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.

"Why is the word 'Jew' so frightening?"

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Irv Zuckerman talks about his realization after meeting a DP that he wanted to be a proud, unapologetic Jew.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Irv Zuckerman.

This excerpt is in English.

Irv Zuckerman was born in New York in 1924. Irv died in 2019.

Other video highlights from this oral history

His Mother's Mistrust of His Career

1 min 51 sec

Racism and Antisemitism in the Work Place

3 min

"My Mother Did Not Allow Me To Run with the 'Trombeniks'": How My Childhood Made Me a Clumsy Soldier

2 min 42 sec

Feeling at Home in Business School

1 min 57 sec

"We didn't win the war, the war won the war"

1 min 47 sec

"My Name Isn't Irving"

1 min 30 sec

An Unexpected Encounter with a SS Major After World War II

2 min 15 sec

Being Held Back in First Grade

2 min 14 sec

Making a Hard Job Easy

3 min 55 sec

What Being a Jew is All About

1 min 56 sec

"From that moment on, my mother adopted her and ignored me"

4 min 6 sec

Renting Rooms on Brighton Beach

2 min 27 sec

"Rome Is Gone and We're Still Here": Proud of My Jewish Heritage

2 min 17 sec

"People who are Jewish wait to be drafted, Jews enlist"

3 min 4 sec

'It's time you should buy Claire a watch"

2 min 4 sec

A Plan to Get Killed

1 min 22 sec

Father's Landsmanshaft

1 min 3 sec

Antisemitism in His Infantry Unit

2 min 44 sec

What We Did With the DPs

1 min 37 sec

"Bist a Yid?"

3 min 17 sec

Helping the Greenhorns

1 min 58 sec

Working With Refuseniks

2 min 37 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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