The first 14 songs are related to the struggle against fascism, mainly in Europe, in the 1930's and 1940's.  The rest are songs very directly related to the struggle against fascists and fascism since then, as it pertains to the phenomenon popularly referred to as Antifa.  Not included are the hundreds of related songs I've written about what we might call American fascism -- songs about American apartheid, genocide, our culture of police violence, racism, mass incarceration, etc., are to be found in different playlists, with the exception here of "State House Lawn," because the killer is a bona fide fascist.  I'm not really sure where these lines are, as is often the case with picking playlists, but hopefully this one makes sense, and is of potential interest in particular to those interested in history, the study of fascism, and especially for anyone who has been following the ongoing dialog between me and my critics, who say I'm sympathetic with fascism.

Antifascist

A song for the Nazi cop that Portlanders love to hate.

From the album, When I'm Elected President:
https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/when-im-elected-president-wayfaring-stranger-double-album

Lyrics:

Captain Kruger is a Nazi

The far right has many members in the ranks of the police
This is undoubtedly true from the USA to Greece
Among the most notable cases is the PPB
Who kill more black men per capita than any department in the country
But the leader of the Vice Squad deserves a special mention
Even among his fellow cops he's caused a bit of tension
If he could choose his weapon it would surely be a Luger
I'm talking about a marksman by the name of Captain Kruger
No it's not just about the lawsuit back in 2003
That he attacked peaceful protesters with thug brutality
It's not just about his colleague who got tired of his shit
After years of him harassing her he got promoted and she quit
I mean that stuff doesn't help, but what really makes the case
Is how he commemorated members of the so-called Master Race
About his political proclivities there's been no need for us to guess
Since he put up a plaque in honor of the Waffen SS

You can say that it's just speech, you can say that speech is free
But Captain Kruger is a racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, Hitler-loving Nazi

He put up a plaque though he says that's not what he meant
But I'm not sure what other messages get sent
When you memorialize a man for whom mass murder was a game
Who had thousands of non-Aryans killed in his name
Kruger sued the city and the Nazi won
Lots of money, an apology, the right to keep his badge and gun
But it wasn't only that – he got promoted, too
Hey, no problem, if you want to gas blacks and gays and Jews

The mayor says he's sorry that he didn't read
The settlement he signed, but now he's done the deed
The mayor says he's sorry – here, have a lane for your bike
Now can we stop complaining about Mr. Third Reich
And please don't call the cop a fascist – he's sensitive about that
Just ignore the Swastika on his Nazi hat
Just ignore the Swastika, he's not doing too much harm
Just tell us if he starts tattooing any numbers on your arm

Captain Kruger is a Nazi

Charleston. Is everyone crazy who hears voices telling them black people are irredeemable criminals bent on taking over the country? Or are they just listening to Fox? Was this the act of a madman, or just a fan of Bill O'Reilly following hate speech to its logical conclusion?

Should a massacre of black church-goers really be so shocking in a state that still officially flies the Confederate flag in front of its State House? (To say nothing of the other US flag, the Stars and Stripes, also drenched in the blood of Africans near and far, along with so many more people.)

Download the entire album:
https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-side

Lyrics:

He was listening to voices, talking in his head
If you grew up in America you know exactly what they said
And with every job we lose, however bad things get
There's a black man in the White House on the TV set
And we can blame it all on him and his entire race
Because they no longer know their place

You can hear the voices and by the early light of dawn
You can see the flag waving on the State House Lawn

He was listening to voices, you could say that he was crazy
For thinking certain people are just born to be lazy
He could see it on the cop shows, they don't know right from wrong
The race war is coming and now it won't be long
I promise it was not his original notion
If you want to start a war, first you have to set the war in motion

Chorus

He was listening to voices who said the conflict's coming soon
And he walked into the church on the 17th of June
The very date of the rebellion that never was to be
For which 35 were hanged in that very city
For which the church was burned, for which the church was banned
For which there's been no atonement in a sick and troubled land

Chorus

The State House Lawn

When I was very young, in New York City, I had a babysitter/nanny named Lola Aglialoro who lived on 172 West 107th Street.  I still remember her address, because I used to write her so many letters.  I visited her every so often as an adult, too, until her death in 2002.  I found out more about her then.  And today I wrote a song.

