“I believe in the Sun even when it is dark”
Some comments by Dr. Seth Ward
„Ich glaube an die Sonne, sei es auch dunkel, ich glaube an Gott, mag er auch schweigen, ich glaube an Nächstenliebe, obwohl sie sich nirgends zeigen darf“.
Neue Zürcher Nachrichten, Nummer 146, 26. Juni 1945 Ausgabe 02
Translation: “I believe in the sun, though it be dark; I believe in God, though He be silent; I believe in neighborly love, though it be unable to reveal itself.”
A setting of an English version of this text is to be performed by Temple Sinai Choir and the Colorado Hebrew Chorale in a memorial program to our friend, the late Estelle Nadel (1934-2023). The concert is 2:30 PM March 17 2024, at Temple Sinai in Denver; please come.
The setting is by Mark A. Miller, a Yale graduate (B.A. in Music) with a MM in Organ from Julliard, who is Lecturer in Sacred Music at the Yale School of Sacred Music, has been organist at the Riverside Church and is composer in residence at Drew University and Minister of Music at Christ Church in Summit, NJ.
This short statement is often given as written by Jews in a Concentration Camp or in the Warsaw Ghetto or elsewhere, or as an “anonymous” Jewish poem. But it apparently was found in an underground passageway in Cologne, at least that is what was reported by an unnamed “Special Correspondent” in the Neue Zürcher Nachrichten newspaper on June 26, 1945, and thus we know something about its history.
Everett Howe, writing in the blog “The Humanist Seminarian” has been searching for the origin of the poem. He reports that he found the source on April 4, 2021. I’ve copied some of what he says below. Before reproducing it, however, I’d like to note that “I believe in the sun” has been set to music in English several times, and in Hebrew translations and probably in other languages. Here is a Hebrew setting, by Hannah Eigner Braun: Words: https://shironet.mako.co.il/artist?type=lyrics&lang=1&prfid=19545&wrkid=44391
YouTube of performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBcLUJa6T9k
There are also expanded versions of this poem found on the Internet, with words not found in the original of course, although presented as if the entire text is part of the original:
Debi Simons wrote about the words when the Cherry Creek Chorale sang a setting – not the one by Mark Miller.
https://www.debisimons.com/the-true-story-behind-the-text-of-even-when-he-is-silent/
In my humble opinion, Everett Howe is right: the actual text as reported in the New Zurich News makes more sense, and is deeper, and more in tune with the reality of the underground hiding place than the text as it is usually given today. Howe stopped short of decrying the change of wording as cultural misappropriation, but in our society that today is so quick to worry about this issue, perhaps that is what can be said to have occurred to this text: a reference to neighborly love and compassion is changed to “love” (I personally always think about my neighbors in grad school days who were fond of referencing the New Testament “God is Love” of I John 4), and the inscription ends not with belief in God—so appropriate to a religious setting, perhaps—but with the belief in charity. The world is dark, God is silent, charity is hidden: the unknown inscription’s author celebrates all three.
Debi Simons correctly emphasizes that it is important to read all of Howe’s blogs on this text, not just this excerpt.
Simons also points out that this is not just some arcane background, echoing and underscoring Howe’s conclusion even before he discovered the report in the Swiss newspaper. The Truth is always a matter of great significance when dealing with the Holocaust. Howe did not mention cultural misappropriation, but he did mention far greater evils, disrespect to people who died; Holocaust denial, and passing off false stories as true.
Howe:
The Holocaust is serious business. This is not an area where it is good to blur the boundaries between what is true and what is false. There are still groups of people who would like us to believe that the entire Holocaust is fiction; and there are other people who would like to try to pass off false stories as true. Out of respect for the millions who died, we should be scrupulous about the truth. (“I Believe in the Sun, Part IV: Conclusion”)
Here is the link for Part V of his series:
https://humanistseminarian.com/2021/04/04/i-believe-in-the-sun-part-v-the-source/
The blog post gives the original text of the Zurich news article, with a translation. “Catholic Scouts had discovered underground passageways which had been unused for many years under old buildings, and these could now serve as refuges from the Gestapo. At one point, nine Jewish fugitives hid here for four months without ever being caught.” The reporter reports “I visited the shelter [and] had the opportunity to see the emergency housing, fully equipped with a kitchen, bedroom, living room, radio, a small library, and oil lamps…. Food had to be supplied by friends who willingly gave up a portion of their rations to help those unfortunate people living for weeks in utter darkness. The following inscription is written on the wall of one of these underground rooms, which in some ways resemble the Roman catacombs: “I believe in the sun, though it be dark; I believe in God, though He be silent; I believe in neighborly love, though it be unable to reveal itself.”
Among the points Howe makes (with light editing)
- “Though it be dark” has a different meaning than “even when it is not shining.” If you are underground at noon, the sun is shining, but you are in the dark.
- The sentence about God is the second line, and not the third. I had been pretty confident that this would be the case.
- The most unexpected revelation for me is the appearance of Nächstenliebe in the third sentence. Nächstenliebe can be translated into English as charity, altruism, benevolence, brotherly love, neighborly love, compassion, and so on, but I do not believe that love without a further qualification is a particularly good translation. In English, love and charity are concepts that are linked to one another, but they are definitely distinct from one another, unless you modify love with an adjective.
- The article speaks of nine Jewish refugees hiding for four months. The quotation at the top of this page speaks of “the entire duration of the war.”
Perhaps most important, Howe describes that the discovery of the actual wording changed the meaning of the quote for him:
- The Jews hiding underground could not see the sun; it was not there for them. And it sounds like God was silent for them at that time, too. But charity, or benevolence, or neighborly love, or compassion… well, those things were present with them at that very moment, because people were risking their lives to keep them safe, and people were sharing rations with them. Nächstenliebe was right there with them — although it (like them) had to be hidden.
Howe’s last word in the post: “Thank a librarian the next time you see one — and remember, always cite your sources.”
I am sure Howe would agree that “always cite your sources” goes along with always trying to find the sources as well. All too often, musical is described as “folk” or “traditional,” and lyrics given as “anonymous.” Yet all too often there are fascinating stories behind the musical compositions or their texts—and the composer or author can be identified. Don’t take “Trad.” or “Anon.” at face value.
Seth Ward
Coffeecups 