In My Pocket
The Project
- The rights of use of everything published on In My Pocket Webside lie solely with the cooperation partners (wah-foundation/Stadtmuseum Hofgeismar).
The Partisans’ Song
MC: Miriam Bookman
https://www.facebook.com/elirab1/posts/10159572980721070
What We Stand For
WE ARE HERE! Project for Upstanders
The objective of our WE ARE HERE! project is to promote Human Rights and Social Justice through the principle of choosing to be an Upstander.
Our focus is on language, literature, music, film, the arts, and other cultural forms.
We feature the Partisans’ song, long revered by Holocaust survivors, including to this day. The very words embrace the understanding of what it takes to be an Upstander, and not a bystander. The message is relevant today both in the school yard, the sports field, and on the internet, to counter cyber bullying.
We choose William Cooper as our ambassador because he was a quiet activist who set out against the odds to protest. William Cooper is a fine example of an Upstander. So are his family, and those who follow in his footsteps! We want the strong message of the Partisans’ Song to reach as many as possible globally in a multi cultural way. We need to provide role models for the young, so they know that it is more than OK to stand up for what is right.
Success is not always achieved overnight. William Cooper marched to the Melbourne German Consulate on 6 December 1938. This deed was only fully recognised by the German government in 2017!
Our dedicated website at https://wah.foundation contains examples of the successes of our program in spreading the message around the world. So let’s motivate our educators and peers to join with us in inspiring others, especially our youth, to adopt this legacy.
Eli Rabinowitz
Perth, Australia
January 2022
email: eli@elirab.com
The Partisans’ Song by Hirsh Glik
Vilna 1943
Never say that there is only death for you,
Though leaden skies may be concealing days of blue,
Because the hour we have hungered for is near;
Beneath our tread the earth shall tremble — we are here!
From land of palm tree to the far-off land of snow,
We shall be coming with our torment and our woe;
And everywhere our blood has sunk into the earth,
Shall our bravery, our vigor blossom forth.
We’ll have the morning sun to set our day aglow,
And all our yesterdays shall vanish with the foe;
And if the time is long before the sun appears,
Then let this song go like a signal through the years.
This song was written with blood and not with lead;
It’s not a song that summer birds sing overhead;
It was a people among toppling barricades,
That sang this song of ours with pistols and grenades.
Never say that there is only death for you,
Though leaden skies may be concealing days of blue,
Because the hour we have hungered for is near;
Beneath our tread the earth shall tremble, — we are here!
William Cooper at The Jewish Museum in Melbourne
Photo by Stuart Rhine-Davis