From the album, 1939:
https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/1939

Lyrics:

Lola Aglialoro

When Lola was born the First World War
Had only just ended 3 years before
In '77 she took a flight
She told a reporter who asked her that it was alright
2002 is the year that she died
She lived in Manhattan on the Upper West Side
If you look on the web that's almost all that will show
There once was a Lola Aglialoro

She always said she was from England
But after she died I learned she came from the mainland
The last Kindertransport was the one she was on
And she spent her youth then being bombed in London
She met a soldier, followed him back 
How many kids she raised, who could keep track
Only 2 of her own, but so many others would follow
My nanny Lola Aglialoro

She always said she never had
A problem with the gangsters they said were so bad
She would laugh loudly, as she often did
Saying I knew all the gangsters when they were wee kids
She said not one child should be forsaken
Maybe because her own childhood had been taken
A woman of joy, a woman of sorrow
A lady named Lola Aglialoro

As I grew up I still kept in touch
With this woman who had affected so many so much
My lady of laughter, my mother of mirth
Who seemed to know so deeply what laughter was worth
There's no Stumbling Stone to recall when she came
And she long ago changed both her first and last name
But now there's a song so someone out there might know
There was once a Lola Aglialoro

Lola Aglialoro

Stumbling stones.  A German artist named Gunter Demnig started putting little bronze squares in the sidewalks of German cities in 1992.  Now there are thousands of them in several different countries in Europe.  They are placed in front of the homes and workshops from which people were taken to be sent to concentration camps, primarily.  It's a powerful form of art, turning much of Germany into a permanent exhibit, a constant reminder of what has been, and what must never be.

From the album, 1939:
https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/1939

Lyrics:

Stolpersteine

When I first showed up in Deutschland, camping on the Rhine
The first town that I went to was also the first sign
Of the kind of self-reflection that had gone on around here
Indications everywhere, so shiny and so clear
Look down at the sidewalk where a little light is shown
When you stumble upon a stumbling stone
Stumble upon a stumbling stone

What did this place once look like, who lived on this block
It can't be recreated but you can partially take stock
Look down at the sidewalk for a little bronze square
Read the words engraved upon it that says who was living there
Before they were taken away to the dark unknown
When you stumble upon a stumbling stone
Stumble upon a stumbling stone

Little squares all over, you'll find them all around
Not much information on them, and they don't make a sound
But if your imagination is anything like mine
Then all you need to trigger it is one lone Stolpersteine
Take a moment to remember as you look down from your phone
When you stumble upon a stumbling stone
Stumble upon a stumbling stone

There are six little squares here – one for each member
Of one family that was taken one morning in December
The youngest child was 2, the eldest one was 10
Within a year each one of them had died at Sachsenhausen
Their bodies burnt to ashes – flesh and blood and bone
When you stumble upon a stumbling stone
Stumble upon a stumbling stone

And every time I see them I wish I would see more
Embedded in the sidewalks on so many other shores
Just one stone to remember each one who met their fate
At all the slave plantations, in all the torture states
But for some it's safer to just leave the dead alone
When you stumble upon a stumbling stone
Stumble upon a stumbling stone
Stumble upon a stumbling stone

Stolperstein

I was sitting at a desk, overlooking the Baltic Sea, near Helsingor, Denmark, where thousands of Danish Jews managed to get to Sweden in the space of a couple days, with the help of a lot of other Danes. Sitting there, I heard the news about the one thousand refugees who had just sank to their deaths in the Mediterranean.

This song appears on the Bandcamp album, The Other Side, which you can stream for free or donate to download here:

https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-side

lyrics:

When we heard the news that we were to be arrested 
We had no doubt exactly what our fate would be 
We had hours to get out, only hours to be tested 
For five thousand people to cross the Baltic Sea 

We had to go at night in the cover of the darkness 
There's no way I could exaggerate the threat 
We tried not to make a sound, wore nothing that would mark us 
But no one knew how far across we'd get, and 

I thank God for the fishermen who gave us a ride 
And took us over -- to the other side 

To find so many boats ready for the journey 
To find so many prepared to risk it all 
Not everyone could read the stars, not every boat was worthy 
Not everyone prepared to heed the call, but 

Chorus 

Some risked everything for free, accepting nothing but a handshake 
Some charged enough to live on for a year 
But such details don't matter when so much is at stake 
When all that matters is a boat that you might steer 

We lived out the war in Sweden while so many others didn't 
And most people now would easily agree 
To say we deserved asylum would simply be redundant 
In the boat lift of 1943, and 

Chorus

Denmark, 1943

When I heard some stories about a friend's grandparents in Hamburg, Germany, I was moved to verse, twice. This is the song I wrote about her grandmother and namesake, Katharina Jacob. Particularly about the morning of her liberation from her Nazi captors by Russian troops.

