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.

Why We Immigrated from Belgium to Australia after World War II

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Danielle Charak, Melbourne-based Yiddish activist, teacher, and former radio host, explains what prompted her parents to immigrate to Australia after WW2. She was a child during this time and explains how only with time did she realize her parents' sorrow at the sense that Europe being a graveyard.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Danielle Charak.

This excerpt is in Yiddish.

Danielle Charak was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1939.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

"Maybe You Know the Name Chava Rosenfarb" Danielle Charak Remembers Her 3rd Grade Yiddish Teacher

1 min 42 sec

Yiddish Radio Programs in Melbourne

2 min 24 sec

Journey and Arrival in Australia

3 min 33 sec

The Jewish Labor Bund Improved My Parents' Lives in Poland

2 min 5 sec

Post-WWII Yiddish School Brings a Play to London

2 min 4 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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