{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/1n7xk85h2b/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Backer, Donald and Meta"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/082/original/TheBreman_SecondaryMark_Horizontal_Blue_Black.png?1713640889","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2002-05-29 (captured)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Backer, Donald (Interviewee)","Backer, Meta (Interviewee)","Sparer, Burt (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["Audio"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source"]},"value":{"en":["The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum","Esther and Herbert Taylor Oral History Collections","Congregation Children of Israel"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eDonald and Meta Backer were interviewed by Burt Sparer on May 29, 2002 in Athens, Georgia.\u003c/p\u003e (general)","\u003cp\u003eIn this interview, Donald and Meta reflect on their early lives, their careers, meeting one another, starting a family together, and the Jewish faith and how it played a role in their lives. Donald describes growing up in the Bronx, his school days, being drafted into the service and the various positions he held during that time. Meta recalls growing up in Amsterdam, and her experience as a Jew during the Nazi occupation, going into hiding, losing family, and attempting to rebuild in the aftermath. Together they tell the story of how they met in Geneva, Switzerland, and of their time in Puerto Rico, where they started a Reform Temple. They share stories of their two daughters, as well as stories of their family history. They express their reflections on American life, their views on peace and conflict in Israel, and their personal experiences with Judaism.\u003c/p\u003e (scope content)","\u003cp\u003eDonald Backer was born in the Bronx, New York. His father’s parents came to the United States from Wysokie Mazowieckie, Poland in the 1900s. He spent the first 18 years of his life on the same block, Longfellow Avenue, in the East Bronx. Donald was raised in an Orthodox household, and his Jewish education began with Hebrew school five days a week. He attended Public School 66, Herman Ritter Junior High School, and James Monroe High School. After high school, Donald went on to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and received his associates degree. He began working in a coat factory as an assistant manager until he was drafted into the service. He was in the medics from 1953 to 1955. However, the Korean War ended during his last week of basic training, and he never went to Korea. Instead, he was sent to medical lab tech school, but never worked as a lab technician. He was then sent to Camp Pickett in Virginia where he was a corpsman on a tuberculosis ward. He described the job as being so terrible that he volunteered to go overseas, having no idea where he would end up. He ended up in Trieste, Italy and began working as a hospital accountant. From there, he was assigned to Fort Dix in New Jersey, where he was eventually discharged. After his time in the service, Donald decided to go back to school. He attended the University of Miami and received his engineering degree.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHe got a job as an industrial engineer, but a few months later, a friend from the Fashion Institute of Technology gave him an offer to work in Puerto Rico in the garment industry. Though he had received his engineering degree in order to get out of the garment industry, he accepted the offer and went to Puerto Rico. He lived there between 1959 and 1960, working as the assistant manager of a bra and girdle factory, and living a bachelor’s life. Donald was then sent to Geneva, Switzerland for a position with an American management and consulting firm, Capelin Associates. It was in Geneva he met Meta, who was working for the same company. Within six months, they were married. They had a ceremony in the Netherlands after Meta became \u003cem\u003ehalakha\u003c/em\u003e Jewish. Donald and Meta have two daughters, Yona and Naomi. In 1963 Donald and his family returned to Puerto Rico. Not feeling comfortable at the Conservative temple there, they decided, with the help of a few other families, to start a Reform temple. The family left Puerto Rico in 1969. From there, they moved to New Jersey where they were part of an Orthodox temple. Donald, and Meta settled in Madison, Georgia, after Donald was transferred there for work. In Madison, he eventually retired, and spent a year playing tennis, before starting his own consulting business. \u003c/p\u003e (bioghist)","\u003cp\u003eMeta Backer (\u003cem\u003enée\u003c/em\u003e Sarphatie) was born in 1935 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. On her father’s side, she has Sephardic heritage that can be traced back to her ancestors leaving Spain during the Spanish Inquisition in the fourteenth century. Meta’s mother was not Jewish, but Meta became \u003cem\u003ehalakha\u003c/em\u003e, and always considered herself a Jew. She was five years old when World War II broke out, and described early experiences of antisemitism during the beginning of Nazi occupation in Amsterdam. In 1943, her and her four brothers were all separated, and went into hiding. Meta stayed with non-Jewish relatives of her mother’s, and her brothers stayed with other relatives, in hospitals, and with family friends. Her father was taken as a prisoner toward the end of the war, but escaped. The family reunited in 1945, and at that point, her mother was seriously ill. She died a few years later. Meta described the period after the war as out-of-order. Her father, with no wife and five children struggled to regain a sense of normalcy. As the only girl in the family, Meta was treated differently by her authoritative father. She had one surviving cousin of her father, who helped her through those difficult times. Meta decided at a young age, after the war, and being shunned and mistreated by her non-Jewish family, she wanted nothing to do with the non-Jewish world, which had been a painful place for her. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThough she did not finish her formal education, because she spoke English so well due to a period living in Scotland, when Meta was 20, she got a job with an American management and consulting firm, Capelin Associates. She worked as an office clerk, and eventually worked herself up to office manager. She worked for the firm for several years in Amsterdam, and then was asked to manage the office at their new location in Geneva, Switzerland. There, she met Donald, who had been sent from the United States to work for the same company. Within six months, they were married. Originally denied a \u003cem\u003echuppah\u003c/em\u003e because Meta’s mother was not Jewish, she went to Bern, Switzerland to became \u003cem\u003ehalakha\u003c/em\u003e Jewish. Meta and Donald returned to the Netherlands and were married. Together they have two daughters, Yona and Naomi. In 1963 Meta and her family moved to Puerto Rico. Not feeling comfortable at the Conservative temple there, Donald and Meta, with the help from a few other families, started a Reform temple. Meta sang in the choir, and on the high holidays, sang solos. The family left Puerto Rico in 1969. They moved to New Jersey where they were part of an Orthodox temple. It was at the Orthodox temple in New Jersey that Meta discovered her Jewish spirituality. Meta, Donald and their children settled in Madison, Georgia, after Donald was transferred there for work. In retirement, Meta was involved with volunteer work for various organizations, including Meals on Wheels, and the Georgia Museum of Art. \u003c/p\u003e (bioghist)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source Metadata URI"]},"value":{"en":["https://archivesspace.thebreman.org/repositories/2/archival_objects/28985"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, recorded by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written consent of the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["Soetendorp, Jacob (1914-1976) (personal name)","Bateman, David (personal name)","Sarphati, Samuel (1813-1866) (personal name)","Spinoza, Baruch (1632-1677) (personal name)","Congregation Children of Israel (corporate name)","The Trieste Troops Command (corporate name)","Fort Pickett (corporate name)","Fort Dix (corporate name)","Sobibor (corporate name)","Athens, Georgia (geographic term)","Amsterdam, the Netherlands (geographic term)","The Bronx, New York (geographic term)","Puerto Rico (geographic term)","Jerusalem, Israel (geographic term)","New Jersey (geographic term)","Paleis van Volksvlijt (geographic term)","Sarphatipark (geographic term)","Bollandpark (geographic term)","Wysokie Mazowieckie, Poland (geographic term)","The United States (geographic term)","Israel (geographic term)","Palestine (geographic term)","The Netherlands (geographic term)","Jewish Education (topical term)","Korean War (topical term)","World War II (topical term)","Sephardic Jews (topical term)","The Spanish Inquisition (topical term)","Halakha (topical term)","Orthodox Judaism (topical term)","Reform Judaism (topical term)","Conservative Judaism (topical term)","Antisemitism (topical term)","The Holocaust (topical term)","The Hunger Winter (topical term)","Aliyah (topical term)","Litvak (topical term)","Immigration (topical term)","The Great Depression (topical term)","Melting Pot (topical term)","Globalism (topical term)","Racism (topical term)","Education (topical term)","Intermarriage (topical term)","Assimilation (topical term)","Christianity (topical term)","Judaism (topical term)","Shtetl (topical term)","Spirituality (topical term)"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eDonald and Meta Backer were interviewed by Burt Sparer on May 29, 2002 in Athens, Georgia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn this interview, Donald and Meta reflect on their early lives, their careers, meeting one another, starting a family together, and the Jewish faith and how it played a role in their lives. Donald describes growing up in the Bronx, his school days, being drafted into the service and the various positions he held during that time. Meta recalls growing up in Amsterdam, and her experience as a Jew during the Nazi occupation, going into hiding, losing family, and attempting to rebuild in the aftermath. Together they tell the story of how they met in Geneva, Switzerland, and of their time in Puerto Rico, where they started a Reform Temple. They share stories of their two daughters, as well as stories of their family history. They express their reflections on American life, their views on peace and conflict in Israel, and their personal experiences with Judaism.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eDonald Backer was born in the Bronx, New York. His father\u0026rsquo;s parents came to the United States from Wysokie Mazowieckie, Poland in the 1900s. He spent the first 18 years of his life on the same block, Longfellow Avenue, in the East Bronx. Donald was raised in an Orthodox household, and his Jewish education began with Hebrew school five days a week. He attended Public School 66, Herman Ritter Junior High School, and James Monroe High School. After high school, Donald went on to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and received his associates degree. He began working in a coat factory as an assistant manager until he was drafted into the service. He was in the medics from 1953 to 1955. However, the Korean War ended during his last week of basic training, and he never went to Korea. Instead, he was sent to medical lab tech school, but never worked as a lab technician. He was then sent to Camp Pickett in Virginia where he was a corpsman on a tuberculosis ward. He described the job as being so terrible that he volunteered to go overseas, having no idea where he would end up. He ended up in Trieste, Italy and began working as a hospital accountant. From there, he was assigned to Fort Dix in New Jersey, where he was eventually discharged. After his time in the service, Donald decided to go back to school. He attended the University of Miami and received his engineering degree.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHe got a job as an industrial engineer, but a few months later, a friend from the Fashion Institute of Technology gave him an offer to work in Puerto Rico in the garment industry. Though he had received his engineering degree in order to get out of the garment industry, he accepted the offer and went to Puerto Rico. He lived there between 1959 and 1960, working as the assistant manager of a bra and girdle factory, and living a bachelor\u0026rsquo;s life. Donald was then sent to Geneva, Switzerland for a position with an American management and consulting firm, Capelin Associates. It was in Geneva he met Meta, who was working for the same company. Within six months, they were married. They had a ceremony in the Netherlands after Meta became \u003cem\u003ehalakha\u003c/em\u003e Jewish. Donald and Meta have two daughters, Yona and Naomi. In 1963 Donald and his family returned to Puerto Rico. Not feeling comfortable at the Conservative temple there, they decided, with the help of a few other families, to start a Reform temple. The family left Puerto Rico in 1969. From there, they moved to New Jersey where they were part of an Orthodox temple. Donald, and Meta settled in Madison, Georgia, after Donald was transferred there for work. In Madison, he eventually retired, and spent a year playing tennis, before starting his own consulting business.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eMeta Backer (\u003cem\u003en\u0026eacute;e\u003c/em\u003e Sarphatie) was born in 1935 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. On her father\u0026rsquo;s side, she has Sephardic heritage that can be traced back to her ancestors leaving Spain during the Spanish Inquisition in the fourteenth century. Meta\u0026rsquo;s mother was not Jewish, but Meta became \u003cem\u003ehalakha\u003c/em\u003e, and always considered herself a Jew. She was five years old when World War II broke out, and described early experiences of antisemitism during the beginning of Nazi occupation in Amsterdam. In 1943, her and her four brothers were all separated, and went into hiding. Meta stayed with non-Jewish relatives of her mother\u0026rsquo;s, and her brothers stayed with other relatives, in hospitals, and with family friends. Her father was taken as a prisoner toward the end of the war, but escaped. The family reunited in 1945, and at that point, her mother was seriously ill. She died a few years later. Meta described the period after the war as out-of-order. Her father, with no wife and five children struggled to regain a sense of normalcy. As the only girl in the family, Meta was treated differently by her authoritative father. She had one surviving cousin of her father, who helped her through those difficult times. Meta decided at a young age, after the war, and being shunned and mistreated by her non-Jewish family, she wanted nothing to do with the non-Jewish world, which had been a painful place for her.