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.

"They served a wonderful function": Landsmanshaft in New York City

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Sue Ehrlich—New York native, Yiddish activist, and artist—describes her parents' involvement in Landsmanshaft, and the opportunities they gave her to see Yiddish theater as a child.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Sue Ehrlich.

This excerpt is in English.

Sue Ehrlich was born in New York, New York in 1928.

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Other video highlights from this oral history

"Hop! Mayne Hamentashen": A Live Performance of a Yiddish Folksong

1 min 33 sec

A Shock That Was Too Much for Some: Immigration from Kamenets, Ukraine to New York City

43 sec

"When the labor inspector came, they had a little ditty that they sang as a warning": Children working illegally in the Garment Factories of New York City

1 min 13 sec

"My brother was a character": Jews protecting Jews in Ethnically Mixed New York City Neighborhood

1 min 22 sec

"Nobody Would Hire You If You Were Jewish": Boy's Clubs' "connections" in New York City during the 1940s

1 min 28 sec

"It was very, very tragic": Yiddish play about Tsarist Army Conscription

1 min 10 sec

"They would maim the child sufficiently": 'Fixers' Helping Children to Avoid Tsarist Army Conscription

2 min 10 sec

"I Didn't Mind Being Deprived of the English Stations": WEVD Yiddish Radio Station

2 min 34 sec

"Women Were the Transmitters of this Language": Yiddish transmission in the 18th Century

1 min 20 sec

"I'm grateful to the Yiddish Book Center": The Future of Yiddish

1 min 19 sec

"Tsi Hot Ir Lib Gehat Lokshn? (Do You Like Noodles?)": A Yiddish Folktale

2 min 26 sec

"Yoma Yoma": A Live Performance of a Yiddish Folksong

2 min 58 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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