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.

Starting A Revolution: My Conversion To Judaism

Watch now:

Hans Herda, whose family immigrated from Germany when he was 13, recalls discovering Judaism and learning about the Holocaust while he was in college.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Hans Herda.

This excerpt is in English.

Hans Herda was born in Berlin, Germany in 1938.

Jump to map

Other video highlights from this oral history

Noticing A Looser Class System In America Versus Germany

57 sec

Values And Aspects I Appreciate In Judaism

2 min 19 sec

We Said A Prayer For Hitler During Elementary School In Germany

1 min 18 sec

My Favorite Yiddish Word: Farfaln

1 min 9 sec

I Really Feel Jewish

2 min 31 sec

It Reminds You That You're Jewish: Keeping Kosher

52 sec

Childhood Memories of World War Two As A German In Germany

1 min 28 sec

A Round-Up At Town Hall: A Childhood Memory of World War Two in Germany

1 min 13 sec

Understanding Jewishness

1 min 56 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

Themes: