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.
Stan Edelson's Oral History
Stan Edelson, artist, was interviewed by Jessica Parker at the Yiddish Book Center on November 12, 2012 in Amherst, Massachusetts. His mother's family emigrated from Romania to Toronto, Canada when she was three years old. His father grew up on the Lower East Side of New York City; they met when she came to New York seeking job opportunities. His father bought a hunting and fishing lodge in the Adirondacks, bootlegged liquor for a while, and was arrested. Stan remembers the probation officer showing up at their apartment in the Bronx. Stan's family were not very religious, and he decided against a bar mitzvah. However, he considers that his home was still Jewish. His parents could speak Yiddish, but they mostly spoke English because they wanted to be "Americans." Stan talks about his family's struggles during the Depression. He becomes emotional talking about listening on a short-wave radio to anti-Semitic broadcasts from Germany and the antisemitism he encountered on the streets of the Bronx. Stan moved out at sixteen, in part to escape what he saw as dysfunctional family dynamics. After high school, he rented a cold water flat in the Lower East Side and attended the Art Students League. He sensed that his father did not approve of him living in a tenement, but he felt comfortable in his new neighborhood. Stan was very affected by antisemitism and considered hiding his Jewish background but decided after some struggle to continue to identify as a Jew. He also began to work as a group worker and art teacher in settlement houses in his neighborhood and in the associated camps, including the very progressive Camp Woodland. Stan and the campers worked on a project learning about the folklore and folkcrafts of the local people. Influenced by this experience, Stan started working with a group of artists on woodcuts exploring themes such as Jim Crow. Jim next decided to travel cross-country, working in meat-packing plants and logging camps along the way. He describes a trip to a tiny Mexican town called Robles with very hospitable hosts. As a young man, Stan created his woodcuts on his kitchen table. He talks about how his Jewish identity influenced his art, describing for instance a piece about the Holocaust. He talks about some of his struggles relating to being Jewish and his thoughts on what kind of Jew he wants to be. Stan's second wife was from an Orthodox family, and they raised their children with more Jewish traditions. He talks about his three trips to Israel and how his feelings about the Middle East conflict have evolved over time. He would like young Jews to know that progressive politics are an integral part of the Jewish experience, and he hopes that they will continue the fight for social justice here and around the world.
This interview was conducted in English.
Stan Edelson was born in Bronx, New York in 1929. Stan died in 2020.
