Holocaust Music

Khatyn (1971)
Pesniary. Music: I. Luchenok. Lyrics: G. Petrenko
Description: The Belorussian village of Khatyn was site to one of the great atrocities of the war, when German troops, in retribution for the partisan activities in the district, burned down the entire village with its residents. The village was just one of many such villages that destroyed during the occupation.

The Siren of Buchenwald (1957)
Muslim Magomaev. Music: Vano Muradeli. Lyrics: Aleksandr Sobolev
Description: Sobolev, a Jew, wounded war veteran, and critic of the Soviet regime, wrote this song on the occasion of the raising of a Buchenwald memorial in East Germany. He could not get the verses published, even when the established composer Muradeli put them to music. Only by luck did they succeed in having the song performed at the Moscow Youth Festival; and once heard, it became internationally famous.

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