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.

"Dray Shvester (Three Sisters)": A Yiddish Song Reveals Something about the History of Jewish London

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Vivi Lachs, social and cultural historian, performer, and Yiddishist, explains how she learned the Yiddish song "Dray Shvester (Three Sisters)" via a German singer, an Argentine singer, and Helene Weigel (Bertolt Brecht's widow). Vivi sings a bit of the song and explains how the song reveals something about the historical experience of Jews in London.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Vivi Lachs.

This excerpt is in English and Yiddish.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

Approaching Yiddish Song and Story as an Historian

1 min 35 sec

Vivi Lachs Sings "London bay nakht (London at Night)"

3 min 16 sec

Vivi Lachs Sings "Freg nit keyn katshanes (Don't Ask Silly Questions)"

7 min 49 sec

Differences of Language and Class Between the German and Polish Sides of My Jewish Family

1 min 7 sec

Mixing Melodies at the Shabbos Tish: Enjoying Different Tunes for the Same Song

3 min 26 sec

What's Everyone Laughing At? A Curiosity About Yiddish

2 min 17 sec

Losing Religious Faith—and Encountering Shakespeare

6 min

The History of Jews of England Revealed through Yiddish Poetry

2 min 22 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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