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.

Sholem Shtern's "The White House," A Novel in Verse

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David Shtern, son of Yiddish writer Sholem Shtern, discusses his father's book "The White House," about his experiences in a sanitarium in Canada. He discusses the variety of characters and themes that the book explores and shares that the romantic component is a semi-autobiographical account of his parents' meeting.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with David Shtern.

This excerpt is in English.

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This interview is part of the Beyond the Books: Yiddish writers and their descendants series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

Why People Should Read Sholem Shtern

4 min 50 sec

Identity Theft and Father's Escape from Poland

2 min 51 sec

"He Put Himself Forward": Stories of Father, Sholem Shtern, Talking to Strangers and Promoting His Own Work

2 min 26 sec

My Father's (Sholem Shtern) Funeral and The Inconvenient Location of His Grave

1 min 58 sec

My Father Sholem Shtern's Writing Places, Style, and Philosophy

4 min 11 sec

"He Inevitably Had A Rolled-Up Newspaper In The Pockets Of HIs Suits": Father's Physical Appearance

2 min 20 sec

Father's Childhood Stories From Tishevitz, Poland

3 min 14 sec

"Our Parents Worried About The Fate Of The World": Growing Up With Immigrant Parents

2 min 42 sec

Parents' Relationship, Memories Of Walks With Father

2 min 43 sec

Opening Poem of The White House in Yiddish

4 min 3 sec

Sholem Shtern's Politics in "The White House" and other writings

3 min 22 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

Themes: