A rare Holocaust-era songbook compiled by Jewish refugees and survivors has been translated into English and published for the first time. It follows more than a decade of international investigation by University of Sydney researchers. 

With an original limited print of 500 copies, Mima'amakim (Out of the Depths) is a rare collection of songs from Nazi camps and ghettos, a powerful record of resilience and a capturing of the migration stories that reshaped countries like Australia. 

One of only five surviving copies globally, preserved for decades by a Holocaust survivor in Sydney, was rediscovered in 2013 and later shared with the authors - migration academic Associate Professor Anna Boucher and ethnomusicologist Dr Joseph Toltz.

“These songs are full of life and defiance. To hear them now is to hear voices that refused to be silenced.”

The project traced the post-war journeys of survivors connected to the songbook, including one who migrated to Australia and helped build new lives after the war.

The Sydney family who preserved the book played a crucial role in ensuring the survival of this cultural record and access to what is believed to be one of the most complete surviving copies.

“These songs connect past and present in a powerful way” said Associate Professor Boucher.

“They ask us to think about what people carry with them when they’re forced to flee, and what might be lost if those stories aren’t preserved.” 

Researchers conducted trauma-informed interviews with Holocaust survivors and descendants across multiple countries, including some of the original lyricists and composers. They combined, archival and documentary analysis from passenger cards, Holocaust testimony and even photos from gravestones, detailed Yiddish-to-English translation and poetic musical and historical interpretation. 

“We weren’t just translating words. We were carefully bringing meaning, memory and context of these survivors and their families into English for the first time.”

As the number of living Holocaust survivors’ declines, preserving cultural records such as music and oral histories is urgent. The resulting publication brings these songs to a broad international audience for the first time.

“These songs are not only historical documents but expressions of humanity, resistance and memory that have endured across generations,” said Dr Toltz.