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.

Assimilation and Maintaining a Jewish Identity

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Molly Fogarty, Springfield librarian who was born in Munich, discusses the difficulty of growing up with immigrant parents and navigating the process of assimilation and the desire to feel American while maintaining a Jewish identity. She also shares a more recent story of a coworker calling someone "too Jewish" to hire.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Molly Fogarty.

This excerpt is in English.

Molly Fogarty was born in Munich, Germany in 1951.

Other video highlights from this oral history

Father's Childhood in Poland and Exile to Siberia

3 min 55 sec

Early Childhood Memories of Munich

2 min 32 sec

Gefilte Fish, Kishka, and Chicken Fat Smeared on Rye Bread: Family's Culinary Traditions

4 min 13 sec

Family's Traditions for Sitting Shiva

1 min 13 sec

Exorcisms and Warding Off the Evil Eye: Grandmother's Eastern European Superstitions

2 min 5 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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