Anna Muench's Oral History

Anna Muench, a Yiddish language student in the January term intensive at the Yiddish Book Center, was interviewed by Christa Whitney on January 19, 2011 at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. Anna starts her interview with a brief overview of her family's history. Both of her parents were interested in genealogy, which contributed to Anna's strong grasp of her heritage. Anna spends the first portion of her interview describing her childhood growing up in Ipswich, Massachusetts, a town filled with beaches and protected land reservations. Anna describes her homogenous town and how her love of reading developed at an early age, before describing her close friends growing up. Anna then begins to explain how she came to Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. Anna recalls her first impressions of the school, especially its wonderful academics. After trying out a few majors, Anna explains how she arrived at her current fields of study—anthropology and Russian. Anna's interest in Russian language was greatly influenced by her father's interest in the Soviet Union, and the fact that both parents knew and spoke Russian and French around the children. The final portion of Anna's interview focuses on her time at the Yiddish Book Center. Anna discovered the Book Center with friends who also applied to study during the January term. Anna shares both the excitement of learning the cultural aspects of the language as well as the difficulties in trying to acquire a new language in one month. The interview ends with Anna debating what her future plans will be, both as a Yiddish language learner and a student more generally.