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.

Israel Milkow's Oral History

Israel Milkow, child survivor of the Holocaust and retired IT professional, was interviewed by Lynn Yanis on June 18, 2013 in Amherst, Massachusetts.

This interview was conducted in English and Yiddish.

Israel Milkow was born in Slonim, Poland in 1935.

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Video highlights from this oral history

Fleeing Poland: A Journey to Samarkand

4 min 6 sec

Life in a Children's Home in Uzbekistan During World War Two

3 min 6 sec

"Under Jewish Jurisdiction:" Rescue by the Jewish Underground in Poland

1 min 40 sec

American Relatives' Lives in 1910s Dorchester

3 min 17 sec

"I Called Myself a Yiddishist"

1 min 2 sec

A Gliklekher Mentsh (A Lucky Man)

1 min 29 sec

Discovering Secular Yiddish Literature in the Yeshiva

3 min 53 sec

"Mit a pekl afn pleytse" (With a Bag on His Back): Reflections on Jewish Wandering and Israel

3 min 19 sec

Advice: Living a Good Life, Even on the Cloudy Days

2 min 31 sec

"If You Want To Eat Latkes, Wait For Hanukkah": On Jewish Identification, Especially After The Holocaust

2 min 7 sec

What Once Was Will Never Be Again

2 min 31 sec

Artifacts related to this oral history

Rome 1948 1

Photograph of Israel and his Friend in Rome

Rome 1948 2

Yeshiva Meor Hagolah 1947

Yiddish Letter 1921

Yeshiva Meor Hagolah

Yeshiva Meor Hagolah 1947 2

Yiddish Letter 1921 2

Portrait

Yiddish Letter 1921 3

Group Photo in Kibbutz

Yiddish Letter 1921 4

Family photo

Holocaust Museum ID card

Family photo 2

Holocaust Museum ID card 2

Family Photo 3

Holocaust Museum ID card 3

Family photo in Italy

Holocaust Museum ID card 4

Portrait of 6 men

Holocaust Museum ID card 5

Portrait Man Reading Newspaper

Portrait Collage

Memoir back cover

Portrait of Israel in Italy

Memoir Front Cover

Portrait of Israel

Meor Hagolah

Livorno Italy 2

Meor Hagolah 2

Livorno Italy 1947

Portrait of Israel and his Friend in Rome

More information about this oral history

Themes:

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