A Priceless Book of Yiddish Songs from the Holocaust Lay in a Sydney Cupboard for Decades – Now it Has Been Rescued

A rare Yiddish songbook containing compositions from Nazi camps and ghettos, titled Mima’amakim, was discovered in the belongings of a deceased survivor in suburban Sydney. Identified by an ethnomusicologist and verified by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the pamphlet is one of the few remaining copies of a 1945 collection intended as a memorial for Polish Jewry.

How was the Holocaust songbook discovered in Sydney?

The recovery of the songbook began in 2013, when a copy was found among the personal effects of a Polish-born Holocaust survivor identified as “Olga R.” The survivor had lived in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia, where the pamphlet remained undisturbed in a cupboard for decades. Because Olga R’s family did not read Yiddish, the true nature and historical value of the document remained unknown to them for years.

The family eventually brought the item to Joseph Toltz, a lecturer and ethnomusicologist at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney. Toltz immediately recognized the work as a significant collection of music originating from the ghettos and camps of occupied Poland between 1939 and 1944. This identification sparked a process of formal verification to ensure the document’s authenticity.

To confirm the provenance of the find, a curator from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC was consulted. The museum’s expertise confirmed that the pamphlet was indeed a genuine artifact from the immediate post-war period. According to records, Olga R had carried the book with her on a long journey, transporting it from Bucharest to Poland and finally to Australia.

The survival of this specific copy is considered remarkable for several reasons:

• Physical Degradation: The original pamphlets were printed on poor-quality, acidic paper, which typically disintegrates over time.
• Rarity: Only 500 copies were originally produced, and the vast majority were lost.
• Condition: Olga R’s copy is reported to be one of the best-preserved examples of the book known to exist in the world.

What is the history of the Mima’amakim collection?

The songbook, titled Mima’amakim—which translates to “Out of the Depths”—was the result of an urgent project launched in June 1945. At that time, the full scale of the devastation wrought by the Holocaust was not yet entirely clear to the world. In Bucharest, Romania, a small team of Jewish survivors sought to document the experiences of approximately one thousand Jewish refugees.

As part of this documentation effort, the team began collecting songs that had been composed and sung within the Nazi camps and ghettos of occupied Poland. The goal was to preserve the artistic and emotional responses of those who had endured the persecution.

The project was led by Yehuda Eismann, a Polish survivor who served as the editor of the collection. Eismann viewed the publication not merely as a musical archive, but as a sacred act of remembrance. He described the work as a

“memorial stone for Polish Jewry.”

The visual presentation of the book was also a family effort; Flora Eismann, the editor’s wife, designed the cover of the pamphlet. The final product was a modest publication, printed in a limited run of 500 copies, which contained twenty distinct compositions. Notably, several of these songs were written by children and teenagers, providing a rare glimpse into the inner lives and perspectives of the youngest victims of the Holocaust.

Why is this discovery significant for historians and musicians?

The rescue of the Mima’amakim songbook is more than the recovery of a physical object; it is the retrieval of lost voices. In the study of the Holocaust, written diaries and official records provide essential data, but music offers a different, more visceral form of evidence. Songs composed in the ghettos often served as tools for survival, expressions of grief, or acts of spiritual resistance.

The Role of Youth Authorship

One of the most poignant aspects of the collection is that it includes works by children and teenagers. These compositions provide a unique psychological record of how young people processed the horror of the camps and ghettos. By documenting these songs alongside short biographies of their authors, the Mima’amakim project attempted to restore the individuality and humanity of victims who the Nazi regime sought to reduce to numbers.

Ethnomusicological Value

For experts like Joseph Toltz, the discovery allows for a deeper understanding of the musical language of the period. The songs in the book are not just melodies; they are historical documents that capture the linguistic nuances of Yiddish as it was spoken and sung under extreme duress. The fact that the book lay hidden in a Sydney cupboard for decades highlights how much history can remain undiscovered in the private archives of survivors.

