Mordechai Gebirtig (1877˜–1942)

Born as Mordechaj Markus Bertig, Jewish folk poet and singer, actor, and carpenter by profession. He was born on 4th April 1877 to a poor Jewish family in Kraków's Kazimierz district and received a traditional Jewish education at a cheder, and was later an apprentice to a carpenter. Before the first world war Gebirtig had already written poems and accompanying tunes without knowing musical notation. As an artist he was especially connected with cabaret stages and the literary milieu of the Bund. In summer 1921, his songs were heard by the American actress Molly Picon performing in Kraków, who introduced them into her song repertoire. Soon afterwards, an American theatre manager, Boaz Young, purchased the songs and included them in Moshe Shora's operetta Romanian Wedding, performed in Warsaw in 1923. Gebirtig came to be known as "the troubadour of Galicia", and one of his songs - S'brennt (Gore nasze miasto, or Our City's on Fire) - became an anthem of the ghettos in occupied Poland. On 4th June 1942, the "bard of Kazimierz" was murdered together with his wife and two daughters by a German armed escort during a resettlement action. The house at ul. Berka Joselewicza 5, where the singer used to live, received a commemorative plaque in 1992. The inscription reads Bądź zdrów mój Krakowie. Mordechaj Gebirtig (1877-1942) - stolarz, poeta, pieśniarz, that is: "Be hailed, o my Kraków. Mordechai Gebirtig (1877-1942), carpenter, poet, singer".



Commemoration bust of Mordechaj Gebirtig in Reka Joselewicza Street in Kraków, photo by Jakub Meissner