The Yiddish Book Center's

Wexler Oral History Project

A growing collection of in-depth interviews with people of all ages and backgrounds, whose stories about the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture offer a rich and complex chronicle of Jewish identity.

"We were in denial:" Believing the Holocaust

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Judith Klau, English teacher, recounts interviewing a concentration camp survivor and not believing her story. She concludes that "we were in such denial."

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Judith Klau.

This excerpt is in English.

Judith Klau was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1935.

Other video highlights from this oral history

Remembering Yiddish School

1 min 14 sec

Remembering davening (praying) with her father.

1 min 36 sec

"That was the best food."

2 min 17 sec

Introducing Jewish services at the Groton School

2 min 56 sec

"How do we let them know we are Jewish?": Fostering Jewish Identity at the Groton School

2 min 44 sec

Remembering Poale Zion and the Zionism of the 1940s

3 min 39 sec

Singing the Yiddish song "Yomi Yomi"

1 min 55 sec

"Lomir Zikh Iberbetn (Let's Forgive Each Other)": A Favorite Yiddish Song

2 min 13 sec

Remembering an unusual American Yiddish song sung by her father

59 sec

"A Slice of Life": Why I Love Yiddish Literature

2 min 30 sec

Yiddish (and the Yiddish Book Center) as Part of the American Jewish Future

1 min 37 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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