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.

"How Did I Get to Yiddish? I Got Really Mad At Ezra Pound"

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Kathryn Hellerstein, Associate Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures at University of Pennsylvania, speaks about her journey as a poet and how the urge to spite Ezra Pound prompted her to start reading, translating and teaching Yiddish poetry.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Kathryn Hellerstein.

This excerpt is in English.

Kathryn Hellerstein was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952.