Re: belz

[Bill Barabash <billb978...>]

> >In 5.179 David Herskovic asked which Belz was the subject of "Mayn
>shtetele
> >Belz"--the one near Lviv (Lemberik) in Ukraine or the one in Moldova
> >(historical Bessarabia).  I don't have a definitive answer, only some
>clues.
> >The song was written by Jacob Jacobs (words) and Alexander Olshanetsky
>(music)
> >for William Siegel's 1932 play _Dos lid fun geto_ (_Song of the
>Ghetto_).
> >Jacobs was born in Hungary; Olshanetsky, in Odessa.  (I wasn't able to
> >establish a birthplace for Siegel.)  This circumstancial evidence
>suggests
> >Bessarabia over Galicia.  The Bessarabian Belz is really Belts (and
>that's the
> >official Yiddish form as well as the Moldavian/Romanian form), but
>there's a
> >tradition of using _Belz_ in Yiddish for both places.

The song was written for, and introduced by Isa Kremer, who was a native of 
Belz, Bessarabia.

-- Bill B.

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