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.

My Mother Recorded Her Story

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Jacob Schlitt - New York City-born native Yiddish speaker and social justice activist - remembers buying his mother a home recorder, at her request, so that she could record her story. Years later, it would find a place in the Yiddish Book Center's audio collection.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Jacob Schlitt.

This excerpt is in English.

Jacob Schlitt was born in Bronx, New York in 1927. Jacob died in 2018.

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Other video highlights from this oral history

Collecting for the Jewish National Fund

3 min 57 sec

Activism Over A Lifetime

2 min 50 sec

News Coverage During World War II

1 min 40 sec

Why are so many Jews liberal?

2 min 37 sec

Our Makeshift Menorah

59 sec

Growing up on Fox Street

3 min 8 sec

Learning the Meaning of My Name (discovering the meaning of my name working at Jewish labor committee)

1 min 36 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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