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThough she did not finish her formal education, because she spoke English so well due to a period living in Scotland, when Meta was 20, she got a job with an American management and consulting firm, Capelin Associates. She worked as an office clerk, and eventually worked herself up to office manager. She worked for the firm for several years in Amsterdam, and then was asked to manage the office at their new location in Geneva, Switzerland. There, she met Donald, who had been sent from the United States to work for the same company. Within six months, they were married. Originally denied a \u003cem\u003echuppah\u003c/em\u003e because Meta\u0026rsquo;s mother was not Jewish, she went to Bern, Switzerland to became \u003cem\u003ehalakha\u003c/em\u003e Jewish. Meta and Donald returned to the Netherlands and were married. Together they have two daughters, Yona and Naomi. In 1963 Meta and her family moved to Puerto Rico. Not feeling comfortable at the Conservative temple there, Donald and Meta, with the help from a few other families, started a Reform temple. Meta sang in the choir, and on the high holidays, sang solos. The family left Puerto Rico in 1969. They moved to New Jersey where they were part of an Orthodox temple. It was at the Orthodox temple in New Jersey that Meta discovered her Jewish spirituality. Meta, Donald and their children settled in Madison, Georgia, after Donald was transferred there for work. In retirement, Meta was involved with volunteer work for various organizations, including Meals on Wheels, and the Georgia Museum of Art.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, recorded by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written consent of the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/082/original/TheBreman_SecondaryMark_Horizontal_Blue_Black.png?1713640889","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - Backer_Donald_and_Meta.mp3"]},"duration":5452.64327,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-thebreman.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/170/879/original/Backer_Donald_and_Meta.mp3?1668791582","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mp3","duration":5452.64327,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Backer, Donald and Meta [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SPARER: This tape is part of the Congregation Children of Israel Legacy Program\norganized in 2001, the Jewish year 5762. I'm Burt Sparer. I'm talking with\nDonald and Meta Backer. It's Wednesday, May 29, 2002. Thank you, Don and Meta,\nfor adding your story to the Temple's legacy. Our purpose is to record the oral\nhistory of Temple ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=0.0,30.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"members. We are also asking them to express their views, as\nJews in our time, on important issues so that future generations of Jews in\nAthens, Georgia, can know their heritage and add their own stories to it. I'd\nlike to start by asking you both when did you come to Athens, what brought you\nhere, and what have you done since you've been here? Don, let's start with you.\n\nD. BACKER: We came here in ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=30.0,60.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"October 1994. What brought us here was a transfer\nfrom the company I was working for in New Jersey. They asked a few of us to come\ndown to Madison [Georgia], and I accepted the offer. We've been here since then.\n\nSPARER: What was the company that brought you down?\n\nD. BACKER: Wellington Leisure Products. They're still in ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=60.0,90.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Madison. There was a\nbig downsizing and changes in the company. It came right at the right time—a\nlittle past my retirement age.\n\nSPARER: You were there for how long then?\n\nD. BACKER: I was there for about five years—six years.\n\nSPARER:What did you do for the company?\n\nD. BACKER:I was with the product development department . . . developing new\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=90.0,120.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"products, and involved with the construction of new products. I'm an industrial\nengineer. This company needed somebody to work in a new division, so I got\ninvolved in a new field with computers and working with a CAD system. It was all\nvery exciting for me.\n\nSPARER: What kind of products did Wellington make?\n\nD. BACKER: They make a lot of products. The main product is rope, from small\nclothesline (even ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=120.0,150.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"smaller) to large, ocean-going towropes. That's one division.\nI was in the leisure products, which makes outdoor umbrellas and replacement\ncushions for outdoor furniture. They also make life vests and water skis, a lot\nof different things like that . . . for leisure.\n\nSPARER: Were you able to take some of the products home and try them out?\n\nD. BACKER: In fact, we have some in the ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=150.0,180.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"garage.\n\nSPARER: That's the short answer to my question. We'll come back a little bit\nmore. Meta, what about you? When you came here, what was your role in the family affair?\n\nM. BACKER: It was not easy. It was completely different for me. Originally, I\ncome from Europe (the Netherlands), so it was already a big adjustment for me to\nlive up ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=180.0,210.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"north (the New York, New Jersey area). When we came down South, it was\nlike a second culture shock for me—somewhat.\n\nSPARER: What was your set of duties to perform as a new southerner in Athens?\n\nM. BACKER: After I set up home here, I got involved with some volunteer work.\nFor a while I did Meals on ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=210.0,240.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Wheels. I have been . . . for the last five or six\nyears . . . I have been volunteering at the museum, mainly in the museum shop.\n\nSPARER: This is the Georgia Museum of Art.\n\nM. BACKER: The Georgia Museum of Art. I have taken classes at university here,\nwhich was very pleasant.\n\nSPARER: Did you have children at home at the time?\n\nM. BACKER: No, I had no children.\n\nSPARER: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=240.0,270.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Let's pick up with Don again. Tell us a little bit more about what\nyou've done since you retired from Wellington.\n\nD. BACKER: Since I've retired from Wellington, I had a year of playing tennis\nand being around the house. I decided I'd like to do something, so I started a\nconsulting business. Right now, I have one client, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=270.0,300.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"working three days a week,\nand playing tennis two or three days during the week.\n\nSPARER: I see. Has your life changed with his retirement, Meta?\n\nM. BACKER: I think so. Yes. [It has] definitely become different.\n\nSPARER: How so? What has it meant to you?\n\nM. BACKER: I think the biggest adjustment was the lack of structure. As long as\nDon was working, there was more structure. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=300.0,330.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Now we really have to focus on doing\n. . .\n\nSPARER: . . . making things happen . . .\n\nM. BACKER: . . . making things happen, because you tend to be much more relaxed.\nThere's not that same pressure of getting dinner ready on time or getting the\nshopping ready on time or things like that. On the other hand, we've had a very\nbusy year. One of our daughters got married in ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=330.0,360.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Israel, so we've been traveling a\nbit also. As a matter of fact, we just returned from Europe again after visiting\nwith our married daughter, who lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.\n\nSPARER: Let's do some exploration about where you came from before you arrived\nin Athens. Let's get the middle-sized story of your ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=360.0,390.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"lives on the first half of\nour tape. Don, where were you raised? Give us an account from as early as you\ncan remember to the time you got to Athens.\n\nD. BACKER: I was born in the Bronx, New York, and grew up and lived on the same\nblock until I was about 18. It ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=390.0,420.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"was an area of apartment houses, maybe 5,000\npeople on the same block—a lot of children, a lot of groups. We had baseball\nteams and softball teams and football teams and hockey teams, all on the same\nblock that played each other.\n\nSPARER: What was the street you were on?\n\nD. BACKER: Longfellow Avenue, in the East Bronx, which is now a slum. We visited\nthere a couple of times. It's completely ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=420.0,450.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"destroyed, and starting to come up with\nlow-project housing. My Jewish education started when I was very young—going to\nHebrew school. I remember . . . it must have been five days a week and not\nlearning that much. I remember part of learning was getting knocked on the head\nby the rabbi's knuckles if you didn't pronounce the words right, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=450.0,480.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"like Merv\nReines' aleph-bet-gimel. But I did learn my bar mitzvah. I was told I did a good\njob. I don't remember anything other than being up there and giving a speech\nthat was written by somebody else.\n\nSPARER: Those were the days. And your education . . . ?\n\nD. BACKER: Regular public school, junior high school, Herman Ritter Junior ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=480.0,510.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"High\nSchool, Public School 66 before that. After junior high school, it was James\nMonroe High School. I went to a two-year school (or college) in New York City\n(Fashion Institution of Technology) [and] got my associate's degree. I worked\nfor a year in Middletown, New York, in a coat factory as assistant manager. I\nwas ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=510.0,540.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"drafted and went into service for two years. I was in the medics from 1953\nto 1955. The Korean War ended the last week of my basic training. I was gung-ho,\nready to go to Korea. I didn't have to.\n\nSPARER: We're fortunate. You're here.\n\nD. BACKER: I'm here, thank God. I'll talk a little bit about my Army ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=540.0,570.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"career.\nAfter basic training, I was sent to medical lab tech school, where I was told it\ncost $10,000 to educate me to be a lab technician. I remember it took three or\nfour months, but I never worked as a lab technician. I was sent to Camp Pickett\nin Alabama and was a corpsman on a TB [tuberculosis] ward. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=570.0,600.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I took care of about\nthirty TB patients, giving shots and taking care of them. It was so bad I\nvolunteered to go overseas. I had no idea where we were going—but I ended up in\nTrieste, Italy. I was assigned to a hospital, again as a lab technician, but I\nended up as the hospital accountant. I'm going to say this—my job was one day a\nweek collecting $1 ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=600.0,630.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"a day only from the officers, and then entering that amount\nin the books. That was my job. It was really a good time. I look back on it with\na lot of good feelings. I made good friends and [we] enjoyed ourselves. Then\nTrieste Command closed up, and [I] was assigned to Fort Dix in New Jersey. Then\nI was discharged, decided to go back to school, and went to ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=630.0,660.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"the University of\nMiami and became an industrial engineer. I got my engineering degree.\n\nSPARER: That's a very good recitation, I have to tell you. I admire your ability\nto spell it all out so nicely. What kind of work did you get into right after that?\n\nD. BACKER: After that, I got a very good job as an industrial engineer with\nOwens-Illinois in one of their ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=660.0,690.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"divisions. A few months after that, a friend of\nmine contacted me, who I went to school with at the Fashion Institute. He had a\nvery good offer for me to come to Puerto Rico, back to the garment industry,\nwhich I had made up my mind I would get out of. That's why I went to university.\nAnyway, I was very impressed and I did leave that job, and went to Puerto ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=690.0,720.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Rico.\n\nSPARER: Take a deep breath and tell us a little bit about your life in Puerto Rico.\n\nD. BACKER: Puerto Rico . . . I was there as a bachelor. It was also a nice time\nfor me. I was assistant manager in their brassiere and girdle factory . . .\nPeter Pan . . . which doesn't exist anymore. It was a bachelor's ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=720.0,750.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"life. I don't\nrecall getting involved with any temple at the time. There was one Conservative\ntemple . . . The strange thing is after we were married, we went back to live in\nPuerto Rico. So I was there as a bachelor from around 1959 to 1960. Then we were\nmarried in 1961 and came back to Puerto Rico in ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=750.0,780.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"1964. [We] then spent five years\nthere . . . in Puerto Rico, with a family. There's where we got involved with\nstarting a Reform temple and going through the whole business of getting\neverything started—conducting services, being on the ritual committee . . .\n\nSPARER: Is that when you knew the Powells?\n\nD. BACKER: We did not know the Powells. We had good ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=780.0,810.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"mutual friends, the\nTopps—Bill and Norma Topps. But we did not meet the Powells . . . or we have no\nrecollection of meeting them, but we must have met them. But we had very good\nmutual friends.\n\nSPARER: Thank you for your brief recitation of your life story. It's very\ninteresting. Your life has been an adventure so far.\n\nD. BACKER: And traveling.\n\nSPARER: Meta, let's ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=810.0,840.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"talk about your life. I'm sure it's quite different.\n\nM. BACKER: Yes, my life—very, very different. I was born overseas. I was born\nin 1935, five years before World War II broke out, in Amsterdam, the\nNetherlands. My father was from ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=840.0,870.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"a Sephardic background. We can trace our family\ntree back to the time the family left Spain.\n\nSPARER: To the [Spanish] Inquisition in the fourteenth century?\n\nM. BACKER: To the Inquisition, yes. My mother was not Jewish. I became halakha\nJewish before I got married, so our children are Jewish and we've had a Jewish\nlife ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=870.0,900.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"always.\n\nSPARER: What you said a moment ago, in becoming Jewish, you meant you became\nOrthodox Jewish?