Shtetl Stories from Romania.

In 2005, our interviewer Emoke Salzman traveled to what were then the last of Romania’s shtetls to interview 20 elderly Jews.In this season of Centropa Stories, we highlight three of their stories, and they are truly among the last genuine Yiddish storytellers (but are read for you in English).

Welcome back to the shtetl

Erzählt von

Edward Serotta

In towns like Dorohoi,, Suceava, Botosani and Radauti, Jewish life carried on all during the post-Holocaust decades. They were rapidly shrinking, of course, as most younger Jews wanted to leave, and the majority of them emigrated to Israel. But these small communities still maintained their canteens, youth clubs, choirs, seniors’ clubs and held regular synagogue services. As of the 2020s, however, most of these organizations were no longer functioning. That makes these three stories all the more compelling, as they take you back to a world now lost to us.

Audio

Zur Episode

Welcome back to the shtetl

Edward Serotta

Simon Meer in Dorohoi

Erzählt von

Steve Furst

Simon paints a vivid picture of growing up with his brothers in a Romanian shtetl. The entire family was deported to Transnistria during the war. Not all of them returned. Simon married, raised a family, and in time, became president of his Jewish community.

Audio

Zur Episode

Simon Meer in Dorohoi

Steve Furst

Rifca Segal in Sulita and Botosani

Erzählt von

Jeni Barnett

Rifca grew up in a village that was nearly 75% Jewish, and she tells us life was good—until the war--when the family was forced to move to a bigger town. They were not deported further but lived in abject poverty and in constant anxiety. Rifca married, raised a family and spent her last years teaching Hebrew to an ever-shrinking class of Jewish children.

Audio

Zur Episode

Rifca Segal in Sulita and Botosani

Jeni Barnett

Simon Glasberg in Radauti and Botosani

Erzählt von

Henry Goodman

Simon was less than three years old when the family was sent into the hell of Transnistria. They barely survived, and as he grew up in postwar Romania, Simon tells us of the unspeakable poverty and hunger he went through. Simon became an agricultural expert, married, had children. This lively, ironic story teller is well worth listening to.

Audio

Zur Episode

Simon Glasberg in Radauti and Botosani

Henry Goodman