In her recent Washington Post op-ed regarding Jews’ place in Poland’s history, Anne Applebaum notes that Jewish partisans during the Second World War often sang a song that ended with the words Mir senen do!, meaning “We are here!” The song became the anthem of their resistance. In August we blogged about author Ellen Cassedy’s book about Lithuanian resistance, We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust (University of Nebraska Press).
Applebaum writes:
Certainly the insistent declaration “we are here” isn’t part of any big nation’s national anthem. Americans sing about “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” The British sing “God save the Queen.” The French sing, “The day of glory has arrived.” None of them sing in order to prove that they haven’t been wiped out. But those who live in geographically insecure nations can perhaps empathize with one another somewhat better.
Read more at The Washington Post.