\n\nM. BACKER: Yes, I was accepted by the Orthodox community.\n\nSPARER: Please go on.\n\nM. BACKER: My heart . . . even though I come from a mixed marriage, I've always\nconsidered myself as a ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=900.0,930.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Jew. My mother died quite young. I was brought up by my\nJewish father. On top of that we went through the war—I was five years old when\nthe war broke out—and I was six years old when I first experienced\nantisemitism. My maiden name is a very Jewish-sounding name in the Netherlands.\nHere it might not be so, but in the Netherlands it ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=930.0,960.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"was a well-known name . . .\n\"Sarphatie.\" One afternoon when I left the school—the last time we were in\nAmsterdam—I showed Donald the spot [where] I was pushed against the school wall\n. . . maybe in 1940, 1941, 1942 . . . and was yelled at from a whole bunch of\nchildren in front of ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=960.0,990.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"me, \"dirty Jew nose, dirty Jew nose.\" That was my first\nexperience with antisemitism for myself.\n\nSPARER: This was before the Nazi occupation?\n\nM. BACKER: No, no. The Nazi occupation had already started in 1940 when I was\nfive years old, so this happened when I was about six years old—six-and-half,\nmaybe. We spent the war years mainly in ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=990.0,1020.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Amsterdam. I had four brothers. We were\nseparated in 1943. All of us went a different way. My father was very worried\nthat after the Jewish families were taken away, they would start on the\nassimilated Jewish families. So we went into hiding, so to speak. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1020.0,1050.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"My family came\ntogether again in 1945, when my mother was already quite ill and [she] died a\nfew years later.\n\nSPARER: Did you remain in hiding in Amsterdam all those war years?\n\nM. BACKER: I didn't have to. I stayed with some relatives of my mother's. They\nwere not Jewish, so I just blended in with them.\n\nSPARER: And the rest of your family . . . ?\n\nM. BACKER: Two of my brothers went to ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1050.0,1080.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"a farmer outside of the Netherlands. My\noldest brother was taken into a hospital situation with other Jewish boys. They\nwere cared for as if they were very, very ill. One story which I remember always\nis that when the Germans came to look at these hospitals to see if there were\nany ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1080.0,1110.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"people hiding in there, my brother always had to put white powder on his\nface with the other boys, to make themselves look really sick. My youngest\nbrother was at friends of my parents who had no children, who took care of him.\nMy father was taken prisoner ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1110.0,1140.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"towards the end of the war. The transportations to\nGermany and Poland, etc. had stopped, so they kept him in a prison in Amsterdam.\nOn the last day of the war, the Canadians came in one side of the city and the\nGermans were leaving the ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1140.0,1170.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"other side. So on the way out, they called all the\nprisoners in[to] the courtyard and starting shooting [them]. So on the way out\nthey killed many, many prisoners still. But my father sensed what was coming and\n[threw] himself to the floor and stepped over the bodies with a few other people\nand went home. My mother had taken ill already—[she] was very, very ill—and\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1170.0,1200.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"died of cancer. For a few years . . . I'm saying her too many times. So much has\nhappened that I don't know where to begin or what to leave out and what not to\nleave out. My father had lost all his family. My grandmother—my Jewish\ngrandmother—had died in 1939, thank goodness. But my grandfather of 83 years\nold was taken to Sobibor, Poland, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1200.0,1230.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"in a cattle train and was murdered there. We\ndon't really know. We hope that he died on the way already, which was quite\npossible, considering his age. But my aunt, my uncles, my cousins—they are all\ngone. They were all murdered in those years. My father . . . after the war . . .\nhad to deal with five children who were kind of ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1230.0,1260.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"out-of-order because of the\nyears that they had passed away from the family . . . without education. My\nmother was ill. He had lost all his family. It was a very difficult task for him\nto get his family going again—to take care of my mother and to take care of his children.\n\nSPARER: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1260.0,1290.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"How did that evolve?\n\nM. BACKER: Difficult.\n\nSPARER: I understand.\n\nM. BACKER: With lots of ups and downs.\n\nSPARER: What happened to you?\n\nM. BACKER: My mother died. I was left behind with father and four brothers. My\nfather was quite authoritative. It was not easy for me. But he had one surviving\ncousin on the ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1290.0,1320.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Jewish side of my family. There was one surviving cousin of my\nfather who took pity on me, as the only girl in the male family, and helped me\nthrough a lot of difficult times.\n\nSPARER: Still in Amsterdam?\n\nM. BACKER: In Amsterdam . . . after the war. I'm speaking after the war. Jewish\neducation was not thought of for most Jewish families in those years. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1320.0,1350.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"We were in\nJewish circles, but I don't recall anyone having Jewish education because the\nneed to get the children regulated with the regular education . . . to get them\nsettled again in a kind of a family routine . . . Life took so much effort that\nthere was no time for Jewish ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1350.0,1380.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"education.\n\nSPARER: Was there much of a Jewish population left at the end of the war?\n\nM. BACKER: Yes, I think there were about 3,000 . . . Unfortunately, but I have\nto mention this . . . but even though the Netherlands is known for its tolerant\nlifestyle towards outsiders, yet percentage-wise, it ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1380.0,1410.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"had the highest number of\nJews deported from their country—higher than Spain . . . no, not Spain . . .\nFrance, Italy, Greece, Belgium, etc. There are several explanations for it. The\nDutch are very ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1410.0,1440.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"organized, so also the Dutch Jews were very organized, so the\nlist of all the names were very easy to get to.\n\nSPARER: What was the relationship between the Jewish population that remained in\nAmsterdam after the war and the general population? Was there an acceptance of\nthe Jews that remained, or was life very difficult, given ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1440.0,1470.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"what had happened\nduring the war?\n\nM. BACKER: To tell you the truth, I cannot answer that question very well,\nbecause I was brought up in Jewish circles. I think the Jewish population just\nkept to themselves in those years. So it's hard for me to answer. I do know that\nmy non-Jewish family . . . we had barely ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1470.0,1500.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"any contact with. None of them were\nmurdered. There was still quite a large family, but we had barely any contact\nwith them whatsoever. So they had very little influence on our lives.\n\nSPARER: Let me interrupt. I'm fascinated by this, and I know anybody listening\nto this tape will be, too. Let me ask you for a parenthetical insertion here,\nand then come back to a ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1500.0,1530.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"linear explanation of the years that followed. How would\nyou contrast the relationship between Jews in the Netherlands today in terms of\ntheir acceptance of the general population?\n\nM. BACKER: Again it's very hard to answer because antisemitism is rising in the\nNetherlands. So once more, I think there has ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1530.0,1560.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"been a period that the Jewish\npopulation felt accepted in the Netherlands and felt that they were part of the\nsociety there. But right now we are coming to a point that antisemitism is\ndefinitely on the rise there.\n\nSPARER: Is that a recent phenomenon?\n\nM. BACKER: Yes. I cannot tell you exactly. I've been away from the Netherlands\nthe last 20 years or so. It ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1560.0,1590.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"started little but it is getting worse.\n\nSPARER: Has that got to do with the troubles in Israel?\n\nM. BACKER: Israel. Yes, definitely.\n\nSPARER: Come back to . . . I don't want to skip over any of the highlights, but\nlead us on to those years when you went through your time in the Netherlands and\nthen eventually you left. You got an education somewhere . . .\n\nM. BACKER: I was ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1590.0,1620.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"very upset by the fact that what happened during the war . . .\nwhen I started to find out after the war what had happened. I remember my\nguardian mother, for instance . . . shortly after the war, the Red Cross lists\nstarted to come in with the names of the people who were murdered . . . on a\nweekly basis. I remember my parents sitting at the table with their fingers\nlooking for ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1620.0,1650.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/56","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"people who had . . . looking for relatives, for friends. The whole\nfive years of the war and what happened afterwards made a deep, deep impression\non me. I have, at a very young age, already . . . What also made a deep\nimpression on me was that during the \"hunger winter,\" which was the winter of\n1944-1945, shortly before my father was taken [to] prison, [and] the ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1650.0,1680.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/57","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Germans had\nclosed the city. Nothing went out, and nothing came in. It was the intent to\nstarve the population and the population did starve. Many, many non-Jews died of\nstarvation during those years. My father, through the couple who was taking care\nof my youngest brother, was able to get some food. Even though he was not\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1680.0,1710.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/58","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"allowed in the street as a Jew, he walked to my non-Jewish grandmother and other\nnon-Jewish relatives to bring food. Yet what has always hurt me very deeply is\nthat my father, while it was very dangerous for him, provided food for my\nnon-Jewish relatives and yet not one of them helped save one of my father's\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1710.0,1740.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/59","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"family. So at a young age already, I had decided that I didn't want to have\nanything to do with the non-Jewish world. It was a painful world for me. It was\na world that I didn't trust. As a teenager (about 15 or 16 years), there was [a]\nReform rabbi in the Netherlands, Jacob Soetendorp, who saw the need for Jewish\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1740.0,1770.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/60","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"children (teenagers) to have some kind of Jewish education.\n\nSPARER: For the record, could you spell the rabbi's name?\n\nM. BACKER: Yes, the last name? It's Jacob Soetendorp . . . S-O-E-T-E-N-D-O-R-P.\n\nSPARER: Thank you.\n\nM. BACKER: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1770.0,1800.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/61","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"He saw the need among the Jewish youth for anything Jewish—some\nJewish education, [to] celebrate the holidays. So he started opening his house\non the holidays and invited Jewish youth. The word went out and I became\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1800.0,1830.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/62","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"involved. There were many, many youth (youngsters) who became involved. We had\nseder at his house and other celebrations. That was actually the only Jewish\neducation I've had, other than . . . I think the war and antisemitism was a big\nJewish education. But formal Jewish education, I didn't really have. But then\nagain, I don't think ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1830.0,1860.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/63","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"that was because I was from a non-Jewish mother. It was\nbecause of the time we lived in, because a lot of Jewish children didn't have a\nJewish education.\n\nSPARER: Did you stay on in the Netherlands for some years?\n\nM. BACKER: I stayed on in the Netherlands. I got involved with . . . after my\neducation, which was not completed ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1860.0,1890.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/64","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"because . . . my English was very good. I had\ngone to Scotland to learn to speak English, and so I spoke very well English.\nThrough that, when I was around 20, I got a job with an American firm. I started\nas an office clerk, but I worked myself up to office manager. So I worked for\nthem for a number of years in Amsterdam. Then the office ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1890.0,1920.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/65","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"closed in Amsterdam and\nmoved to Geneva, Switzerland, and they asked me to come with them as their\noffice manager. That is where I met Donald. Donald was sent over from New York\nto that same company, and that is how we met.\n\nSPARER: What was the company?\n\nM. BACKER: Capelin Associates. It was a management-consulting firm. I worked for\nabout five to six years for them. I met Donald. Within half a year we were\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1920.0,1950.