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.
Yosl Bergner's Oral History
Yosl Bergner, z"l, painter and descendant of Yiddish writers Hinde Bergner and Meylekh (Melech) Ravitch, was interviewed by Christa Whitney on June 23, 2014 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
This interview was conducted in Yiddish and English.
Yosl Bergner was born in Vienna, Austria in 1920. Yosl, z"l, died in 2017.
Video highlights from this oral history

Troublemaking in the Hoyf (Courtyard): Yosl Bergner Remembers Warsaw of His Youth
1 minute 9 seconds
The Story Behind Yosl Bergner's Half Apple Motif
1 minute 27 seconds
“After Two Months, I Couldn’t Stand It”: Melech Ravitch and His Family’s Vegetarianism
1 minute 1 second
Melech Ravitch’s Territorialist Scouting Trip to Kimberley, West Australia
2 minutes 15 secondsMore information about this oral history
Themes:
- Family histories
- Childhood
- Jewish Identity
- Yiddish language
- Yiddish scene
- Immigration and migration
- Yiddish speaker
- Visual Arts
- Literature
- Books
- Career and Professional Life
- World War II
- Education
- Jewish education
- Family traditions
- Israel
- Eastern Europe
- United States
- Politics and political movements
- Descendants of Yiddish personalities
- Beyond the Books
- Yiddish personalities
- Jewish community
- Urban
- Travel
- Relationships
- Vienna
- Austria
- Australia
- Poland
- New York City
- New York
- Flint
- Michigan
- Jewish Territorialists
- Melech Ravitch
- Hinde Bergner
- 1920s
- 1930s
- 1940s
- Bund
- painting
- Freeland League
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About the Wexler Oral History Project

Since 2010, the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project has recorded more than 500 in-depth video interviews that provide a deeper understanding of the Jewish experience and the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture.
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