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.
Chava Rosenfarb's Recreation of Her First Poems, Originally Destroyed by Nazis
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Goldie Morgentaler, daughter of Yiddish writer Chava Rosenfarb, describes her mother's path to publishing her first book of poems, from writing them in the Lodz Ghetto, seeing them destroyed by Nazis, and rewriting and memorizing them in secret in the concentration camp.
This is an excerpt from an oral history with Goldie Morgentaler.
This excerpt is in English.
Other video highlights from this oral history
Chava Rosenfarb's Recreation of Her First Poems, Originally Destroyed by Nazis
3 minutes 56 seconds
Throwing My Mother's Yiddish Writing Down the Incinerator as a Child
1 minute 23 seconds
The Tree of Life by Chava Rosenfarb: A Synopsis
3 minutes 38 seconds
"They Had No Sense That It Was a Language": American Jews' Dismissive Attitude Towards Yiddish
2 minutes 45 seconds
Getting a Job Teaching Yiddish by Knowing How to Say "Orange"
2 minutes 22 seconds
"She Was a Beautiful Woman": Chava Rosenfarb's Physical Appearance
1 minute 51 seconds
Interactions with Yiddish Writers in Childhood
2 minutes 49 seconds
Chava Rosenfarb's Social Presence and Dislike of Chitchat
1 minute 34 seconds
Chava Rosenfarb's School Years in Lodz
3 minutes 52 seconds
Chava Rosenfarb's Observant Grandparents' Reactions to Their Daughter Becoming An Atheist Bundist
2 minutes 3 seconds
Chava Rosenfarb's Talent for Painting, Murals, Sculpture, and Tapestry-Making
2 minutes 6 seconds
Chava Rosenfarb's Writing Style
2 minutes 48 seconds
Chava Rosenfarb Was a Loving, Warm-Hearted Mother
2 minutes 7 seconds
Parents' Experiences in the Lodz Ghetto and Auschwitz Concentration Camp
6 minutes 18 seconds
Translating Her Mother's Works
5 minutes 10 secondsMore information about this oral history excerpt
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About the Wexler Oral History Project
Since 2010, the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project has recorded more than 500 in-depth video interviews that provide a deeper understanding of the Jewish experience and the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture.
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