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.

Epigenetics and Shtetl Trauma: Understanding My Grandparents

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Madeline Schwartzman, writer, filmmaker, and architect, describes a theory of the intergenerational transmission of trauma through genetic inheritance, and her concept of "shtetl trauma."

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Madeline Schwartzman.

This excerpt is in English.

Madeline Schwartzman was born in New York, NY.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

"In the Scheme of 15 Minutes, You Can Pass Through Cultures": Driving Down the West Side Highway in the 70s

2 min 17 sec

The Bureaucracy of Holocaust Research and Archives

2 min 31 sec

"Directing Grandma": A Look Through the Film Director's Perspective

6 min 27 sec

365 Day Subway: Poems By New Yorkers

4 min 35 sec

Art and Interaction: The Face-Nature Project

4 min 27 sec

The Hybridity of Jewishness: A Juxtaposition of Glaring Reality and Absurdity

3 min 43 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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