Art created with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) in November 2018 after the massacre at Tree of Live synagogue. Style + lettering in tribute to Jewish art hero Ben Shahn.
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Here is the story of these words: "In 1939, a group of Hasidic Jews from the Polish city of Lublin were backed up against barbed wire and ordered to sing to their own execution. One of the men began: “Lomir zich iberbetn, iberbetn, iberbetn” – “Let us reconcile…” But nobody joined him.
Then he improvised: “Mir veln zey iberlebn, iberlebn, iberlebn” —"We will outlive them.” Instantly the song took hold among the entire people, until it catapulted them into a stormy and feverish dance. The commander at first laughed but then “he realized they weren’t accommodating him; they were defeating him. He ordered them to stop.” But they continued. Even when the SS troops charged at them." Most of them lost their lives that day but some lived to tell this story.
Special thank you to Hannah Temple and Tsibele for unearthing this song for our resistance.