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/66","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"married. It was a bit of a shock first that they wouldn't marry us—that I\ncouldn't have a chuppah—because my mother was not Jewish. It was kind of a\nshock, because I had always considered myself Jewish. I lived in Geneva,\nSwitzerland at the time. In Bern [Switzerland], they were easy on me. They\ndidn't let me go through a whole big ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1950.0,1980.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/67","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"educational period to become halakha\nJewish, as they say. So that's where I had my mikvah—my official conversion.\nDonald and I had our chuppah in the Netherlands by Jacob Soetendorp, the same\nrabbi who opened his house for the \"lost Jewish youth.\"\n\nSPARER: There's something ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1980.0,2010.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/68","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"overwhelmingly ironic that you had to have a\nconversion, as you put it, given all that you went through as a Jew in the Netherlands.\n\nM. BACKER: Yes.\n\nSPARER: That's one very big story. Thank you for sharing it with us.\n\nM. BACKER: You're welcome.\n\nSPARER: Meta, thank you very much for sharing that story with us. It's not easy\nto tell, and I'm sure that people listening in years to come will be ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2010.0,2040.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/69","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"very\ninterested in what you have to say. Tell us what happened to your brothers.\n\nM. BACKER: My oldest brother was suffering from health problems. [He] never\nreally finished his education, but got into the garment industry and did\nfinancially very well. He married an Orthodox Jewish girl from Italy.\nUnfortunately, the marriage didn't ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2040.0,2070.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/70","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"last. My oldest brother is named Raphael. My\nsecond brother, named Herman, also had health problems. He became a\npsychologist. He's the one who died four years ago from lung trouble that has\nprevailed in my family. He married a girl from Jewish ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2070.0,2100.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/71","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"descent (but also not 100\npercent Jewish). My third brother became an economist. All my brothers did\nreally quite well.\n\nSPARER: Did they remain in Europe, or did any of them . . .\n\nM. BACKER: They all remained in Europe, yes. My oldest brother, because of\nhealth reasons, lives in Spain now, but he comes regularly to Amsterdam.\n\nSPARER: Did your father remain in Europe?\n\nM. BACKER: Yes, we are all remaining there. My youngest ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2100.0,2130.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/72","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"brother, he . . . my\nthird brother, very interestingly, married a non-Jewish girl, and then, after 30\nyears, got divorced and married his Jewish high school sweetheart.\n\nSPARER: Your story would make a pretty good film. I think it should be shot in Hollywood.\n\nM. BACKER: Then my youngest brother worked for a Jewish company in the\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2130.0,2160.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/73","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"[unintelligible] for years and years and went to Israel for them, but met in\nIsrael a non-Jewish girl. Because they didn't want to marry him in Israel, he\nbecame so angry and he left Israel and went back to the Netherlands.\n\nSPARER: Your life is filled with ironies—your family, anyway. Well, are you in\ntouch with your brothers' families to this day?\n\nM. BACKER: Yes.\n\nSPARER: Are you a close ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2160.0,2190.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/74","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"family?\n\nM. BACKER: We've had our problems, but somehow we always get back together again\nafter troubled times.\n\nSPARER: Let's have a bit of a subject change. Don, I'll ask you (so Meta can\ntake a break) to tell us about your ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2190.0,2220.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/75","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"kids. Who are they? Where are they? What do\nthey do?\n\nD. BACKER: We have two \"kids\" . . . that are not kids anymore.\n\nSPARER: Two adult children.\n\nD. BACKER: Right. The oldest is Yona. She will be 40 on June 9, and will be\nhere. She's in New York [and] she's still single. We're hoping someday that\nshe'll be married and also have ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2220.0,2250.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/76","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"children. She has a special kind of job—she\ngives away money.\n\nSPARER: I'd like to meet her!\n\nD. BACKER: She'll be here from the 7th.\n\nSPARER: I'm sure everybody says that to you when you explain what she does. Why\ndoes she give away money?\n\nD. BACKER: Because she works for Andy Warhol Foundation that gives money to\norganizations that are doing something special to help ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2250.0,2280.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/77","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"promote contemporary art.\nShe receives the grant requests and decides who should get the grants [and],\nalong with another woman, writes them up, and presents them to the Board.\n\nSPARER: Are they substantial grants that the Foundation makes?\n\nD. BACKER: Yes. I think they give away $2,500,000 dollars every year. I believe\nthe total ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2280.0,2310.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/78","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"number of grants may be about 50. Anyway, that's her work. She does a\nlot of traveling. It's a fascinating job. She loves it.\n\nSPARER: I'm certain it is. And your other daughter?\n\nM. BACKER: I think we should also tell that Yona got her master's degree from\nColumbia University in New York in art history and archaeology.\n\nSPARER: Right. Thank you. And your other daughter, Don?\n\nD. BACKER: Our ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2310.0,2340.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/79","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"other daughter is Naomi. She just became a mother . . . gave\nbirth to our first grandchild, named Noa (N-O-A). She was born on April 4. She's\nmarried to a man whose mother is the only survivor of a very large family. The\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2340.0,2370.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/80","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"strange thing is that Naomi is living in the same area that Meta grew up in. Our\ngranddaughter was born in the same hospital that Meta was born in. So there's\nsomething happening . . . we're very happy.\n\nM. BACKER: Donald and I have moved around and traveled a ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2370.0,2400.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/81","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"lot. I have very often\nregretted the fact that we might not have given our kids solid roots. First,\nthey come from parents who come from different cultures, different countries,\nand then we moved them around so much. Of course, they always tell us they\ndidn't mind—that this has enriched their lives. But I always felt a little bad\nabout it. So it's very interesting that our granddaughter now was ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2400.0,2430.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/82","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"born in the\nsame hospital that I was born in and that they (the family) live in the same\narea of Amsterdam where I spent most of my life.\n\nSPARER: Did they do that knowingly?\n\nM. BACKER: No. It was unplanned.\n\nD. BACKER: No. When we came to visit New Year's last year, Meta couldn't believe\nit. [She] had to take me in the middle of the night to all the places that she\nwalked to . . . ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2430.0,2460.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/83","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"her grandmother's house and the school. There we were walking\naround in Amsterdam in the area where our daughter lives in the middle of the\nnight with Meta all excited. There we were.\n\nSPARER: Is that a bittersweet memory?\n\nM. BACKER: Absolutely bittersweet because at first I wasn't even that happy\nabout the fact that now only our daughter lives there because there are so many\nbad memories in that ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2460.0,2490.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/84","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"area.\n\nSPARER: Did your daughter have some special education, training? Did she work\nbefore she married?\n\nD. BACKER: Yes. She studied at NYU [New York University] and got her degree in\ninternational politics. She worked at the UN [United Nations], but she became so\ndiscouraged because of the anti-Israel and antisemitic feelings and basis of\noperation that she ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2490.0,2520.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/85","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"just couldn't go on with that. She's always been interested\nin acting and dancing, which she attempted to do as a profession but that didn't\nwork out. She worked with TV Guide in the editorial department. Then she decided\nshe was going to get her master's in art and film history. [She] decided to go\nto ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2520.0,2550.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/86","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Amsterdam for that study, because they had a department which was connected\nwith NYU where she can do a two-year study in one year. She finished that\nworking very, very hard, and stayed in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, looking\nfor an opportunity there. She was ready to come back to the states when, lo and\nbehold, she met her husband.\n\nSPARER: Right on. What does he do?\n\nD. BACKER: He's ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2550.0,2580.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/87","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"a consultant in human resources, so he's working . . . in some\nways like I was working when I was a management consultant . . . with companies\nonly in the Netherlands. So even though he travels, he travels within the\ncountry and he's home all the time. Most of the companies in the Netherlands do\nhave consultants in human resources to keep up with the way the laws are\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2580.0,2610.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/88","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"changing. That's what he does.\n\nSPARER: This story that you're putting on tape is filled with irony . . . I keep\nusing the word. Here you have been so badly treated as among all the other Jews\nin the Netherlands, and yet your family has come full circle. You have a\ndaughter and her husband living there, no less than . . . virtually in the same\nblock that you ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2610.0,2640.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/89","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"did. Somehow or another, the stars and the constellations must\nhave met right over Amsterdam somehow in order to bring this about.\n\nM. BACKER: If we had planned it, we couldn't have planned it.\n\nSPARER: It's really story book for this . . . Meta, you told me something that\nwas quite interesting a moment ago. Tell us something that happened when you\nwent to Israel for your daughter's marriage.\n\nM. BACKER: It's exactly a year ago that she ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2640.0,2670.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/90","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"got married in Jerusalem. One of the\nreasons we went there—besides that they really wanted to get married in\nJerusalem very badly—it was also an attractive point that our rabbi from New\nJersey, Rabbi David Bateman, had gone on aliyah two years before and was living\nthere and running a congregation now. So that was a big ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2670.0,2700.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/91","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"plus.\n\nSPARER: He married them?\n\nM. BACKER: He married them, yes, right overlooking the city of Jerusalem.\n\nSPARER: Coincidence, coincidence, coincidence. What wonderful people. Thank you\nvery much for that.\n\nM. BACKER: So nice . . . I can't think of a good English word sometimes . . .\nfor them to marry in Israel that our rabbi from New Jersey, Rabbi David Bateman,\nhad gone on aliyah two years before and was living ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2700.0,2730.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/92","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"in Jerusalem and running a\nsynagogue there and he married them.\n\nSPARER: Those are fascinating stories. Children are a way of looking into the\nfuture. Let's take a deep look into the past. I know [that] because we talked a\nlittle bit about it before we started the tape your roots go way back, Meta.\nTell us ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2730.0,2760.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/93","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"what you know of them.\n\nM. BACKER: My mother's roots, I don't know anything. My father's roots, family\nSarphatie, came to the Netherlands about 300 years ago. [They] were part of\nsetting up the Sephardic community there and building the Sephardic synagogue in Amsterdam.\n\nSPARER: Did that survive the war? Is it still there?\n\nM. BACKER: Yes, yes. It is still there. It ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2760.0,2790.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/94","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"is a beautiful building. It's the\nsame synagogue where Baruch Spinoza was excommunicated. The Sarphatie family\ngoes back quite a bit. It's interesting to mention that we have a family member\nwho was a great-great-uncle of mine by the name of Samuel Sarphatie, who was a\nphysician . . .\n\nSPARER: Spell your ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2790.0,2820.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/95","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"maiden name.\n\nM. BACKER: S-A-R-P-H-A-T-I-E. Dr. Samuel Sarphatie, who lived in the\nmid-nineteenth century. [He] saw a lot of [social] ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2820.0,2850.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/96","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"need in the city, and he was\nthe initiator of many, many projects in Amsterdam. Because of that, Amsterdam\nbecame more of a cosmopolitan city, and up until this day his name is quite\nknown in the city.