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.

A Shtetl in Siberia During World War II

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Helena (Chayele) Jacobs [Storch], Yiddish Actress, talks about the village in Siberia where she and her mother survived World War II. She also describes attending school in this village.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Helena (Chayele) Jacobs [Storch].

This excerpt is in Yiddish.

Helena (Chayele) Jacobs [Storch] was born in Kalisz, Poland in 1931.

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This interview is part of the Yiddish and the Arts: musicians, actors, and artists series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

My Love of Yiddish Theater Came From My Father

1 min 46 sec

My First Yiddish Theater Appearance At Age 3

1 min 43 sec

My Mother Opened A Yiddish Kindergarten

2 min 42 sec

Melbourne Yiddish Theater and Jacob Waislitz

3 min 28 sec

My Bundist Father was Arrested and Tortured for Public Speaking in Soviet-Occupied Belarus

3 min 5 sec

My First Impression of Melbourne as a Jewish European Refugee After WWII

55 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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