This song appears on the Bandcamp album, The Other Side, which you can stream for free or donate to download here:

https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-side

lyrics

Katharina Jacob, long before she took that name 
Was organizing workers in Hamburg just the same 
Organizing beneath the flag of deepest red 
A new dawn of peace and freedom clearly shining in her head 

Katharina Jacob first was sent to jail 
When the trappings of democracy all began to fail 
She was frequently arrested, in and out of custody 
While her first husband was in hiding from the Nazis 

Katharina Jacob was acquitted of a crime 
But the gestapo had the last word and they weren't finished with her this time 
She was sent to Ravensbrück, a killing hunger at her side 
She heard of the execution, how her second husband died 

For Katharina Jacob the end was close at hand 
She was on a death march with a ragged, starving band 
Marching through a forest, being led by the SS 
What would happen hours later seemed impossible to guess 

When the sun rose the next morning, it was the first of May 
And they all sang the Internationale 
And they all sang the Internationale 

Katharina Jacob thought about her children 
And the friends and comrades taking care of them 
Not knowing yet if any of them survived 
Not knowing that soon she'd see her daughters both alive 

Katharina Jacob watched the German soldiers fleeing 
Streaming from the east, that's what she was seeing 
Allied bombers flew above them, she thought they all might die and then 
Soon there was the silence of all the SS men 

Chorus 

Katharina Jacob saw red flags flapping in the breeze 
Above the Russian tanks and she fell upon her knees 
And so many different voices in so many different tongues 
Sang the most beautiful song that could ever have been sung 

In German, Lithuanian, in Polish and in Dutch 
A myriad of melodies as never had been such 
In Russian and in Yiddish, Italian and French 
Emerging from the forests beneath a trench 

Chorus 

Völker, hört die Signale! Auf zum letzten Gefecht! 
Die Internationale erkämpft das Menschenrecht 
Völker, hört die Signale! Auf zum letzten Gefecht! 
Die Internationale – erkämpft das Menschenrecht

They All Sang The Internationale

This should be a campaign song for at least 27 US governors, among other xenophobic idiots, who, well before Trump's election, said they wouldn't accept any Syrian refugees in their states.

This version of the song is from Live In Rostrevor (2016) with Lorna McKinnon on harmony vocals.

Lyrics:

It's 1939 and the boats are coming
But we can't have them here, that much at least is clear
Our economy is poor, we can't just open up the door
We've got problems of our own, they should just leave us alone
And they're a tribalistic race, they keep a separate space
They don't really integrate, they'll be a burden on the state
Watch before it is too late

It's 1939 and the boats are coming
But if we let them land and acquiesce to their demands
We'll soon be overrun, our Christian country will be done
They should just take the tram closer by to Amsterdam
Keep their problems in the region, this invading legion
Enemies within our ranks with names like Rosenberg and Frank
Watch that water that you drank

It's 1939 and the boats are coming
But they must stay away, in the newspapers they say
They don't believe in Christ the lord and they're jumping overboard
Crossing borders in a swarm, they'll never be reformed
It's a Trojan Horse attack and we've got to send them back
There may be Nazis in the hall, answering Hitler's call
These Jews are Germans after all

It's 1939 and the boats are coming

Send Them Back

A song for those who lost their lives confronting a violent white supremacist who was yelling at girls on a train, one of whom was wearing a hijab.  From Ballad of a Wobbly (2017).

On The Train

The "Japanese Schindler," but not as well known.

This is a track from my album, Big Red Sessions, which can be downloaded here:
davidrovics.bandcamp.com

Sugihara

A song for a woman who went to prison for defending herself.  From The Other Side.

Ballad Of Cece McDonald

A song for antifascist resistance leader and former Hamburg city councilor, Franz Jacob.  From my album, The Other Side.

Frieden und Freiheit

For blood and soil.  From the album, Historic Times (2018).

