The boy gives the impression that he is not dull-witted, knows what he’s
talking about, notices how I write down the songs. He pointed out to me several
times that I am not writing it down right; I should write down the refrain
etc. Perhaps we could do something for this boy?
Warsaw ghetto, June 1942 N. Rokheles
[3] Di bone¹⁹³
Oy, my card. Ja nie chcę oddać bony.¹⁹⁴
Engineer Adam Czerniakow
will not give away the card.
He will survive the war,
the card he will not give away.
He lives calmly and in peace.
One can dress him in white clothes.¹⁹⁵
He takes money from the Jewish Gmina
may he soon die a horrible death.
They will dress him in a white uniform,
and lay him down with his [feet] to the door.
Boy, hold yourself together your whole life.
See to it that you don’t give away the card
Chłopcze trzymaj się, trzymaj się fest
Trzymajmy się wszyscy póki bona jest.¹⁹⁶
Oy, the card, the card. I am still young.
I don’t want to give up my card
I still want to live to see something good.
The card, the card – don’t give it away.
193 Text in Yiddish, with a few lines in Polish, in Hebrew characters.
194 (Polish) I don’t want to give away my [ration] card.
195 According to the Jewish funeral rite, the dead are buried in white linen shrouds.
196 (Polish) Boy, hold on, hold yourself together; let’s hold on together while we still have a card.
