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.

Miriam Gross's Oral History

Miriam Gross, retired research librarian and daughter of Yiddish writer B. Demblin, was interviewed by Christa Whitney on December 28, 2015 in her home in New York, New York.

This interview was conducted in English.

Miriam Gross was born in New York in 1936.

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Video highlights from this oral history

"He'd Sit There Just Wearing a Pair of Shorts and a Big Cowboy Hat": Father's Writing Habits

Experiences at Camp Boiberik

"He Wanted It To Be Broken at the Top, Because He Said His Life Was Broken": Designing Her Father's Tombstone

Father's Business of Shipping Care Packages to the Soviet Union

B. Demblin's Jealousy of Isaac Bashevis Singer and Sexist Attitudes Toward Women

B. Demblin: The Source of Yosef Binyomen Teitelbaum's Pen Name

B. Demblin's Reluctant Support of His Daughter Miriam's Passion for Dance and His Selflessness Towards His Children

Lazar Weiner Teaching Music at Folkshule

Mother Cooking Ham and Bacon for Miriam and Her Brother

"They Felt Their Father Was Not Being Honored": Relationship Between Brothers Naftali, Chaim, and David Gross

Vladka and Ben Meed Were Close Family Friends

Artifacts related to this oral history

Miriam Gross Document - Father's French Police Papers

Miriam Gross Photograph - Print and small negative of portrait of her father

Miriam Gross Document - Letter from ILGWU President to B. Teitelbaum

Miriam Gross Photograph - Large Portrait of her Father, Vishniac

Miriam Gross Document - Sylvia Teitelbaum's Naturalization Certificate, United States, 1927

Miriam Gross Photograph - Close up of Her Father in Group Photograph

Miriam Gross Document - Father's Polish Passport (open)

Miriam Gross Photograph - Family Photograph 2

Miriam Gross Document - Father's Polish ID Papers (back)

Miriam Gross Photograph - Framed Photograph of Young Woman

Miriam Gross Document - 1921 Passage Bill to the United States on "La France"

Miriam Gross Object - Candlesticks

Miriam Gross Document - Father's French ID Papers

Miriam Gross Document - Father's Polish ID Card (open)

Miriam Gross Photograph - Framed Photo of Her Parents Looking Down at a Baby

Miriam Gross Documents - Father's Polish Passport, Pages 3-4

Miriam Gross Document - Grandmother Chana Frieda Teitelbaum U.S. Immigrant ID Card, 1932

Miriam Gross Photograph - Framed Photo of Miriam Gross as a Small Child

Miriam Gross Document - Sylvia Schwartzman's Polish Passport

Miriam Gross Document - Father's Polish ID Card (cover)

Miriam Gross Photograph - Framed Photo of a Young Woman

Miriam Gross Document - Father's French ID Papers (inside pages)

Miriam Gross Photograph - Miriam Gross holding Print and Small Negative of her Father

Miriam Gross Photograph - Framed Photo of Miriam Gross as a Small Child with her Mother

Miriam Gross Document - Father's Naturalization Certificate, United States, 1927

Miriam Gross Photograph - Family Photograph by Roman Vishniac

Miriam Gross Document - Dining Room Seating Card on the "Saxonia," 1932

Miriam Gross Painting - Painting of Woman

Miriam Gross Document - Father's Polish ID Paper (front)

Miriam Gross Photograph - Class Photograph, 1946-47

Miriam Gross Document - Father's Polish Papers (front)

Miriam Gross Photograph - Group Photo With Her Father Seated on the far right

Miriam Gross Document - Father's Polish Papers (back)

Miriam Gross Photograph - Back side of group photo, explaining where her father is in the photo

Miriam Gross Document - Grandmother's 1932 Immigration Papers

Miriam Gross Painting - Painting of Young Boy

More information about this oral history

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