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.

My Family's First Attempt to Emigrate From Russia

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Marina Vaysberg, reference librarian at the College of Saint Rose, tells the story of how her grandmother's grandparents made the decision to leave Russia for America, only to turn around at the Romanian border and return to their shtetl.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Marina Vaysberg.

This excerpt is in English.

Marina Vaysberg was born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1962.

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Other video highlights from this oral history

Eating Jewishly in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic

2 min 57 sec

Growing Up in Kyiv's Besarabka Neighborhood

2 min 35 sec

He Believed in Revolution: My Grandfather, the Communist Party Leader

2 min 27 sec

The Reopening of Kyiv's Podil Synagogue

2 min 7 sec

Through the Iron Curtain: How My Family in Israel and America Reached Out to Us

1 min 57 sec

Flying Souls: My Grandparents' Legacy

1 min 46 sec

The Endless Room: My Early Memories Of Being Raised By My Grandparents

4 min 59 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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