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.

"I Remember My Father Opening the Letter and Turning White": Becoming Aware of the Holocaust

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Ethel Taft, social worker and daughter of Yiddish writer and teacher Israel Gubkin, recalls the shock she experienced when she first learned of the extent of the Holocaust.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Ethel Taft.

This excerpt is in English.

Ethel Taft was born in New York, New York in 1931.

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This interview is part of the Beyond the Books: Yiddish writers and their descendants series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

The writings of Yiddish essayist and poet Israel Gubkin

3 min 25 sec

Israel Gubkin's passion for teaching

1 min 51 sec

Israel Gubkin's devotion to Zionism and Yiddish

1 min 37 sec

Israel Gubkin's sense of sadness at the decline of Yiddish schooling and camping

2 min 8 sec

Government as a Supportive Entity, Not Punitive: The Political Values of the Israel Gubkin Family

2 min

"Yiddish Talks By Itself": When English Fails Me

1 min 35 sec

"I'm So Sorry You Didn't Teach Me Yiddish.": Regretting Not Passing Along Yiddish To The Children

2 min 41 sec

For A Democratic and Jewish Homeland

2 min 32 sec

A Yiddish Mouse: My First And Only Original Yiddish Poem

2 min 5 sec

Habonim Summer Camp 1948-1950

2 min 46 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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