Lyrics:

1933

History doesn't repeat, they say, but it often appears it does
Enough so that it seems like we should know just how it was
When in another time and place the party in the driver's seat
The Social Democrats ruled on behalf of the elite
And the next person who arose to lead the state
Said he'd stand up for his people and make his country great

He said everyone's exploiting us, and the reason why
Is we've been ruled by weaklings, and now it's time we must reply
Military spending and industry grew
And the razor wire tent camps did, too
He said we'll take the country back, and standing on the brink
He said it's anarchy or me, we can rise or we can sink

For Blood and Soil

From Budapest to London, from Chicago to Milan
There was the specter of all those so inspired by the man
He signed treaties that were broken before the ink was dry
He left the League of Nations and Prime Ministers would try
Appeasement, but whatever they would do
The fuhrer would just tighten the screws

Most of the news seemed real – at least after a while
The same propaganda, wherever on the dial
Germany was the victim – it would be victim no more
That's what he was saying years before the war
Years before the blitzkrieg, before extermination
Became the fate of so many then living in the nation

For Blood and Soil

He talked of enemies within and enemies outside
Who together had conspired and stolen and lied
He said they took us for a ride with treaties signed by those
Serving foreign interests, as every Aryan knows
But follow me, he said, you won't recognize the place
We'll be great again – we're the Master Race

People look back and wonder what could have been done
Many years before the war was won
When social institutions fell one after the next
And then faster than almost anyone expected
Few people could have even imagined the cost
Once it was too late, and the chance for peace was lost

For Blood and Soil

1933

After listening to probably the twentieth news story commemorating the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in #Normandy, France, I had to contribute my own content to the discussion.

Recorded live as part of the Viral Solidarity Concert project at Big Red Studio on April 2nd, 2020.

Normandy

Some people just can't walk on by.  A song for Jock Palfreeman, currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in Bulgaria, on outrageous charges resulting from the fact that in the course of defending two Roma men from being attacked by Nazi football hooligans, a very drunk young fascist named Andrei Monov was killed, and he came from a prominent family.  From my 2019 album, Strangers and Friends.

Lyrics:

Jock

Jock Palfreeman traveled to see friends in Bulgaria
To spend Christmas in their homes, have a night out in Sofia
He was only planning to visit for a short stay
Thirteen years since then, he's never been away
The night that Jock went out with friends, walked past the metro station
The mood suddenly changed from one of celebration
To the sounds of Nazi football hooligans in the streets again
Shouting racist slurs at two Roma men

Most people would keep walking, or find a place to hide
While some among us have to take a side

Jock stood and faced the Nazis marching in the street
He flashed a blade to keep them back, they threw chunks of concrete
Jock fell to the ground, woke up handcuffed, splitting head 
That's the time he learned one of his attackers was dead
No one knew quite what happened, but in the police report
They said these men attacked the Roma just like Jock said in the court
The CCTV footage disappeared and then
After it was found, it disappeared again  (Chorus)

The forensics examiner said, of the man who lost his life
Clearly he was stabbed, but the wound didn't match the knife
Witness testimony wasn't deemed relevant to the case
In Bulgaria today, that's the justice you might face
Because these particular racists were the sons of the elite
Corruption in the form of a parliamentary seat
A kangaroo court conviction, every tell-tale sign 
They plan to beat and starve him until 2029 (Chorus)

Jock

As were a lot of other people, but he was one of the more prominent ones...

Henry Ford was a Fascist

I Remember Warsaw

One of the lesser-known details about the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War is how badly the Republican refugees were treated in France, after they fled over the border, running for their lives.  The Vichy authorities, after the Nazi occupation, were worse.  But for 2,200 of the refugees in France, the fate of their comrades would be avoided, as Pablo Neruda and the government of Chile at the time had arranged for a cargo ship, the SS Winnipeg.

Recorded live as part of the Viral Solidarity Concert project at Big Red Studio on April 2nd, 2020.

Across The Ocean Wide (When The Winnipeg Set Sail)

Henk Streefkerk was a member of the Dutch resistance to the German occupation in the early 1940's.

This is a track from my 15-song album, Into A Prism, which can be downloaded in full here:

http://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/into-a-prism

Henk

2019 album recorded in Ireland with Lorna McKinnon and Kamala Emanuel on harmony vocals and Pol Mac Adaim on everything else.

04. When The Nazis Came To Rotherham

2011 album recorded at Big Red Studio featuring Billy Oskay, Nick Angelo and others.

13. The Last Lincoln Veteran

Singer/songwriter, writer, podcaster (on Spotify, Substack & Patreon), libertarian socialist, dad, lover of life.