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In Alumni Files

Type of Resource

DigitalDocument

Rights Statement

In Diversity and Inclusion Posters, Presentations, and Projects

Abstract

Did U Know...? is a collaborative project from Union College's Office of Multicultural Affairs and Andrea Belair, Librarian for Archives and Special Collections. The goal of the project was to bring out under-represented voices and issues from Union College's past through the use of primary source materials.

Type of Resource

DigitalDocument

Rights Statement

In President's Report

Type of Resource

DigitalDocument

In Honors Theses

Abstract

From 1941 to 1953, the Jewish community of the Soviet Union experienced an unprecedented period of suffering, an era which some historians have aptly called “the black years” of Soviet Jewry. Relying on interviews conducted by this author as well as others, this study aims to give a human face to a period that is often recounted with anonymity and abstraction – to examine what these years meant for the Soviet Jews who endured them. To state it simply: Life was difficult. The challenges and demands of the period were innumerable for the Soviet Jews. Upon the German invasion, many Jews struggled with the complicated and life-saving decision to flee. For those who remained, life under German occupation was brutal and ephemeral, with many Jews spending their last days in despondency amidst the dreadful conditions of the ghetto. For those who fled to the interior of the country and survived, the food shortages and other rigors of wartime rendered life grueling. Whether toiling in factories or fighting for the Red Army and the partisans, the Jews of the Soviet Union contributed mightily to the war effort. Despite these contributions, the Jews experienced widespread popular anti-Semitism wherever they found themselves, especially towards the war’s end. The persecution continued into the post-war period, only then the full force of the state was directed against them. Stalin’s death at last brought a close to the fearful immediate post-war period, as well as to the most destructive era in the history of the Soviet Jews.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Roman Vishniac talks about his life as a Jewish child and young man in pre-World War I Russia. Vishniac is well known for his stunning photographs which captured Jewish life in Europe before and during World War II.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

In this interview, Sarah remembers her family's life in Bialystok and the conditions that led to their leaving for the United States in 1911.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Morris Fischer tells his story of rising up from poverty and hard times which came from war, revolution and pogroms. His mother died young, leaving six small children. His father, a laborer, had trouble feeding his young family.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Morris (Moishe) Wax remembers his father as a pious man who was a little "progressive" for his times. Before World War I, he'd had a thriving atelier making the latest Paris fashions for the landowner ladies in their district. World war came, then the Russian Civil War, chaos, starvation, and pogroms. Morris' father died in 1922 as a result of the injuries inflicted on him by pogromchiks. With no father to provide for them, Morris, his mother and sister hoped to join an older brother and sister in the United States. They were able to get to Antwerp, Belgium where they awaited passage to the United States. While in Antwerp, the U.S.passed the Immigration Act of 1924 limiting the number of Jews, along with other groups, who could enter the country. Morris' mother was allowed to go. Her two teenage children stayed in Antwerp for three more years.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

At eight years old, Paula Zollman left the town of her birth, Rzeszow, when that town was caught in the middle of the First World War and the family packed up and moved to Berlin. After some early struggles, Paula's parents made a successful business in selling eggs and cheese.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Philip (Pinah or Pinik to his family and friends) Charash was born in the shtetl of Novye Priluki, Ukraine. He lost his father in a pogrom in Priluki in 1919. Pinah met his future wife, Braina Teplitsky, in the nearby city of Uman where they both attended gymnasium (high school). Philip and Braina's story is full of harrowing escape stories that ultimately brought them to the United States where they built a life and family together.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Audio and transcript of an interview with Nathan Reich by Lucille Brown of Union College. Nathan was born in Terszow in what was Austria Hungary on June 6, 1900.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Audio and transcript of an interview with Olga Prince, nee Kolker, by Lucille Brown of Union College. Olga was born in Odessa in present day Ukraine in 1906.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Audio and transcript of an interview with Freda Wolfsheimer by Lucille Brown of Union College. Freda was born in 1897 in Weickersheim, Germany.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Audio and transcript of an interview with Gretel Hirschen, nee Wolf, by Lucille Brown of Union College. Gretel was born in Offenbach-am-main in Germany in 1914.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Audio and transcript of an interview with Marie Golden Wexler by Lucille Brown of Union College. She was born on September 29, 1900 in Sernye, Hungary.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Audio and transcript of an interview with Beatrice Kaufman by Lucille Brown of Union College. Beatrice was born on April 11, 1900 in Priluka, Russia.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Audio and transcript of an interview with Israel Schochet by Lucille Brown of Union College. Israel was born in 1898 in Strijavka, Ukraine.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Audio and transcript of an interview with Sholom Traub by Lucille Brown of Union College. Sholom was born in Ryazhezh, Ukraine in 1906.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Audio and transcript of an interview with Ruth Sommer, nee Stein, by Lucille Brown of Union College. Ruth was born in Vienna, Austria in 1917.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Audio and transcript of an interview with Harry Cokin by Lucille Brown of Union College. Harry was born in Senno, Russia in 1895.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Audio and transcript of an interview with Harry Lawrence Woll by Lucille Brown of Union College. Harry was born on September 28, 1898 in Gomel, Russia.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Audio and transcript of an interview with Rivka Woll by Lucille Brown of Union College. Rivka was born around 1900 in a small time called Lyelchitz in Russia.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Audio and transcript of an interview with Dov Kam by Lucille Brown of Union College. Dov's official name was Sam Berko Kam but he changed it because he came to America as a stowaway. He was born in 1895 in Porazava in Russia.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement

In Lucille W. Brown and Stephen M. Berk Oral Histories of American Jews

Abstract

Audio and transcript of an interview with Sonia Kam by Lucille Brown of Union College. This interview picks up when Sonia was working as a teacher in 1921 in Russia.

Type of Resource

Conversation

Rights Statement