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.

Constructing an Identity Apart from My Hero Father: Irena Klepfisz's Memories of the Arbeter Ring Shule

Watch now:

Irena Klepfisz, lesbian poet and writer, remembers her years at the Arbeter Ring Shule (secular Yiddish school), and her experience constructing an identity in a community that recognized her largely by her father, Michał Klepfisz, a hero of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Irena Klepfisz.

This excerpt is in English.

Jump to map

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

Suddenly I was a Holocaust Survivor: A Child Survivor's Experience of American Holocaust Memorial Events

5 min 54 sec

My Father, Michał Klepfisz’s Role in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

3 min 10 sec

Irena Klepfisz on Jewishness and the Jewish Labor Bund

4 min 36 sec

Growing up in the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Amalgamated Houses

2 min 48 sec

My Jewish, Lesbian Experience of Second Wave Feminism and Yiddish Activism

10 min 17 sec

Irena Klepfisz's Poetic Inspirations, both Yiddish and English

3 min 8 sec

My Path to Writing Bilingual Yiddish-English Poetry

6 min 56 sec

Irena Klepfisz on the Queerness of Contemporary Yiddish Culture

6 min 46 sec

My First Impressions of the Yiddish Book Center

2 min 53 sec

"The History That's Never Taught": On the Complexities of the Search for Yiddish Women Writers

6 min 57 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

Themes: