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.
Israel Zamir Recalls Living in the Soviet Union
Watch now:
Israel Zamir, son of Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer, remembers his time spent in the Soviet Union as a young boy and speaks about the censorship which eventually forced him and his mother to leave.
This is an excerpt from an oral history with Israel Zamir.
This excerpt is in English.
Israel Zamir was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1929. Israel, z"l, died in 2014.
This interview is part of the Beyond the Books: Yiddish writers and their descendants series.
Other video highlights from this oral history
Israel Zamir Recalls Living in the Soviet Union
7 minutes 8 seconds
Childhood and Abandonment
4 minutes 4 seconds
The Brothers Singer
5 minutes 46 seconds
Saying Kaddish For I.J. Singer
3 minutes 56 seconds
"He Meant Nothing To Me”: Israel Zamir Reflects On 20 Years Apart from His Father, Isaac Bashevis Singer
4 minutes 15 seconds
Family Reunion: Meeting His Father, Isaac Bashevis Singer, After Twenty Years of Separation
7 minutes 7 seconds
Breaking Down Walls: Overcoming the Distance Between My Father Bashevis Singer and Me
5 minutes 18 seconds
"He Was In Love With Mr. Isaac Bashevis Singer”: Israel Zamir Describes His Father
1 minute 33 seconds
A Process of Re-Writing: On Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Process of Translation
2 minutes 7 seconds
Coming to America: A Labor Zionist's Perspective
2 minutes 29 seconds
Israel Zamir Recalls Attending His Father Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Nobel Prize Ceremony
8 minutes 52 seconds
Having Bashevis as a Father
1 minute 46 seconds
The Ice Cream Incident: Israel Zamir Remembers Antisemitism in Warsaw
2 minutes 9 secondsMore information about this oral history excerpt
Themes:
Keywords:
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.
Tell Us Your Story
Do you (or someone you know) have stories to share about the importance of Yiddish language and culture in your life?