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.

Mother's Use of Yiddish With Family Members

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Marlyn Butchins, quilting artist who grew up in Bulawayo, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), shares what she remembers about her mother's use of Yiddish, including specific phrases and her mother's Yiddish letter correspondences with her relatives who had survived the Holocaust.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Marlyn Butchins.

This excerpt is in English.

Marlyn Butchins was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) in 1951.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

"My Two Elder Brothers Were in a Pop Band": Growing Up in a Musical Family

2 min 18 sec

Growing Up in Segregated Bulawayo with African Servants

7 min 12 sec

Jewish Life in Bulawayo

4 min 3 sec

My Recipe for Chopped Liver: Favorite Traditional Jewish Dishes

4 min 7 sec

Losing her Mother and Sister in the Dizengoff Bombing and Subsequent Quilting Project

10 min 50 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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