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.

"The Workmen's Circle Was Our Family": Growing Up In a Jewish Socialist Household in Montreal

Watch now:

Bella Kuper Sanderson, Toronto Yiddish teacher who was born in Siberia and grew up in a Bundist household, describes the emphasis placed on Yiddish in her childhood home, her family's involvement with the Workmen's Circle, and her family's disinterest in religious practice.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Bella Kuper Sanderson.

This excerpt is in English.

Jump to map

This interview is part of the Yiddish in the Academy: scholars, language instructors, and students series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

"Yiddish Was Their Life": Legacy Left By Yiddishist Parents

1 min 41 sec

From Poland to Siberia, Siberia to Cuba: Journeys of a Jewish Family During and After World War Two

4 min 57 sec

Reading the Fir Kashes Written By Her Father

2 min 54 sec

Replicas of Parents' Houses in Stoczek, Poland

2 min 30 sec

Studying Acting With Chayele Grober

1 min 6 sec

Taking Theatre Classes at School With Dora

1 min 48 sec

Poetry Reading, Drawn From Malka Lee Poem and Translated Into English

5 min 42 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

Themes: