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.
Voina and Holocaust
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Michael Steinlauf recalls growing up listening to his parents' war stories, and the moment he realized these stories were part of a larger history.
This is an excerpt from an oral history with Michael Steinlauf.
This excerpt is in English.
Michael Steinlauf was born in Paris, France in 1947.
This interview is part of the Yiddish in the Academy: scholars, language instructors, and students series.
Other video highlights from this oral history
Voina and Holocaust
1 minute 44 seconds
"I Don't Want to Just Be An Academic": Yiddish Beyond Academia
1 minute 11 seconds
"I Love Yiddish": Professor Michael Steinlauf Reflects
51 seconds
Growing Up in a Polish Jewish Household
1 minute 49 seconds
Boredom on Yom Kippur
1 minute 7 seconds
Father in the Warsaw Ghetto
1 minute 35 seconds
"From Warsaw to Brighton Beach": Early Exposure to Yiddish
1 minute 25 seconds
"I'm Not A Yiddishist"
1 minute 30 seconds
Parents showing up at hunger strike
1 minute 13 seconds
Peretz as an ideologue
1 minute 40 seconds
"What is My Culture?": Reflections on Yiddish and My Connection to Poland
2 minutes 55 seconds
"I'd rather teach the non-Jews"
1 minute 28 seconds
Student Activism in the 1960s
3 minutes 44 seconds
Cultural transmission over time
2 minutes 11 seconds
Confinement of community
2 minutes 45 seconds
The future of Yiddish
2 minutes 11 seconds
"Yiddish eventually becomes yours"
53 secondsMore information about this oral history excerpt
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About the Wexler Oral History Project
Since 2010, the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project has recorded more than 500 in-depth video interviews that provide a deeper understanding of the Jewish experience and the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture.
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