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.

Fay Webern's Oral History

Fay Webern - New York City native who has written about her life in New York from the Depression years to the end of World War II - was interviewed by Diana Clarke on June 14, 2015 at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.

This interview was conducted in English.

Fay Webern was born in New York, New York in 1927.

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Video highlights from this oral history

Tragic Story of Her Namesakes in Ukraine

3 min 47 sec

My Mother's Protest to Get into the Lavanburg Homes

5 min 59 sec

Description of Lavanburg Homes, A Utopian Housing Co-operative in New York

3 min 40 sec

Speaking Yiddish as a Child

2 min 17 sec

My Parents' Arranged Marriage

3 min 56 sec

Stories About My Bobe: Sneaking Out of Shul to Skinny Dip, Making a Living Through Depression

2 min 39 sec

Song About Tsar Nikolai

2 min 7 sec

Popcorn and Fundraising at Intermission: Memories of New York Yiddish and English Theaters and Movie Houses

2 min 16 sec

Fear of the Black Hand Italian Mafia Between Kids at the Jewish Center

2 min

Mizele, Mayzele: Yiddish Song for a Lost Baby Tooth

1 min 6 sec

"Kukh-aleyns”: The Jewish Summer Retreat for Those Who Couldn’t Afford the Catskills

1 min 23 sec

Mother Getting the Family a Cottage for the Summer

5 min 23 sec

Artifacts related to this oral history

Fay Webern - Practices and Experiences of Lavanburg Homes, pg 15

Fay Webern - Practices and Experiences of the Lavanburg Homes, Publication Information

Fay Webern Photograph - Portrait of Fay Webern, Age 17

Fay Webern Document - Business Card of I. Kessler, Fay Webern's Grandfather

Fay Webern - Practices and Experiences of the Lavanburg Homes, Front Cover

Fay Webern - Practices and Experiences of the Lavanburg Homes, pg 4

Fay Webern - Practices and Experiences of the Lavanburg Homes, pg 5

Fay Webern - Practices and Experiences of the Lavanburg Homes, pg 6

Fay Webern - Practices and Experiences of the Lavanburg Homes, pg 7

Fay Webern - Practices and Experiences of the Lavanburg Homes, pg 8

Fay Webern - Practices and Experiences of the Lavanburg Homes, pg 9

Fay Webern - Practices and Experiences of the Lavanburg Homes, pg 10

Fay Webern - Practices and Experiences of the Lavanburg Homes, pg 11

Fay Webern - Practices and Experiences of the Lavanburg Homes, pg 12

Fay Webern - Practices and Experiences of the Lavanburg Homes, pg 13

Fay Webern - Practices and Experiences of the Lavanburg Homes, pg 14

More information about this oral history

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