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.

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

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Gary Bart, Great-nephew of Jewish strongman Zishe (Sigmund) Breitbart, relates the story told to him by a Haaretz journalist living in Berlin about when he first moved to Berlin and an elderly German man recognized the Hebrew letters in the paper and started reciting the Sh'ma because he had heard Jews saying it so much during WWII.

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 Breitbart vs. Marta Fara: The Fraud of Hypnotist Hanussen

3 min 42 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

Zishe Breitbart Spoke to Audiences about Antisemitism

1 min 38 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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