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.

How My Mother Grew Up in Czestochowa After World War II

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Yaakov Wasilewicz, Jewish musician, describes his mother's childhood. Halina Wasilewicz grew up in post-WW2 Czestochowa, Poland and was a part of a cultural organization for Jews. She later became the head of the Czestochowa Jewish community.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Yaakov Wasilewicz.

This excerpt is in English.

Yaakov Wasilewicz was born in Czestowa in 1988.

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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

From Poland to Yeshiva in America

3 min 21 sec

Learning My First Posek At Age 15 In a Class Full of 2nd Graders

1 min 26 sec

My Mother Agreed to Send Me From Poland to Yeshiva in America

3 min 8 sec

My Mother Passed Down Religion and Culture to Her Community

2 min 54 sec

A Favorite Nign Learned at the Lauder Jewish Summer Camp in Poland

1 min 11 sec

What Makes Nigns Magic: Czestochowa Nign

4 min 37 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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