The Fire’s Victims

1911

About This Entry

This song was written in memory of the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, which broke out on March 25, 1911, and killed 146 garment workers, mostly young, female Jewish and Italian immigrants.

Page with Yiddish and English titles and drawing of fire engulfing building in center.

Page of sheet music with Yiddish lyrics transliterated into English.

Who can witness the great pity

Who can weep for the victims

Of the fire, the hellish flames?

Mothers crying, fathers mourning.

Kaddish for little children. Shame, anguish, and pain.

Sacrificed by the land of the dollar.

Went to the factory, never coming back

A beautiful, blossoming girl

The mother’s at home. She doesn’t know

What has become of her.

That terrible night, she got the report

Of the terrible fire, the conflagration.

The mother recognizes her daughter burned to death—

From the pain she loses her mind.

“Hurry, wise people,” she cries out, insane,

“Erect a black canopy now!”¹

She moans, confused, completely distraught

Drops dead next to her only child.

Sacrificed by the land of the dollar.

Translated by Zackary Sholem Berger.

Notes

[Erecting a bridal canopy in a graveyard was an Ashkenazic folk custom intended to honor a bride who died shortly before her wedding ceremony. The custom of erecting a black bridal canopy is usually associated with efforts to ward off further tragedy, notably plague and cholera, but here the reference seems to be to the first, mourning-related custom.—Eds.]

Credits

David Meyerowitz (music) and Louis Gilrod (lyrics), from Di fayer korbunes: The Popular Fire Song, arranged by Jack Kammen (New York: Theodor Lohr, 1911).

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 7.