Oral history interview with Bennett Gordon and Mary Gordon

Oral history interview with Charles Anolik

Oral History

Charles Anolik discusses his family history; growing up in the Jewish community in Kaunas, Lithuania; the escalation of fear amid violence that started in 1939, and got worse after June 1941; the atrocities he witnessed and experienced while in the Jewish ghetto, at a labor camp, and at several concentration camps, including Dachau; the arrival of American troops on the morning when he was scheduled to be shot; living in American-controlled parts of Germany for four years after liberation; and receiving a visa to join an uncle and cousin in Des Moines, Iowa.

Oral history interview with Fred Badower

Oral History

Fred Badower discusses the history of his Polish family; growing up in a big Jewish community in Lodz, Poland; his father who was a tailor and Fred became a tailor as well; his experiences in the Lodz ghetto; how his tailoring skills helped him during the war; being sent to labor camps and two concentration camps; returning to Poland after the war; reuniting with his brother; finding others who wanted to leave Poland; the death of his sister from typhus during the war; living in Germany and working as a tailor; his work with the US Counter Intelligence Corps; some of his siblings immigrating to Australia; immigrating to the United States in 1949 and settling in Des Moines, Iowa; getting a job in an Italian tailor shop; and his life in Des Moines.

Oral history interview with William Barton

Oral History

William C. Barton, born in Davenport, Iowa, discusses his experiences during WWII; his experiences in the US Army as a part of the 242nd Infantry Regiment in the 42nd Infantry Division; entering Dachau concentration camp with the 42nd Rainbow Infantry; being at Dachau for three days; and being part of some of the first US troops who went into Berchtesgaden, Germany and searched Hitler's home, the Berghof.

Oral history interview with Ann Blumenthal and Benjamin Witten

Oral History

Oral history interview with David Fishel

Oral History

Presentation by Linda Fishman to North High School

Oral History

Oral history interview with Carolyn Glasman

Oral History

Oral history interview with Irwin Karp and Phyllis Karp

Oral History

Oral history interview with Dean Lettington

Oral History

Oral history interview with Herb Plambeck

Oral History

Oral history interview with Ronald Rabinovitz

Oral History

Presentation by Simone Soria to Lovejoy Elementary School

Oral History

Oral history interview with Jacob Waizman

Oral History

Oral history interview with Alfred Wiser

Oral History

Oral history interview with Benjamin Witten

Oral History

Oral history interview with David Wolnerman

Oral History

Beth El Jacob Holocaust Remembrance Program with David Wolnerman and Rabbi A. Leib Bolel

Oral History

Oral history interview with Jennie Wolnerman

Oral History

Presentation by Celina Biniaz on behalf of the Iowa Jewish Historical Society

Oral History

Oral history interview with Ann Badower

Oral History

Ann Badower (née Cohen) discusses her childhood in the Southeast Bottoms neighborhood in Des Moines, Iowa; her extended family’s involvement in the grocery business; being part of a close Jewish community; getting married to a Holocaust survivor, Fred Badower; running the business end of a tailoring and clothing company with her husband; her views about Haddasah, the Jewish Community Center, the changes in the Southeast Bottoms neighborhood; celebrating holidays; her sadness about Roosevelt's decision in 1939 to turn away the “MS St. Louis”, which held Jewish refugees from Europe; how she and Fred met; and her family’s traditions.

Oral history interview with Fred Badower

Oral History

Fred Badower discusses the history of his Polish family; growing up in a big Jewish community in Lodz, Poland; his father who was a tailor and Fred became a tailor as well; his experiences in the Lodz ghetto; how his tailoring skills helped him during the war; being sent to labor camps and two concentration camps; returning to Poland after the war; reuniting with his brother; finding others who wanted to leave Poland; the death of his sister from typhus during the war; living in Germany and working as a tailor; his work with the US Counter Intelligence Corps; some of his siblings immigrating to Australia; immigrating to the United States in 1949 and settling in Des Moines, Iowa; getting a job in an Italian tailor shop; and his life in Des Moines.

Oral history interview with Helene Barricks

Oral History

Helene Barricks, born on April 14, 1917 in Des Moines, Iowa, discusses her early childhood in Emmetsburg, Iowa, where her family was the only Jewish family; her family's background; her family's holiday celebrations; observing the Sabbath every Friday; going to dinners every Sunday evening at the houses of Jewish families in neighboring towns; the local nuns and priests studying Torah with her grandparents every Thursday night; her grandmother helping to teach English to new Jewish community members; her mother, who was one of the first Jewish school teachers in Iowa; her memories of the Klu Klux Klan riding through town; being 11 years old when her family moved to Des Moines; attending high school and Drake University; being actively involved in the temple throughout her life; being the president of the Women's Zionists Organization of America; getting married during WWII; her husband's participation in the war; and helping with the relief efforts for European refugees after the war.

Oral history interview with Esther Bergh

Oral History

Esther Bergh discusses her childhood in Schwabisch Gmund and Munich, Germany; growing up kosher and in the Jewish community; being deported to Poland; being sent to England; her life in England and her decision to start a kibbutz in Israel; immigrating to the United States; and her life in Des Moines, Iowa.

Oral history interview with Hennie Bergh

Oral History

Hennie Bergh (née Mattisson), born in 1906 in Berlin, Germany, discusses her childhood; enjoying a middle-class life; her Jewish public school education; the large Jewish population in Berlin; her husband, Walter Felix Zuberbergh (aka Bergh); how things changed beginning in 1932; the arrest of her husband and his imprisonment in Sachsenhausen concentration camp; getting a passport and buying tickets for her family to Shanghai, China; experiencing many challenges in Shanghai, where they lived for 10 years; immigrating to the United States; and settling in Des Moines, Iowa.

Oral history interview with Werner Bergh

Oral History

Werner Bergh discusses his early life in Berlin, Germany; the arrest of his father and his imprisonment in Sachsenhausen concentration camp; leaving Germany with his parents in 1938 and going to Shanghai, China; the large Jewish refugee community in Shanghai; immigrating to the United States with his parents after the war; and settling in Des Moines, Iowa.

Oral history interview with Jack Bernstein

Oral History

Jack Bernstein recounts his childhood in Brooklyn, Iowa; his family’s move to a Jewish neighborhood in Sioux City; being active in many Jewish organizations and the importance of these Jewish organizations for him and later for some of his children; attending a Hebrew School; his Hebrew teachers; his 1958 trip to Israel; joining his father's scrap and steel business after college; his wife Gail; keeping a Jewish home; the importance of Israel to him; the photographs he has of his grandparents’ wedding; not having many heirlooms from his family, but his wife Gail has silver candlesticks from Poland that were her grandmother's; his family spending summers at Lake Okoboji and visiting national parks; and his Uncle Harry who died in WWII while serving in the military.

Oral history interview with Saul Bolotnikov

Oral History

Oral history interview with Rebecca Engman

Oral History

Oral history interview with Mae Galinksy

Oral History

Mae Galinsky, born circa 1902 in Lithuania, discusses her immigration to the United States from Lithuania in the mid-1920s; her brothers and mother who had arrived in the US before her; getting married to Julius Kawarsky, who was also from Lithuania and ran a grocery store in Des Moines, Iowa; her husband's death at an early age; getting married to Mr. Galinsky; observing Passover, holidays, and shabbat with her family; and her life in the US and in her Jewish community.

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