Music

Known as the “brainiest guy in baseball,”  Berg attended the Sorbonne, and was known to speak or write in 12 languages. Highlights of the documentary include Berg’s All-Star exhibition tour with Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, Lefty Gomez and Lou Gehrig to Japan in 1934, his selection by the OSS’ mission to interview top Italian physicists to see if they knew anything about the German bomb program and his 1944 OSS assignment to attend a lecture by German physicist Werner Heisenberg in Zurich.

The poignant and stirring soundtrack of the film features Yiddish songs and melodies that were written by members of the Jewish underground. The Grammy-nominated album of these songs, entitled Partisans of Vilna: The Songs of World War II Jewish Resistance, was co-produced by Henry Sapoznik and Josh Waletzky for Flying Fish records. Both the CD and the songbook, which include the Yiddish and English lyrics, are included with the DVD.

Please enjoy this sample track from the soundtrack, “Zog Nit Keynmol” (“Never Say”). Click the play button on the player below to play the track.

“Zog Nit Keynol/Never Say,” performed by Michael Alpert, Lauren Brody, Adrienne Cooper, Irena Klepfisz, Henry Sapoznik, Keff Shandler, Lorin Sklamberg, Josh Waletzky, Alan Zemel

“Never Say”: A Far-reaching Hymn of Resilience

Hirsh Glik expressed the new spirit of defiance and determination in this song, which was quickly adopted as the official hymn of the FPO. Young people joining the organization in the summer of 1943 heard this song at their swearing-in ceremony. FPO commander, Itsik Vitnberg, is said to have sung this song shortly before he surrendered himself to the Germans on July 17, 1943.

The underground fighters carried this song with them into the forest and the Jewish partisan unit in the Rudniki forest sang this song at reveille each morning. “Never Say” spread rapidly among the surviving Jews of Eastern Europe. Former Jewish partisans of Vilna who arrived in Italy in 1945 found that the resistance hymn had preceded them. It has been translated into a dozen languages. It is still sung to commemorate the Holocaust at gatherings, where it is customary to stand for the singing.

Be sure to buy the DVD of Partisans of Vilna which includes the CD of the soundtrack containing this and 11 more tracks.