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.

It's Totally Incomprehensible: Attempting to Comprehend the Holocaust

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Polish-born mathematician and Yiddish speaker Irwin Kra talks about his continued failure to understand the Holocaust, and the influence it had on himself and his family.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Irwin Kra.

This excerpt is in English.

Irwin Kra was born in Poland in 1937.

Other video highlights from this oral history

First Grade in Uzbekistan

2 min 36 sec

Awareness of Holocaust During and After World War Two

1 min 47 sec

They Were Carried Away by the Masses: Germans Rationalizations During and After WWII

2 min 32 sec

Jewish Life in a DP Camp

3 min 44 sec

U.S. Immigration Protocols and Arrival of Jewish refugees in the United States

3 min 27 sec

First, To Be a Mensch: Advice for My Grandchildren and Beyond

2 min 43 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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