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.
"Better Dead than Red" - The Cuban Missile Crisis
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Mark Gerstein, z"l - former high school history teacher and Wexler Oral History Project volunteer - remembers how during the Cuban missile crisis, Americans never challenged government policies and accepted the possibility of a nuclear holocaust. See more on how Mark's political identity was shaped by the period of history in which he grew up: http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/video/1960s-formed-my-ideology-mark-gerstein-remembers
This is an excerpt from an oral history with Mark Gerstein.
This excerpt is in English.
Mark Gerstein was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1949. Mark, z"l, died in 2013.
Other video highlights from this oral history
"Better Dead than Red" - The Cuban Missile Crisis
2 minutes 20 seconds
Jewish Immigration: Examining the Categories on My Grandfather's Ship Manifest
2 minutes 20 seconds
The Continuum of the Jewish Past and Present
1 minute 41 seconds
Conveying Yiddish Expressions to the Younger Generation
2 minutes 33 seconds
Teaching Jewish Life and Values through Yiddish Literature
6 minutes 14 seconds
"Would You Have Fought Hitler?": Jews and the Vietnam War
1 minute 38 seconds
Talk to Your Grandparents! The Importance of Asking Questions and Family History
40 seconds
Students Grapple with the Meaning of the Holocaust
1 minute 50 seconds
"Bloody Sunday" in Selma and "Judgment at Nuremberg"
3 minutes 1 second
Mishugas and Mentch: Yiddish Expressions in American Movies
1 minute 54 seconds
The Jewish Cemetery in Zamosc
2 minutes 19 seconds
Teaching the Holocaust and Jewish Identity
1 minute 9 seconds
My Mother's Reaction when Jack Ruby Shot Lee Harvey Oswald
3 minutes 53 seconds
The Holocaust and Human Choice
4 minutes 39 seconds
World War One: My Family Flees Zamosc and Settles in Minsk
2 minutes 54 seconds
The Rabbi Told Stories in Yiddish on Yom Kippur
1 minute 59 seconds
1920 Pogrom in Zamosc, Poland
3 minutes 27 seconds
Examining the Ellis Island Card
1 minute 56 seconds
"That's the Shul I Don't Go To": Choosing A Synagogue
2 minutes 37 seconds
An Assimilationist Impulse: My Jewish Family Celebrating Christmas
2 minutes 36 seconds
Americanization of Jewish First Names In My Family
1 minute 55 seconds
November 15, 1969: Massive Anti-War Rally
6 minutes 27 seconds
Taking a Course in Elementary Yiddish with Aaron Lansky
3 minutes 41 seconds
Studying for His Bar Mitzvah
1 minute 50 seconds
Sean Furgeson, a Good Yiddish Name: On How Officials Changed Names Upon Immigrating Through Ellis Island
1 minute 33 seconds
Visiting the Zamosc Synagogue in Poland
3 minutes 53 seconds
Learning Social Distinctions in the Synagogue
2 minutes 22 seconds
Decision to Immigrate to the United States
1 minute 29 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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