\n\nSPARER: These needs that you were talking about, were they for the Jewish\ncommunity? Or for the larger community?\n\nM. BACKER: No, the larger ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2850.0,2880.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/97","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"community. He initiated, for instance, the need for\nbread factories so that people . . . for the poor population. There was a lot of\npoverty in those years, and people had need of daily bread, so he initiated the\nbread factories. There was also a lot of dirt in the city. There was ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2880.0,2910.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/98","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"no garbage\npickup. He initiated that—to have that organized. He initiated the starting of\na credit bank, so that people could start getting credit, so that they could buy\ncertain things.\n\nSPARER: How long ago was this?\n\nM. BACKER: It was in the mid-nineteen hundreds. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2910.0,2940.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/99","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"He also initiated a Paleis van\nVolksvlijt, which was kind of a theater, but it was a place where . . . In those\nyears, only the well-to-do were able to go out and be entertained. This was\nmeant for the more general population, to meet and find entertainment, et\ncetera. He also initiated the building of ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2940.0,2970.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/100","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"a hotel, Amstel Hotel, which today is\nstill a beautiful hotel, where people from foreign countries could come and\nstay—royalty or other VIP people—because he felt there was a big need in the\nNetherlands for that. Of course, it would attract a different crowd of people\ncoming to the Netherlands. So, he's quite well known, up until this ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2970.0,3000.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/101","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"day, even\nthough I wouldn't be surprised if many people have not a slightest idea what he\never did.\n\nSPARER: Is there a monument [or] plaque . . . ?\n\nM. BACKER: Monument. There's a park [named] after him with a monument. My father\nwas a part of a group of people who took the monument and hid it at the very\nbeginning of the war. The monument of Dr. Samuel Sarphatie ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3000.0,3030.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/102","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"is standing today as\nit was before the war, in the middle of the park that was named after him.\n\nSPARER: Bravo. Good for the Dutch. They did something right, then.\n\nM. BACKER: Yes.\n\nD. BACKER: Around the park . . . the street all around the park is Sarphatie Park.\n\nM. BACKER: When the war broke out, we ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3030.0,3060.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/103","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"lived on Sarphatie Park, and one of the\nfirst things the Germans did was change the names of the streets that were named\nafter Jews. So also the Sarphatie Park and Sarphatie, et cetera . . . so our\nSarphatie Park became Bolland Park, and Bolland Park was some famous ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3060.0,3090.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/104","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"German. I\ndon't know anything about him, only that he was a German.\n\nSPARER: Did the Dutch have the good sense to turn it back to its original name?\n\nM. BACKER: Yes, but the funny thing was we were told at the beginning of the war\nnever to mention our name to anyone. If anyone would ask \"What is your name?\"\n[we were told] that we shouldn't mention our last name. So we were drilled about\nthat . . . drilled . . . is that the right word?\n\nSPARER: Yes, yes.\n\nM. BACKER: So my youngest brother, who was three years old at the ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3090.0,3120.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/105","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"time, was\nstopped in the street and asked, \"Little boy, what is your name?\" So he said,\n\"My name is Leo Bolland.\"\n\nSPARER: I wondered if that was going to come up! Good story, good story. You\nhave a genealogical chart which actually traces members of your family from\nseveral hundred years ago to this day?\n\nM. BACKER: Yes, yes—from Spain, through Europe, France, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3120.0,3150.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/106","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Italy, Germany, up to Amsterdam.\n\nSPARER: If we're lucky we can have a copy of that in the file and people another\n300 years from now might be able to look at it.\n\nM. BACKER: Okay.\n\nSPARER: Don, tell us something about your roots.\n\nD. BACKER: I'll tell you as much as I know. I can go back to my grandfathers. On\nmy father's side, his parents came from a town called ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3150.0,3180.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/107","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Wysokie Mazowieckie, which\nis near the Polish-Russian border. I believe it's one of those places that\nchanged hands. Just about a year or two ago, I found out from my oldest cousin\nthat he was a Talmudic scholar.\n\nSPARER: Really.\n\nD. BACKER: But I had no idea, because the only contact I had with him was after\nsynagogue on Saturdays, all the grandchildren would come ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3180.0,3210.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/108","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"over to the house and\nwe'd [get] in line. Then we would be asked to read something from the seder so\nhe could see how good we had learned how to read. He didn't speak very much\nEnglish. He spoke Yiddish and Russian. I understood a little Yiddish, because\nthat's the language that was spoken if my parents wanted to talk about some\nsecret ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3210.0,3240.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/109","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"thing—something they didn't want us to hear about. So the Yiddish has\nbeen lost in our whole family. I think two or three of the oldest cousins\nlearned to speak it, because they had good contact with the grandparents. On my\nmother's side, I didn't know them. Both of them passed away. My mother was the\nLitvak of the family, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3240.0,3270.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/110","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"so . . .\n\nSPARER: What does that mean?\n\nD. BACKER: \"Litvak\" refers to the area that they came from, and it was always\nlike a put-down—she's a Litvak. It's not Lithuanian. I'm sorry, I don't know\njust where it is. So unfortunately, I don't very much about it. Even with my\ngrandfather's ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3270.0,3300.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/111","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"background, nothing was ever talked about at home, about the\nfamily. So everything . . . is wherever it was.\n\nSPARER: Thank you.\n\nM. BACKER: I think it is also interesting to note, Donald, that your\ngrandparents from your father's side came to this country in the year 1900. They\ncame having already three children—three little ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3300.0,3330.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/112","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"girls. Your grandmother was\npregnant with your father, who was the first one to be born in this country.\nWhen I heard that story, it made a deep impression on me. Because can you just\nimagine what it must be like for a couple with three little girls and the woman\npregnant with the fourth to make such a trip from the East ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3330.0,3360.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/113","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Europe to America to\nstart a new life. It is just unbelievable to me.\n\nSPARER: It's the story of America, too. Where did your family settle?\n\nD. BACKER: My father grew up in Harlem.\n\nSPARER: What did he do for a living?\n\nD. BACKER: My father went through a rough time. He went to Canada during the\n[Great] ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3360.0,3390.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/114","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Depression. I believe he worked in some factory up in Canada. He was\nable to come back and he worked in the business that my grandfather had, which\nwas a paint business. So he was a painter. During the war, he opened another\nbusiness with a friend of his repairing furlough bags for people in\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3390.0,3420.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/115","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"service—well, it was actually for the government. He ended up in the garment\nindustry doing contract selling for manufacturers. He did that until he passed\naway, which was in 1961, the year we were married.\n\nSPARER: Bittersweet again. Thank you both for those comments. I'm going to\nchange the subject ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3420.0,3450.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/116","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"now, and get away from things Jewish and ask you something\nabout your feelings of life in America today. Are there some concerns you have\nabout trends in America or about things happening in this country, both for the\nbetter or the worse, that you'd like to put on tape so that people many, many\nyears in the future can know what we think about things ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3450.0,3480.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/117","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"current (contemporary)?\nDo you want to start?\n\nM. BACKER: Let me first put what I like about America, compared to Europe.\nThere's always an opportunity here, no matter what your background, no matter\nwhat your age, there's always an opportunity. I think if I compare it to the\nNetherlands, you're put much more in a box . . . you're ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3480.0,3510.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/118","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"much quicker stigmatized\nfrom a young age, things like that. So I love that about this country. What I'm\nconcerned about are the social issues, very often. I'm always perplexed when I\nknow that the wealth of this country has . . . but at the same time allows\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3510.0,3540.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/119","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"poverty and situations like that. I'm also very concerned about medical care,\nwhich is very well for people who are insured . . . If I compare it to my\ncountry, I'm appalled how sometimes . . . what takes place here. What ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3540.0,3570.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/120","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I'm also\nconcerned about in this country is the . . . living together. When Donald was\ngrowing up, America was really truly a melting pot. I think one of the reasons\nthat nobody talked about what happened in Europe is because everybody was so\ngeared on becoming an American. I think that's not anymore. I think that might\nhurt America ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3570.0,3600.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/121","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"in the long run. Also I'm concerned about maybe rising antisemitism here.\n\nSPARER: When you say \"we're not a melting pot anymore,\" you mean different\nreligious faiths, different immigrant groups live in their separate places and\ndon't really integrate together, either in the schools ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3600.0,3630.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/122","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"or in the work place?\n\nM. BACKER: Yes. I think with the trend that's going on in the world today,\ntowards a \"globalism,\" that it might also become a trend here in America. In the\nlong run, America is not what matters anymore. We're \"citizens of the world.\"\nI'm not so sure if that's such a good thing.\n\nSPARER: Interesting comments. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3630.0,3660.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/123","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Thank you. You ended up with your perception of a\nrising tide of antisemitism in this country. Do you think that's just something\nof the moment because of the difficulties in Israel, or do you see this as\nsomething longer term?\n\nM. BACKER: It's hard to say. I definitely think it's because of the situation in\nthe Middle East. I ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3660.0,3690.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/124","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"think America is the only country that really stands behind\nIsrael solidly still. I hope it will remain like that. I cannot say the same\nabout Europe, so I'm very sad about that, actually. That's another thing I\nappreciate about America. I hope it will really remain like that. I hope America\nwill be a country truly for everybody, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3690.0,3720.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/125","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"where racism . . . there will always be\nsome racism . . . I think we can't get away from it . . . is not going to play\nsuch a big role that the whole people can be destroyed. That's what I'm worried\nabout—if America becomes a \"global country\" instead of America—that eventually\nthings might get out of hand.\n\nSPARER: Don, are there some ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3720.0,3750.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/126","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"things that you would respond to . . . concerns or\nthings that are being done well in this country that you'd like to express?\n\nD. BACKER: What I think is done well is education, but it looks like it's not\nworking for everybody. We have wonderful education, but we have terrible\neducation problems. The underprivileged seem not to want to ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3750.0,3780.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/127","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"learn. At one point\nin my life, I thought the answer was good education, but that doesn't seem to\nhelp. So I don't know what the answer is to that. I would like to see everybody\neducated, so they have the same opportunity, but some are falling between the\ncracks. I agree with Meta about antisemitism. We've noticed that among the ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3780.0,3810.