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.

Marvin Zuckerman's Oral History

Marvin Zuckerman, retired English and Yiddish professor, was interviewed by Christa Whitney on January 17, 2013 in Pacific Palisades, California.

This interview was conducted in English and Yiddish.

Marvin Zuckerman was born in Bronx, New York in 1932.

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Video highlights from this oral history

Sadly, Our Yiddish Does Not Have a Future

3 min 34 sec

My Parents Stole Across Borders to Get to America

3 min 5 sec

We Had World Literature in Yiddish in our Apartment

2 min 7 sec

Politics at the Amalgamated Housing Cooperative

2 min 41 sec

The Arrival of Yiddish-Speaking Children Refugees from Poland

2 min 55 sec

Discovering Western Yiddish

2 min 59 sec

The Values of The Bund, A Jewish Socialist Movement

2 min 1 sec

Marvin Zuckerman on Writing a Yiddish Primer

1 min 29 sec

What People Don't Know About Yiddish Literature

2 min 7 sec

When Sidor Belarsky Performed at a Union Benefit

2 min

Isaac Bashevis Singer, "Not a Typical Yiddish Writer"

3 min 56 sec

Artifacts related to this oral history

At Camp Naivelt 2

Marvin Zuckerman's Grandparents and Aunt 2

Bundists in New York 1

Die Reste des Jüdischdeutschen 1

Bundists in New York 2

Die Reste des Jüdischdeutschen 2

Parents in the Bund

Yiddish Primer from Israel

Children Must Laugh DVD

Communist Anti-Union Pamphlet

A Bundist in Two Eras

Article on Rubin Zuckerman 1

Pacific Palisades house from outside 1

A Bund Member in Two Photographs

Local Ballot

Pacific Palisades house from outside 2

Executive Committee of the Warsaw Garment Workers' Union

Natan Frankel Among the Bundist Prisoners

Pacific Palisades house from outside 3

Manny Klein in the Yiddish School 2

Communist Ballot

Portrait 1

Lehrer Novak in the Class Photograph

Waiting Tables at ILGWU Camp

Portrait 2

School Picture from Yiddish School

Letter from YIVO

Portrait 3

Class Picture from Yiddish School 1

Bundist Prisoners in Modlin 1

Marvin with his Workmen's Circle Interview 1

Propaganda against Marvin's Father 1

Declaration of Intention Form

Marvin with his Workmen's Circle Interview 2

Propaganda against Marvin's Father 2

I.B. Singer Visiting

Marvin with his Workmen's Circle Interview 3

Communist Propaganda 1

Learning Yiddish in Easy Stages

At Camp Naivelt 1

Marvin Zuckerman's Grandparents and Aunt 1

More information about this oral history

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