“Im Walde von Sachsenhausen" taken from the CD Songs from the Depths of Hell, courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways.
Music from the Camps
Topical Song
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Im Walde von Sachsenhausen
One of the earliest songs to circulate amongst German political prisoners, the song 'Im Walde von Sachsenhausen' (In the forests of Sachsenhausen) was written in 1936 by an unknown author, and based on a pre-existing Russian folk melody. The lyrics describe the prisoners' longing for family and the hardships they suffer in the camp, though the portrayal of camp life is milder than many other songs to have emerged under Nazi internment. It remained one of the most popular songs amongst Sachsenhausen inmates, and appears numerous times in the songbooks they created there.