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.

"The Henry Kissinger of Panama:" Dr. Herschel Klepfisz

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Anna Sheldon, born to survivors of a prominent Warsaw Jewish family, talks about her uncle Dr. Herschel Klepfisz and his life, including his narrow escape from the Nazis and his role as an advisor to the leader of Panama.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Helena Lipstadt.

This excerpt is in English.

Helena Lipstadt was born in Berlin, Germany in 1947.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

"I Built A House!": Remembering A Feminist Collective

4 min 16 sec

Working From Place of Minority: Reflections on Queers in the Klezmer Revival

1 min 57 sec

Longing for Gan-Eydn (Paradise): Reflections on Identity, Yiddish, and Poland

3 min 8 sec

"Making That Bridge (to Poland) Through Life Rather Than Death": Working on the Gwozdzdiec Synagogue Replica Project

5 min 32 sec

The Chicken Farm: An Original Yiddish Song

1 min 26 sec

American Jews Didn't Quite Seem Jewish: A "European" Jewish Household

2 min 9 sec

My Mother Had Golden Hands: Jewish-Polish Dishes at Home

1 min 35 sec

A Very Small Basket: Limited Knowledge of My Jewish Family Background

1 min 57 sec

A Better World: A Feeling of Empowerment of a Generation in the 1960s

4 min 32 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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