IRENA GAYZLER (IRENE GEISLER)

IRENA GAYZLER (IRENE GEISLER)

            She was the author of the poem “Di tfile fun khaper” (The prayer of a snatcher), which in the Warsaw Ghetto was known by the name “Modlitwa chapera” (Prayer of the snatcher), a poem about Warsaw Ghetto children who would wait in the street for passers-by and grab food from them.  The author (together with her sister, a Polish poet) was sent from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka.  This poem was entrusted to Diana Blumenfeld, and it was translated into Polish by Dr. Leo Berkovitsh.  Music was composed to accompany it by the well-known pianist Tereza Vaynbaum (Teresa Weinbaum) who was also killed at Treblinka.

Source: Sh. Katsherginski, Lider fun getos and lagern (Songs of the ghettos and camps) (New York: Tsiko, 1948), pp. 153-54.