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.

Zishe Breitbart vs. Marta Fara: The Fraud of Hypnotist Hanussen

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Gary Bart, Great-nephew of Jewish strongman Zishe (Sigmund) Breitbart, tells the story of the hypnotist Hanussen trying to humiliate Zishe by pretending to hypnotize a woman to give her the same strength as Zishe.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Gary Bart.

This excerpt is in English.

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This interview is part of the Yiddish and the Arts: musicians, actors, and artists series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

How Zishe Breitbart Joined the Circus

2 min 9 sec

Zishe Breitbart's Performance Schtick

2 min 38 sec

Strongman Zishe Breitbart's Feats of Strength

1 min 47 sec

Zishe the Jewish Strongman Idolized by Germans

1 min 5 sec

Zishe Idolized by Jews, Blessed by Rabbi

1 min 28 sec

Zishe Breitbart and Jabotinsky: A Zionist Partnership Cut Short

1 min 59 sec

Zishe Fed Lunch to Entire Village During Economic Crisis

2 min 5 sec

Filming Invincible, A Film about Jewish Folk Hero Zishe Breitbart

3 min 7 sec

A Haunting Encounter of Trauma, Language, and Shadows of the Holocaust in Berlin

1 min 18 sec

Zishe Breitbart Spoke to Audiences about Antisemitism

1 min 38 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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