Ghetto

Born in Vilna to a poor family and educated at that city’s Talmud Torah, Shmerke Kaczerginski lost both his parents during World War I. As a youth, he was involved with outlawed Communist groups and was arrested several times, serving a lengthy prison term.

Yankele Hershkowitz, a tailor by trade, was a popular street performer in the Lodz ghetto. He composed and performed satirical songs pertaining to major events and to figures of the ghetto. While not much is known about Yankele Hershkowitz’s personal life, his musical contribution to the cultural life of the Lodz ghetto has been recounted by many survivors. His original compositions are detailed in several entries of the Lodz ghetto Chronicle.

Hirsch Glik was born in 1920 to a working class family in Vilna. Glik began writing poetry at the age of 13, and was involved throughout his adolescent years in literary circles such as Yung Vilne (Young Vilna) and its offshoot, Yungvald (Young Forest).

David Beyglman, conductor, was born in 1887 in Ostrowiec (Kielce province of Poland). Beyglman began his musical education at a young age, studying several instruments, chiefly the clarinet and the violin. In 1912, he became the director of the Yitskhok Zanberg Yiddish Theater Company. In addition, he was affiliated with the Azazel and Ararat Yiddish Theaters centered in Lodz.