Papirosn    
                                                                         Lyrics: Herman Yablokoff (1903–81) Music: Traditional Bulgarian Folk Tune

   As a memorial for the Jewish children that were murdered by human beasts during the Holocaust. They will be never forgotten. This song was very popular in the Warsaw and Minsk Ghettos. Herman Yablokoff was a Yiddish songwriter, lyric  writer, actor, writer of plays, director and producer.(Hayim Yablonik) (1903-81).He  was born in Grodno-Near Minsk, Russian Poland (now Belarus), where he sang as a boy chorister in the choir of Cantor (Reb) Yoshe Slonimer at the age of ten.In 1924,
after  traveling four years with the Kovner Fareynikte Troup (United Troupe of Kovno). Also, their tourism took them through Germany and Holland. He migrated to the United States.
 Before settling in New York, he chose to play on stages in Toronto, Montreal, and Los Angeles.Papirosn (Cigarettes), is probably his most enduring song. It arised from his play with the same title. It is most likely an adaption of an European  folk melody to his own melodramatic lyrics, which is still sung  today.

---

Yiddish
Akalte nakht, a nebldike finster umetum
sheyt a yingele  fartroiert un kukt zikh arum
Fun regn shtist im hor a vant, A koshik trogt er in hant,
un zayne oygn betn yedn shtum

Ikh hob shoyn nit keyn koyekh mer arumtsugeyn in gaz,
hungerig un opgerizn fun dem regn naz.
Ikh shlep arum zikh fun baginen, keyner git nisht tsu fardinen,
zale lakhn, makhn fun mir  shpaz. 

Kupitye koyft zhe, koyft zhe papirosn,
trukene fun regn  nisht fargozn.
Koyft she bilik benemones, koyft un hot oyf mir  rakhmones,
ratevet fun hunger mikh atsind..

Kupitye koyft she shvebelakh  antikn,
dermit verd ir a yosiml derkvikn.
Umzizt mayn shrayen un mayn  loyfn,
keyner vil bay mir nit koyfn,oysgeyn vel ikh muzn vi a  hunt. 

Mayn tate in milkhome hot farloyrn zayne hent,
mayn mame hot di tsores mer oyshaltn nisht gekent.
Yung in keyver zi getribn, bin  ikh oyf der velt farblibn,
ungliklekh un elnt vi a shteyn.

Breklekh  klayb ikh oyf tsum ezn oyf dem kaltn mark,
a harte bank iz mayn geleger  in dem kaltn park.
In dertsu di politziantn, shlog mikh shvern kantn, 
z'helft nit mayn betn, mayn geveyn. 

Ikh hob gehat a shvesterl, a kind fun der natur,
Mit mir tsusamen zikh geshlept hot zi a gants yor.
Mit ir geven iz mir fil gringer,  laykhter vern flegt
der hunger, ven ikh fleg a kuk ton nor oyf ir.

Mit  amol gevorn iz zi shvakh un zeyer krank,
oyf mayne hent iz zi geshtorbn oyf  a gazn-bank.
Un az ikh hob zi farloyrn, hob ikh alts ongevoyrn, zol der
toyt shoyn kumen oykh tsu mir.

English
A cold night, foggy, and darkness everywhere
A boy stands sadly and looks around.
Only a wall protects him from the rain
He holds a basket in his hand
and his eyes beg everyone silently: 
I don't have any strength left
to walk the streets hungry and ragged,
wet from the rain, I shlep around from dawn.
Nobody gives me any earnings,
everyone laughs and makes fun of me 

Buy my cigarettes!
Dry ones, not wet from the rain
Buy real cheap,
Buy and have pity on me.
Save me from hunger now
Buy my matches, wonderful ones, the best,
and with that you will uplift an orphan.
My screaming and my running will be for naught.
Nobody wants to buy from me-
I will have to perish like a dog. 

My father lost his hands in the war
My mother couldn't bear her troubles anymore
And was driven to her grave at a young age
I was left on this earth unhappy and alone like a stone
I gather crumbs to eat in the cold market
A hard bench in the cold park is my bed
and on top of that, the police
beat me with the edges of their swords and sticks
my pleas and my cries are of no use. 

I had a little sister, a child of nature
Together we shlepped around for an entire year.
When with her, it was much easier for me.
My hunger'd weaken when I glanced at her
Suddenly she became weak and sick
died in my arms on a street bench
And when I lost her I lost everything
Let death come already for me, too.