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/128","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Jews\nin Athens—we've only attended one meeting where Israel was discussed—the\ndanger of what can happen in Israel is not perceived by most of the people. At\nthat point . . . that was just a few months ago. But maybe now more people—more\nJewish people—are able to see that no negotiations are possible because the\nPalestinians, along with most other Arab ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3810.0,3840.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/129","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"countries, want Israel completely\ndestroyed and all the Jews thrown into the sea. I don't know if that's going to\nhappen among Jewish people, but that is the plan and I think that more awareness\nhas to be focused on what's really going on.\n\nSPARER: Let us get back to things Jewish. I'll ask you this question. Is there\nsomething that you've ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3840.0,3870.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/130","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"done which makes you particularly proud of your Jewish heritage?\n\nD. BACKER: In our time in Puerto Rico . . . from 1963 to 1968 . . . we helped\nfound the Reform congregation in Puerto Rico. There were a number of young\nfamilies with small children. We didn't feel comfortable at the Conservative\ntemple because it was ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3870.0,3900.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/131","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"kind of a cold group. There were a lot of Spanish people,\nmostly from Cuba. We just didn't feel welcome. We kind of felt left out. A group\nof us felt the same thing, so we got together. We organized enough people to\nhave a charter and we got started. There were four of us out of the 25 that\ncould read Hebrew—not understand it, but just could read it—so ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3900.0,3930.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/132","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"we became the\nRitual Committee. Each one of us conducted the service on a Friday. It brought a\nlot of good feelings. In fact, one of the families that showed up was someone I\ngraduated the Fashion Institute of Technology with.\n\nSPARER: Who was that?\n\nD. BACKER: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3930.0,3960.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/133","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"His name was Howie Machson [sp]. We became good friends and made\npotato pancakes at holidays.\n\nSPARER: The congregation is flourishing?\n\nD. BACKER: Yes, it is. Yes, it is.\n\nSPARER: That's a remarkable contribution. My goodness . . . somewhere along the\nearly start of Don's telling of that tale, you were signaling me . . .\n\nM. BACKER: Yes, because we left ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3960.0,3990.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/134","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"in almost 1997. [To Donald] you said 1968. We\nleft in the fall of 1969. So it was a little bit longer. I had a nice role\nthere, too. I sang in the choir. On the high holidays I sang solos.\n\nSPARER: Would you like to sing a solo?\n\nM. BACKER: No, no. Not anymore. But I'm very proud of that.\n\nSPARER: All right. That's something good to say. I'm glad you told us that story.\n\nM. BACKER: I'm also very proud of the fact that, no matter where we ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3990.0,4020.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/135","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"were and\nwhere we lived, that one of our first steps was always to a local synagogue and\nget our children enrolled. We made sure that our children got a very good Jewish\neducation and that we always had a vibrant Jewish home life.\n\nSPARER: Thank you, Meta, for adding those little extras. That was nice.\n\nD. BACKER: I was on the Ritual Committee here in Athens ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4020.0,4050.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/136","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"for two or three years,\nand for the last one or two I was chairman of the Ritual Committee.\n\nSPARER: Yes, I do recall that. Thank you. You were paid tribute by the rabbi, as\nwell, as he does for people who work for the Temple.\n\nM. BACKER: You were on the Board of Directors also for a while.\n\nSPARER: Your contributions to the Temple here are well known. All of us\nappreciate that. I hope you'll rejoin the Temple as soon as ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4050.0,4080.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/137","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"we . . .\n\nD. BACKER: A number of people have expressed that, and who knows.\n\nM. BACKER: If we stay here, we will.\n\nSPARER: I hope you'll stay and rejoin. Let me go on to another question. Do you\nagree with many Americans who feel that because of the high degree of\nintermarriage between Jews and gentiles that there's a crisis occurring in this\ncountry? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4080.0,4110.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/138","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"You're shaking your head, Meta. What are your thoughts on that?\n\nM. BACKER: I definitely think that it is a crisis.\n\nSPARER: Why so?\n\nM. BACKER: Maybe because of my background. I am very concerned about continuing\n. . . how do you say that in English . . . that the Jewish people will continue\nas a Jewish people. More and more focus is being ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4110.0,4140.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/139","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"placed on the fact that Judaism\nis not that important. We are all citizens of . . . again, we're citizens of\nthis world. We can do whatever we want. Maybe it should be like that. I'm not so\nsure. But if we go in this direction and people keep on marrying non-Jews, then\nyes, I think it can be a very great danger. I think I like to put it this way .\n. . take my father as an example. I asked my ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4140.0,4170.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/140","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"father once—he was raised as an\nOrthodox Jew—\"How was it possible that you married a non-Jewish woman?\" His\nanswer was because before the war he was part of the Communist party. Many\nJewish people became involved in that. Of course, during the war and right after\nthe war he gave it up. But before the war he was part of the Communist party\nthat was rising in the ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4170.0,4200.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/141","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Netherlands. The reason he married a non-Jew was the idea\nwas that everybody should be equal. Of course, that's very logical and it sounds\nall very good. But there is no such thing because if you give up your Judaism,\nyou automatically accept the culture of somebody else. In the Netherlands, it\nwould be the culture of the non-Jews, which is mostly Christianity. In other\nwords, even if you don't ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4200.0,4230.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/142","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"follow Christianity, you start celebrating Christmas,\nEaster. So you give up your own culture to follow somebody else's culture. Then\nI say, what is . . .\n\nSPARER: Where are we going . . .\n\nM. BACKER: . . . where are we going?\n\nSPARER: But [in] our own Temple there are many couples—some 40 couples out of\n[over] 150 couples that have interfaith marriages—they, for the most part, are\nraising their kids in Judaism ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4230.0,4260.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/143","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and they attend the Temple, which isn't to say the\nsame thing for a lot of interfaith marriages that are not part of the Temple.\nBut an extraordinarily large number of them are remaining within the faith. As\nwe all know, Reform Judaism accepts couples where one partner is not Jewish so\nlong as the kids would be raised that way. So there is some mitigating\ncircumstances against this other trend . . .\n\nM. BACKER: I agree with you. I actually do agree.\n\nSPARER: Don, any ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4260.0,4290.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/144","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"feelings about the subject?\n\nD. BACKER: I have mixed feelings. I know that there will always be Jews. I also\nknow that what kept the Jews Jewish was antisemitism—the shtetl period [when]\nJews were forced to live together and did a lot of Jewish things. Assimilation\nallows us the choice of remaining Jewish or ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4290.0,4320.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/145","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"drifting away. Now I was brought up\nin a so-called Orthodox home. I really don't know what was so Orthodox about it.\nMy mother kept a kosher home. My father went to services. He kept Shabbat until\na certain time in his career when he started to break the Shabbat. I know that\naffected me a lot. Because I was brought up at that time ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4320.0,4350.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/146","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"to respect the Shabbat\nand all of a sudden, because of economic circumstances, he broke the Shabbat.\nSo, I can see things going both ways. I can see people staying with Judaism.\nI've also heard about people who at one time came from a Jewish background and\nare now coming back to it because they found out that their roots were ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4350.0,4380.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/147","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Jewish.\nThere is a danger about being lost in assimilation, but I think the Jews will\nsurvive and will be the people of God.\n\nSPARER: Let us hope so. Thank you both for your remarks on the subject. I'm\ngoing to ask you—you sort of gave me a segue into it—if ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4380.0,4410.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/148","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"you've experienced any\nantisemitism in Athens since you've been here, before and after your visit.\n\nD. BACKER: In Athens I have not experienced any antisemitism.\n\nM. BACKER: No, I can't think of any.\n\nSPARER: That says something.\n\nSPARER: Do you think that Israel will achieve peace in our time with our Arab neighbors?\n\nD. BACKER: I think that Israel and the Arab ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4410.0,4440.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/149","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"neighbors will achieve something\nclose to peace. I think they will achieve living in secure borders. Now why do I\nsay that? Because I like to read the Bible and get into the prophecies. It does\ntell us that Israel will live in secure borders. I don't know how this will\nhappen, but that's what I'm thinking.\n\nSPARER: You're the only one ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4440.0,4470.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/150","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"that's brought my attention to that precise point\nabout keeping a secure border. Your thoughts on this, Meta?\n\nM. BACKER: I agree with Donald. Donald, as I said, is very interested in the\nprophecies, which he loves to read and share with me. Through him, I got\ninterested in it also. As I said, I don't know how the development will be and\nwhat will happen after Israel will live in secure borders, but I do ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4470.0,4500.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/151","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"believe\nthat's some kind of a peace will be achieved eventually. If it will last, that\nI'm not sure of.\n\nSPARER: Thank you. Let me turn to something more personal. We are approaching\nthe end of our second side of the tape, but we do have some time left. I want to\nknow if there was a person or persons who were very ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4500.0,4530.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/152","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"influential in shaping the\ncourse of your life in the direction that you've taken or, as well as people,\nperhaps events. I know that's obvious in your case, Meta, in terms of the whole\nHolocaust in the shape of your lives that resulted. But how about individuals?\nI'll ask you to start, then we'll turn to you, Don.\n\nM. BACKER: One, my ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4530.0,4560.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/153","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"father. He's had a great influence on my life . . . still up\nto this day he has.\n\nSPARER: In what way?\n\nM. BACKER: Again, it's contradictory thing because he was very authoritative and\ndemanded much different things from me than he demanded from my brothers, which\nwas very upsetting for me and has also influenced my life.\n\nSPARER: Is that an Old World custom?\n\nM. BACKER: I don't think it was an Old ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4560.0,4590.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/154","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"World custom, but it was his generation\nstill. He asked me to forgive him before he passed away, so I appreciate that a\nlot. But I do know that his views of what women should be . . . ought to be . .\n. shaped my life a great deal. On the other hand, his cousin, my Aunt Judith,\ninfluenced my life ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4590.0,4620.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/155","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"greatly. I didn't have a mother in the house. I didn't have a\nfemale role model, so she became my role model. I think that she had a lot to do\nwith directing my steps in my life. She was not really a feminist, but she was\nclose to ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4620.0,4650.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/156","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"it. She was of the generation that we didn't speak about feminism, but\nher ideas were different than my father's. So I had the influence of her that\nbalanced out with my father.\n\nSPARER: Many of the people I've spoken to who knew their grandparents—who were\nalive and well in the latter part of the 1800's and early 1900's—the women ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4650.0,4680.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/157","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"were\nreally the forbearers of feminism in this country. They were very strong women,\nand they didn't take a lot of baloney from their husbands. They really directed\nthe lives of their children, considerably so. Don . . .