi theory of “Rassenschande” (Race defilement), according to which a German Aryan was not to defile the purity of his/her race by having sex with a non-Aryan. The term “Kulturkampf” refers to the Nazi concept of the war of the cultures or the races. This song was dedicated to Elisabeth (Elsa) Zahn, a young German woman who smuggled letters from a Polish prisoner, Jan Kobiela, to his family. Elsa loved Jan and the song was written during a relatively happy time for them. But the end of the story is a tragic one. Elsa was caught smuggling letters. Her father was sent to a concentration camp and she committed suicide in the prison at Oranienburg (near Berlin).
Jestem sobie na wpół dziki
Blöder Häftling, cham
Und warum denn do Afryki?
Tu kolonie mam!
Kupili cie, chłopie
Kupili z gnatami
Krew ci z mordy kapie
Alles scheiss-egal

Aj, Sachsenhausen!
Kolonia gwarna, parna
Germania richtig dzika
Heil, Sachsenhausen!
Giry tycie jak bambusik
Trupy śmierdza...fuj!...nagusy!
Heil! Es lebe Kulturkampf!

Mädchen sobie zafunduję
Polaczysko ja
Gibt's denn so was...? Wy bestyje!
Śliczne oczka ma
Az tej Mädchen-matki
I z durnego tatki
Będą Kindchen w kratki
Schwarz und weiss und rot

Heil, Sachsenhausen!
Błogosławiony raju
Wszak wielbi ciebie ludzkoćń
Heil, Sachsenhausen!
A jak byde jutro zdychał
Lewą nózką ci zafikam
Heil!...Es lebe Kulturkampf!

Contributed by CCG/AWS Staff - 2009/1/26 - 22:14




Language: English

English Version from the Album Booklet
Versione inglese dal libretto dell'album
HEIL, SACHSENHAUSEN!

I am a wild savage, you see,
One dumb prisoner
Why then sail off to Africa?
Here's my colony,
Here a man is sold as
Slave -- lock, stock and barrel
They even own my crap here,
Own my bones 'n' marrow

Heil, Sachsenhausen!
Colony hot and stinking
Germany, it's the real thing
Heil, Sachsenhausen!
Our legs are thin as bamboo
The corpses stink and so do you
Heil! And long live Kulturkampf!

I wish I had a German girl
Me, a poor old Pole
But is she real...? You SS-beasts
Or just a sweet ideal?
She, sweet girl and mother
Me, the dumb old father
Our kids in striped clothes covered
Black and white and red

Heil, Sachsenhausen!
Heaven of my dreams, ah yes!
Haven blessed by all mankind
Heil, Sachsenhausen!
And if I should croak tomorrow
Dance, now dance, no time for sorrow
Heil! And long live Kulturkampf!

Contributed by CCG/AWS Staff - 2009/1/27 - 06:10




Language: Italian

Versione italiana di Riccardo Venturi
27 gennaio 2009
(dalla versione inglese)

Sull'aria di una melodia popolare slovacca, Aleksander Kulisiewicz, internato nel lager di Sachsenhausen, scrisse questa satira -volutamente in un misto di polacco e tedesco- per sbeffeggiare la teoria nazista della “Rassenschande” (contaminazione sessuale), secondo la quale un ariano tedesco non doveva contaminare la purezza della sua razza mediante rapporti sessuali con un non-ariano. Il termine “Kulturkampf” si riferisce al concetto nazista della guerra tra culture o razze. La canzone fu dedicata a Elisabeth (Elsa) Zahn, una giovane tedesca che faceva clandestinamente passare le lettere di un prigioniero polacco, Jan Kobiela, alla famiglia. Elsa amava Jan e la canzone fu scritta in un periodo per loro relativamente felice. Ma la storia ebbe un fine tragico: Elsa fu sorpresa a far passare le lettere. Suo padre fu a sua volta rinchiuso in un campo, mentre lei si suicidò in carcere a Oranienburg, presso Berlino.
HEIL, SACHSENHAUSEN!

Sono un selvaggio feroce, vedete,
Un prigioniero che non sa parlare.
Perché, allora, andare in Africa?
Questa è la mia colonia,
Qui un uomo è venduto schiavo,
In gabbia, inscatolato, messo in barile.
Qui sono padroni anche di quel che caco,
Delle mie ossa, delle mie midolla.

Heil, Sachsenhausen!
Colonia puzzolente dal caldo
Germania, è tutto così.
Heil, Sachsenhausen!
Gambe smunte come canne,
Cadaveri che puzzano come te.
Heil! Evviva la Kulturkampf!

Vorrei averci una ragazza tedesca
Io, un povero vecchio polacco;
Ma sarà vera, bestie delle SS,
Oppure solo una dolce illusione?
Lei, ragazza dolce, la madre,
E io, vecchio muto, il padre
Coi nostri figli avvolti in strisce
Nere, bianche e rosse

Heil, Sachsenhausen!
Paradiso dei miei sogni,
Rifugio benedetto dagli uomini!
E se domani io crepassi
Ballate, ballate, non datevi pena!
Heil! Evviva la Kulturkampf!

2009/1/27 - 10:14




Language: German

Traduzione tedesca, con note, dal Volks Lieder Archiv
BIN ICH EIN HALBWILDER SCHEIßPOLE! (oder HEIL SACHSENHAUSEN)

Bin ich also ein halbwilder
ein Scheißpole, Mann!
Und warum gleich nach Afrika? [1]
Meine Kolonie ist hier!
Bin gekauft, Mann,
gekauft mit Haut und Haar –
trieft auch das Blut vom Maul,
ist alles scheißegal!
Aj,Sachsenhausen!
wimmelnde, dampfende Kolonie –
Germania, so richtig wild…
Heil, Sachsenhausen!
bambusdürr sind unsre Knochen,
Totenschädel die Kakteen. [2]
Heil! Es lebe der Kulturkampf…

Mädchen kann ich mir nicht leisten,
Polake bin ich …
Gibt´s denn so was?… Bestien Ihr!
Hat so wunderschöne Äuglein.
Doch aus der Mädchen-Mutter
und einem blöden Papa
kommen Kindchen kleinkariert:
schwarz und weiß und rot… [3]
Aj,Sachsenhausen!
gesegnetes Paradies –
dir huldigt die Menschheit…
Heil, Sachsenhausen!…
Und fall ich morgen leblos um,
zuck ich mit der Linken einen Gruß. [4]
Heil! Es lebe der Kulturkampf!…
[1] Vor dem 2. Weltkrieg erschienen in polnischen Zeitungen Artikel über eine Umwandlung eines Teils von Angola in eine polnische Kolonie.
[2] Das Wort »Totenschädel« bezieht sich auf das SS-Emblem.
[3] Anspielung auf die polnischen Farben weiß-rot und das Schwarz in der Flagge des NS-Regimes.
[4] Anspielungen auf den Hass der Nationalsozialisten auf »Linke« bzw. »Marxisten« und auf die sadistische Freude der SS am langsamen Sterben der Häftlinge, dem sie zusah.

Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2016/8/24 - 09:27




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