‘My Song, You Are My Strength’

Abstract

This chapter investigates the songs in Yiddish and Polish remembered by survivors of the łódz ghetto. It draws on interviews with two teenage survivors of the łódz ghetto who settled in Australia after the war in order to document and preserve personal musical experiences and memories of Jewish Holocaust survivors. It also references long and established literatures on examining witnesses and testifiers in Holocaust and trauma studies that speaks at length of delicate dynamics and ethical responsibilities of representation. The chapter analyzes the claim that sonic experiences remain in memories of people and travel with them throughout their lives, providing moments of nostalgia, evocations of past connections, ties to culture, friends, and family, and frames of reference. It explains how memories of dark, distant, and problematic times are enabled and returned to resonate in the present lives of testifiers and witnesses.