\n\nM. BACKER: Can I add something?\n\nSPARER: Of course.\n\nM. BACKER: That was the influence of my father that may be bad. But there was\nanother influence of him. He was a survivor, and I think he passed that on to\nme. There's a certain strength in ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4680.0,4710.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/158","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"his way of living that I know has helped me\nthrough many situations. So that is the other side of my father.\n\nSPARER: I'm glad that you added that. Thank you.\n\nD. BACKER: For me it's both parents. As I was growing up, I was thinking about\nthe time that I came home from school with my brother . . . we must have been\nseven or eight . . . and there ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4710.0,4740.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/159","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"were two instruments, a violin and something\nelse. We didn't like that, so next day or next week there was a clarinet and\nsaxophone or bugle. All they said was, \"Choose one of these instruments because\nyou're going to have lessons.\" I remember that very clearly. They wanted us to\nunderstand and appreciate music and education.\n\nSPARER: What ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4740.0,4770.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/160","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"was your choice, Don?\n\nD. BACKER: I started with the soprano saxophone and my brother started with the\nclarinet. Then sometime later we changed, so we play both.\n\nSPARER: Do you still play?\n\nD. BACKER: I have them there and I can pick them up and play them.\n\nSPARER: Bravo. If we have time, I want to hear. Go ahead.\n\nD. BACKER: Then my father, he was . . . I told you before about the paint\nbusiness, but later ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4770.0,4800.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/161","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"on he got involved with the sewing industry. As we were\ngrowing up, both my brother and I were very involved in working with him,\nhelping him in the business, so we both got kind of a devotion to working\ntogether as a family and being depended on. An important decision in my life was\nwhat school to go to when I ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4800.0,4830.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/162","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"was approaching graduating high school. My mother\nkept saying about becoming a doctor, because she worked for two brothers that\nwere doctors and she kept their books, so I would have medical books.\n\nSPARER: She knew what the advantage of being a doctor was.\n\nD. BACKER: I saw my father's factory, which was a real sweatshop. It was in the\ncellar of a small building in Harlem. Then while I was going ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4830.0,4860.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/163","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"through university\ncatalogs, I came across the Fashion Institute of Technology and saw that they\nteach you how to run a modern sewing factory. That was my decision, instead of\ngoing to a college or university for pre-med. So I ended up as an industrial\nengineer, so that was a big influence on my life and that enables us to . . . I\nalways liked to travel, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4860.0,4890.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/164","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and this career enabled us . . . led me . . . to travel.\nMeta would probably have liked to stay in one place, like Amsterdam, but I\nalways liked to travel. So this career enabled me to travel and see a lot of\nthings, work with different people, and see a lot of the western world and the Caribbean.\n\nSPARER: Thank you. I'd like to bring up the subject of temple affiliations. I\nknow that we've ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4890.0,4920.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/165","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"talked before we started this taping about some of the various\ntemples that you've belonged to while your children were being raised, in Europe\nas well as elsewhere . . . in Puerto Rico. You were very active at that time of\nyour life as participants, for your children as well as yourself. Let's pick up\nthe thread of your story and sort of look into things as they were ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4920.0,4950.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/166","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"in New Jersey\nand then here. Reflect on that with us for a while.\n\nM. BACKER: I personally . . . Donald might feel differently about it . . . but\nfor me I felt in New Jersey that I finally had come home as a Jew. The religion\nhad not meant that much to me over all those years, but Judaism did—to be\nJewish and raising Jewish children was very important, even if it was only to\nshow Hitler that he had ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4950.0,4980.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/167","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"lost. But the religion didn't speak to me so much, until\nwe came to New Jersey, where we became members of this traditional Orthodox\ncongregation. There was a rabbi who really inspired us and was a great teacher,\nshowed us . . . taught us . . . about Judaism . . . explained to me about\nJudaism . . . all the questions I had had over the ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4980.0,5010.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/168","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"years. It started to make\nsuch sense, the way he involved both of us in it. It was almost like coming home.\n\nSPARER: Tell us his name again.\n\nM. BACKER: David Bateman. At this moment he is a rabbi in Jerusalem.\n\nSPARER: Yes, thank you. Then when you came here, what kind of transition?\n\nM. BACKER: For me, it was very difficult.\n\nSPARER: How so?\n\nM. BACKER: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5010.0,5040.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/169","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"We had been used to going to services in New Jersey . . .\n\nSPARER: Was that an Orthodox . . . ?\n\nM. BACKER: Yes, Rabbi Bateman conducted the services. Every Shabbat . . . every\nSaturday morning . . . made it so interesting. It was not only the reciting of\nthe prayers in a noncommittal way. No. His whole being, he was involved in\nit—he was spiritual. I could say he was very ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5040.0,5070.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/170","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"spiritual. When we went through\nthe Torah portion of that morning, he would always translate it in English and\nthen always gave the opportunity to the congregation to put their own input in\nit. He put his explanation into it. Judaism just started to grow for me. It\nstarted to make sense, in a religious manner. That is what I missed here greatly.\n\nSPARER: Did you ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5070.0,5100.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/171","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"find a social community in that congregation as well?\n\nM. BACKER: Not for me, not for me. No, I didn't. I didn't feel it. I must also\nadmit I didn't really put too much effort in it.\n\nSPARER: How large a congregation was it roughly speaking? Several hundred people?\n\nM. BACKER: Where, here?\n\nD. BACKER: No, New Jersey.\n\nM. BACKER: Yes, I think it was about the same size maybe as this one here.\n\nSPARER: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5100.0,5130.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/172","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Once you got here, you found . . . ?\n\nM. BACKER: What was so pleasant up there that there were other couples . . . our\nage group . . . who were stimulated in the same way by the rabbi and whose\ninterests were growing in the same direction as ours . . . people who had lived\nas Jews but not really as religious Jews. So ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5130.0,5160.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/173","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"we were well on our way of becoming\nreligious Jews. Then, unfortunately, we had to leave that behind because of\nDonald's job. Then we came here and we found here that Judaism was more social\nagain. What I had found in New Jersey I missed greatly here.\n\nSPARER: Did you find some compensation in ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5160.0,5190.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/174","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"the social environment in this Temple here?\n\nM. BACKER: Maybe a little bit. That's the reason we started to be involved with\nthe Orthodox group here in the beginning, but it was nothing compared to New Jersey.\n\nSPARER: That group really was more a part of Hillel than . . .\n\nM. BACKER: So we made some very good ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5190.0,5220.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/175","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"friends in that group, and through them we\nmet also people from the congregation, and that's how we became very friendly.\nBut I missed very much—and up until day I miss—that common sharing [of ideas]\nthat we had found in New Jersey.\n\nSPARER: Don, do you share the experiences that Meta has described?\n\nD. BACKER: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5220.0,5250.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/176","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Somewhat. After being a while with the Orthodox group and seeing\nthere was really nothing there for me, because everything was in Hebrew and\nthere was really not much going on except coming to services, we decided to try\nagain with the Reform temple, because we had been there once during our early\ntime here. We decided, \"We'll just wait for a while.\" We came back ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5250.0,5280.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/177","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and I wanted\nto get involved. I volunteered for the Ritual Committee and eventually became\nthe ritual chairman and was on the Board, so I became very involved. Then what\nhappened was that our daughter was getting married and we were thinking about\nleaving, so there were a lot of things going on and we just stopped our\ninvolvement. We're still in the process of making up our minds what ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5280.0,5310.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/178","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"to do.\n\nSPARER: But you still have some friends there.\n\nD. BACKER: We have a lot of friends from the congregation, yes.\n\nSPARER: That's how I met up with you two just the other day, at a common\nfriend's place.\n\nM. BACKER: We didn't stop being members because we were so dissatisfied. That\nwas not the case. It's more the case of what are we going to do with the rest of\nour lives, in what direction are we going to . . . it might even bring us to\nIsrael. So we just felt we needed a break from ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5310.0,5340.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/179","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"everything until things started\nfalling into place again.\n\nSPARER: You'll find a very secular society unless you get with the Orthodox . . .\n\nM. BACKER: That's true, but at least it will be Israel.\n\nSPARER: Yes, that it might be.\n\nSPARER: Here's the last question. You're sitting at the table 100 years from now\nand a dozen people have just finished listening to your tape—in Athens—and you\nhave a chance to ask them something or to ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5340.0,5370.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/180","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"tell them something. What would you\nsay to them? Don?\n\nD. BACKER: I would ask the question, \"How do you like living your life as a Jew?\"\n\nSPARER: Wonderful question. Meta, what would you say to them?\n\nM. BACKER: I would say to them, when I came 40 years ago to this country, I\nasked my brother-in law (Jewish) if ever what happened in Europe could happen in\nthis country. He said, \"no, it was impossible this could happen in this\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5370.0,5400.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/181","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"country.\" I would want to know then if something like that happened or if not.\n\nSPARER: What a great question. What a great question. You two have been\nremarkable! I've had a marvelous time talking to you both. I've had no idea what\nto expect except an unusual story. I think this is one of the most unusual tapes\nwe've made. I thank you both for the time and your comments.\n\nD. BACKER: Thank you very much.\n\nM. BACKER: Thank you very much. It was very interesting.\n\nSPARER: You're very welcome. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5400.0,5430.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/transcript/40683/annotation/182","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"They'll think that 100 years from now, too. Thank\nyou both.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5430.0,5460.0"}]},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Annotations [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/183","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eCongregation Children of Israel (Athens, Georgia) was established in 1872. The first synagogue was at the corner of Hancock Avenue and Jackson Streets, where it remained for the next 84 years. In 1968 a new building was dedicated on Dudley Drive. It also purchased parcels of land for a cemetery in 1983 adjacent to Oconee Hills Cemetery. Today it is a Reform congregation.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=0.0,30.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/184","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eComputer Aided Design program.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=120.0,150.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/185","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eA program that delivers meals to individuals at home who are unable to purchase or prepare their own meals.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=240.0,270.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/186","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Hebrew alphabet.  “A, B, C . . .” et cetera.  \u003cem\u003eAleph, bet, gimel, dalet\u003c/em\u003e, et cetera.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=480.0,510.