The recovery of such a document allows researchers to:

• Analyze the themes of hope, despair, and faith present in camp music.
• Trace the movement of survivors and their possessions across the globe.
• Restore the names and creative contributions of authors who might otherwise have been forgotten.

The journey of the songbook: From Bucharest to Sydney

The trajectory of this specific copy of Mima’amakim mirrors the displaced journey of millions of Holocaust survivors in the wake of World War II. The book was printed in Bucharest, Romania, in the summer of 1945, a city that served as a crossroads for refugees fleeing the devastation of Eastern Europe.

Olga R, the survivor who eventually brought the book to Australia, carried it first back to Poland. This suggests that the book may have been used as a source of connection or a reminder of shared suffering among survivors returning to their homelands or attempting to rebuild their lives.

Eventually, Olga R emigrated to Australia, settling in suburban Sydney. For the remainder of her life, the book remained in her possession, though it eventually slipped into obscurity within her own household. The disconnect between the survivor’s experience and the subsequent generations—who did not speak or read Yiddish—is a common theme in the diaspora of Holocaust survivors. The book’s presence in a “Sydney cupboard” symbolizes the silence that often surrounds the trauma of the Holocaust within families until a catalyst, such as the passing of a loved one or the curiosity of a descendant, brings these memories back to light.

Understanding the rarity of Yiddish camp songbooks

To understand why the rescue of this book is described as “priceless,” one must consider the precarious nature of Yiddish publishing during and after the Holocaust. Yiddish was the primary language of the victims, and much of its literary and musical output was targeted for destruction by the Nazi regime.

The Mima’amakim pamphlet was produced under difficult conditions. The use of “poor-quality, acidic paper” was a necessity of the time, as high-grade materials were scarce in 1945. Acidic paper is prone to “slow fire,” a process where the paper becomes brittle and yellows, eventually crumbling to dust. This makes the survival of a copy in “the best condition of any known copy in the world” an extraordinary stroke of luck.

Furthermore, the limited print run of 500 copies means that the book was never intended for mass distribution. It was a niche project for a specific community of survivors. When those survivors passed away or their belongings were dispersed, many such documents were discarded or lost because the subsequent generations lacked the linguistic skills to identify them. This makes the intervention of an ethnomusicologist like Joseph Toltz critical; without professional expertise, the book would have remained a nameless piece of old paper.

For more information on the preservation of historical documents, you may find a related explainer on archival preservation of war artifacts useful.

Common questions about the Mima’amakim songbook

What does the title “Mima’amakim” mean?

The title Mima’amakim is Yiddish for “Out of the Depths,” a phrase that evokes the profound sorrow and the struggle for survival experienced by those in the Nazi camps and ghettos.

Who were the authors of the songs?

The songs were composed by Jewish survivors of the Nazi camps and ghettos in occupied Poland between 1939 and 1944. The collection includes compositions by adults as well as children and teenagers.

How was the book’s authenticity verified?

The book was first identified by Joseph Toltz, an ethnomusicologist at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney. Its provenance was subsequently confirmed by a curator from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC.

Why was the book found in Sydney, Australia?

The book was owned by a Polish-born survivor named Olga R, who had carried the pamphlet from Bucharest to Poland and eventually emigrated to suburban Sydney, where she kept it among her possessions for decades.

How many copies of the songbook exist today?

While 500 copies were originally printed in 1945, almost all were lost. Olga R’s copy is one of only a handful that have survived and is considered to be in the best condition of any known copy.

The recovery of the Mima’amakim songbook serves as a reminder of the enduring power of art to document human suffering and resilience. By bringing these songs out of a Sydney cupboard and into the light of academic and historical study, the world regains a fragment of the cultural heritage that the Holocaust attempted to erase. The collaboration between the family of Olga R, the University of Sydney, and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum ensures that the “memorial stone for Polish Jewry” envisioned by Yehuda Eismann continues to serve its purpose for future generations.