The Greek song was written in 1943 in memory of a Jewish woman who was taken to the Nazi death camps. The language had to be veiled in sort of a code because of the German occupiers at the time. First recorded in 1949.

Horiam ' ena dhelino me dhakria sta matia
I aghapi mas itan ghrafto na yhini dhio komatia
Pono sa silloyhizome ta omorfa ta vradhia
Pou moudhines, ghilika-ghlika, orkous, filia ke hadhia
Me mia lahtara kartero ke pono sti kardhia mou
Isos yhirisis ghrighora ksana stin angalia mou.

This Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) folksong predates the Holocaust, but it is said to have been sung by the Jews of Rhodes as they were being deported. The version sung tonight is a mixture of the traditional folksong with a version called "In Polish Lands", written by the Grupo de los Reskatados de los Kampos de Alemania [Group of Liberated Inmates from the German Camps], also known as Koro Saloniko.

David Haim was originally from Salonika. He survived the death camps and immigrated to Tel Aviv after the Holocaust. He has also written poems on other themes in Judeo-Spanish, Greek, and Hebrew.
Music by Jane Peppler who is the director of the Triangle Jewish Chorale and a member of Mappamundi. and the Pratie Heads. She composed the music to this Judeo-Spanish poem specifically for this Yom Hashoah commemoration. The song "From Saloniki to Auschwitz" describes the train journey to the death camp. It was written in Auschwitz  and set to the music of a friend who had formerly played at Jewish weddings in Salonica. 

Siete dias enserrados
En vagones de beemas
Una vez a los tres dias
Mos kitavan a airear

Madre mia mi kerida
Ya tuvites el zehut
De murirte en tus tierras
I no pasates por el oluk

Padre mio mi kerido
Ken te lo iva dezir
Ke vinyeras kon tu ‘rmano
Al krematorio de Auschwitz

Padre i madre ermanas i ermanikas
Saliendo todos redjadjis
A el Patron del Mundo
Ke embie salud a mi
Ke me kite de estos kampos
Para vos echar kadish

Seven days locked up
in boxcars for animals;
once every three days
they would take us out for air.

My dearest mother,
you were fortunate
in dying in your country
and not passing through the chimney.

My dearest father,
who would have told you
that you would come with your brother
to the crematorium of Auschwitz!

Father and mother, brothers and sisters,
may you all be supplicants
to the Master of the world
to grant me health
and remove me from these camps
to recite for you the Kaddish!

Etsi In’ I Zoi (Έτσι είναι η ζωή) (That’s the Way Life Goes) by Marinella
The words of a popular Greek song, "Etsi in' i zoi" [That's the way life goes], were also altered to reflect life in the camp
Alternative lyrics translated by Katherine Fleming

Έτσι είναι η ζωή, κορίτσια,/ πάντα έτσι είναι η ζωή
Νάμεστε κλεισμένες μες στο Αούσβιτς.
Νιάτα που περνούν, χαρές που φεύγουν / πίσω δεν γυρνούν.
Κορίτσια, κάντε υπομονή, θα βγουμε
Από το Αούσβιτς.

That’s the way life goes, girls, that’s the way life always goes
For us to be closed up in Auschwitz.
Youth that passes, joys that leave and don’t come back.
Girls, be patient, we’ll get out
Of Auschwitz.

Μια φορά κι εγώ κοίταξα πίσω
είπα να χαθώ να μη γυρίσω

Έτσι είν' η ζωή και πώς να την αλλάξεις
άλλοι κλαίνε κι άλλοι γελάνε δηλαδή
έτσι είν' η ζωή και πώς να την ξεγράψεις
πώς να την ξεγράψεις με μολύβι και χαρτί

Κράτα μου το χέρι κράτα το παράπονό μου
κράτα την καρδιά μου ώσπου να 'ρθει το πρωί
και να θυμηθείς πριν φύγεις να σου δώσω
κόκκινο γαρίφαλο κι ένα γλυκό φιλί

Μια φορά κι εγώ είπα να φύγω
από τους καημούς για να ξεφύγω

Έτσι είν' η ζωή και πώς να την αλλάξεις
άλλοι κλαίνε κι άλλοι γελάνε δηλαδή
έτσι είν' η ζωή και πώς να την ξεγράψεις
πώς να την ξεγράψεις με μολύβι και χαρτί

Κράτα μου το χέρι κράτα το παράπονό μου
κράτα την καρδιά μου ώσπου να 'ρθει το πρωί
και να θυμηθείς πριν φύγεις να σου δώσω
κόκκινο γαρίφαλο κι ένα γλυκό φιλί