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/187","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eA \u003cem\u003ebar mitzvah\u003c/em\u003e [Hebrew: son of commandments; plural:\u003cem\u003e b’nai mitzvah\u003c/em\u003e] is a rite of passage for Jewish boys aged 13 years and one day. At that time, a Jewish boy is considered a responsible adult for most religious purposes. He is now duty-bound to keep the commandments, he puts on \u003cem\u003etefillin\u003c/em\u003e, and may be counted to the \u003cem\u003eminyan quorum\u003c/em\u003e for public worship. He celebrates the \u003cem\u003ebar\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003emitzvah\u003c/em\u003e by being called up to the reading of the Torah in the synagogue, usually on the next available Sabbath after his Hebrew birthday. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=480.0,510.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/188","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was a war between the Republic of Korea (supported by the United Nations) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (supported by the People's Republic of China, with military and material aid from the Soviet Union).\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=540.0,570.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/189","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eCamp Pickett, also known as Fort Pickett is a Virginia Army National Guard installation near Blackstone, Virginia. It is home of the Army National Guard Maneuver Training Center.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=570.0,600.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/190","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThis may be a flawed recollection. There does not seem to be a Camp Pickett in Alabama but there is one in Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=570.0,600.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/191","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Trieste Troops Command was an Italian Army brigade-sized command in Trieste, and was tasked with the defense of the city in the Yugoslav-Italian war. After World War II, the city of Trieste and the surrounding territory became the Free Territory of Trieste under the responsibility of the United Nations Security Council. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=630.0,660.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/192","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eFort Dix, the name for the Army Support Activity (ASA) at Joint Bae McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Army post located outside of Trenton, New Jersey. Fort Dix was established in 1917.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=630.0,660.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/193","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eAlso known as Masorti Judaism, Conservative Judaism is a form of Judaism that seeks to preserve Jewish tradition and ritual, but has a more flexible approach to the interpretation of the law than Orthodox Judaism. It attempts to combine a positive attitude toward modern culture, while preserving a commitment to Jewish observance. In general, Conservative congregations also observe gender equality (mixed seating, women rabbis, and \u003cem\u003ebat\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003emitzvah\u003c/em\u003e). The governing body for Conservative Judaism in the United States is the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ), formerly known as the United Synagogue of America. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=750.0,780.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/194","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eReform Judaism is a division within Judaism, especially in North America and the United Kingdom. Historically it began in the 19th century. In general, the Reform movement maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and compatible with participation in Western culture. While the \u003cem\u003eTorah\u003c/em\u003e remains the law, in Reform Judaism women are included (mixed seating, \u003cem\u003ebat mitzvah\u003c/em\u003e, and women rabbis), instrumental music is allowed in the services, and most of the service is in the local language as opposed to Hebrew. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=780.0,810.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/195","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eSephardic Jews are the Jews of Spain, Portugal, North Africa, and the Middle East, and their descendants. The adjective “Sephardic” and corresponding nouns \u003cem\u003eSephardi\u003c/em\u003e (singular) and \u003cem\u003eSephardim\u003c/em\u003e (plural) are derived from the Hebrew word \u003cem\u003eSepharad\u003c/em\u003e, which refers to Spain. Historically, the vernacular language of Sephardic Jews was Ladino, a Romance language derived from Old Spanish, incorporating elements from the old Romance languages of the Iberian Peninsula, Hebrew, Aramaic, and in the lands receiving those who were exiled, Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, Greek, Bulgarian, and Serbo-Croatian vocabulary. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=870.0,900.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/196","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eCatholic monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile established the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, commonly known as the “Spanish Inquisition,” in 1478. It was originally intended to ensure the orthodoxy of those who converted to Catholicism from Judaism and Islam. Those Jews who converted were called conversos (converts), and were regarded with deep suspicion by the tribunal. Eventually, all Jews who refused to convert were totally expelled from Spain in 1492. The figures vary dramatically from 800,000 to more modern figures of 40,000 (with about 40,000 Jews converting to avoid expulsion). The Jews immigrated first to Portugal (which in turn expelled them in 1497), and then to North Africa. Some went to Italy, Greece, and other places in Europe. These became the “\u003cem\u003eSephardim\u003c/em\u003e.” The conversos who remained in Spain were heavily persecuted, and, if accused and convicted of being a “crypto-Jew,” were often burned at the stake. Other minorities suffered as well. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=870.0,900.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/197","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHalakha\u003c/em\u003e (or \u003cem\u003eHalacha\u003c/em\u003e) is Hebrew for “way” or “path.” It is the legal tradition of Judaism and the body of Jewish religious laws derived from the Written and Oral \u003cem\u003eTorah\u003c/em\u003e. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=870.0,900.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/198","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eOrthodox Judaism is a traditional branch of Judaism that strictly follows the written \u003cem\u003eTorah\u003c/em\u003e and the oral law concerning prayer, dress, food, sex, family relations, social behavior, the Sabbath day, holidays, and more. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=900.0,930.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/199","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eSobibor was established in March 1942 near Lublin in southern Poland and went into operation in May 1942. It was part of the Operation Reinhard program, which also included the death camps of Belzec and Treblinka. All three death camps had gas chambers that used engine exhaust to murder the Jews. The process of murder in Sobibor was divided into three parts: the ramp, the reception area and the gas chamber area. When the trains arrived, they were shuttled off the main track into the camp and a gate was shut behind the train. The ramp area had been dressed up to look like a real railroad station. The Jews were unloaded on the ramp and then herded into the reception area where, to keep them calm, the SS men reassured them that they were just going to be given showers and new clothes and moved on deeper into the east. The men and women were separated and told to undress. Then they were driven down a long path with high fences on both sides into the death camp area where the gas chambers were located. They were pushed into the gas chambers and the engines were started. One half hour later they were dead and the prisoners selected for labor removed their bodies and threw them into mass graves. The gas chambers were cleaned up to be ready for the next several thousand victims. The Jewish prisoners in Sobibor revolted on October 14, 1943. The prisoners killed several SS guards and fought their way out of the camp. About 300 prisoners escaped but most were retrieved and killed by the SS. About 50 Jews survived to the end of the war. About 250,000 Jews were murdered there before Sobibor was closed and razed in July 1943. The Jews came from Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Slovakia. The Russians liberated the area in the summer of 1944 but did not liberate the actual camp because it was gone and a farm had been established on the site as camouflage. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1200.0,1230.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/200","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eAfter the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, the Jews of Amsterdam were persecuted similar to the Jews in Germany. They lost their jobs, their property was seized, they had to wear a yellow star, etc. The Jews of the Netherlands were concentrated in Amsterdam. The Westerbork transit camp was the point of departure for deportation to the East, which began in 1942. The last train left Westerbork for Auschwitz on September 3, 1944. During those two years, 107,000 Jews were deported and murdered mostly in Sobibor and Auschwitz. Only 5,200 survived. Some 25,000 to 30,000 went into hiding assisted by the Dutch underground, of which about two-thirds survived.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1230.0,1260.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/201","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eCorrected later to 30,000. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1380.0,1410.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/202","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Hunger Winter was the Dutch famine of 1944-1945, known in the Netherlands as Hongerwinter. The famine took place in the German-occupied Netherlands during the winter of 1944-1955, at the end of the second World War. The Germans cut off the fuel supply to the farm towns, causing famine throughout the country, but especially in the more densely populated western provinces. There were over 18,000 estimated deaths. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1650.0,1680.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/203","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eRabbi Jacob Soetendorp (1914-1975) was caught up in the Holocaust in the Netherlands. He and his wife, Miryam, had just had a son, Awraham Shalom, when the Germans occupied Amsterdam. They refused to go into hiding until they could find someone to take care of the child. The \u003cem\u003eGestapo\u003c/em\u003e raided his home and gave him one day to get ready to leave. That night they fled, Jacob and Miryam fleeing through different routes. They found refuge on a farm and Shalom was entrusted to a Christian family and renamed ‘Bobby.’ After the war, they were reunited. After the war, Rabbi Soetendorp began a leader of \u003cem\u003ePoale Zion\u003c/em\u003e, a Zionist movement, and worked with orphaned Jewish children in Amsterdam. He was prominent in reestablishing the Jewish community. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1740.0,1770.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/204","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSeder\u003c/em\u003e [Hebrew: order] is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted on the evening of the fifteenth day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar throughout the world. Some communities hold seder on both the first two nights of Passover. The \u003cem\u003eseder\u003c/em\u003e incorporates prayers, candle lighting, and traditional foods symbolizing the slavery of the Jews and the exodus from Egypt. It is one of the most colorful and joyous occasions in Jewish life.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1830.0,1860.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/205","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eA \u003cem\u003echuppah\u003c/em\u003e [Hebrew: canopy] is the canopy under which a Jewish wedding takes place. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1950.0,1980.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/206","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eA \u003cem\u003emikvah\u003c/em\u003e or \u003cem\u003emikveh\u003c/em\u003e is a pool of water, gathered from rain or from a spring, which is used for ritual purification and ablutions. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=1980.0,2010.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/207","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAliyah\u003c/em\u003e [Hebrew: ascent] is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the Land of Israel historically, which today includes the modern State of Israel. Also defined as \"the act of going up\"—that is, towards Jerusalem—\"making \u003cem\u003ealiyah\u003c/em\u003e\" by moving to the Land of Israel is one of the most basic tenets of Zionism. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to in Hebrew as \u003cem\u003eyerida\u003c/em\u003e (\"descent\"). The State of Israel's Law of Return gives Jews, their children, and their grandchildren automatic rights regarding residency and Israeli citizenship. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2670.0,2700.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/208","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eBaruch Spinoza was a Jewish-Dutch philosopher (1632-1677). Spinoza helped to lay the groundwork for the eighteenth-century Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism. Citing his “evil opinions and acts” Spinoza was ostracized and censured by the Jewish community in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2790.0,2820.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/209","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eSamuel Sarphatie (1813-1866), also spelled Sarphati, was a Dutch physician and Amsterdam city planner. His ancestors were Spanish and Portuguese Jews who arrived in the Netherlands in the 17th century. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2790.0,2820.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/210","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eShe has to mean the mid-nineteenth century, or around 1850 or so.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2910.0,2940.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/211","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Palace of National Industry was built between 1855 and 1864 in Amsterdam. It was never used as an exhibition building, but as an entertainment center with theaters, luxury shops and an ornate garden. Today the Bank of the Netherlands stands there. In 1929, the Palace of Industry was destroyed by fire.  \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2940.0,2970.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/212","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eIn Dutch it would have been \u003cem\u003eBollandpark\u003c/em\u003e. The original park was named after Samuel Sarphati, but during World War II, his statue was removed and it was renamed after the Dutch philosopher Gerardus Bolland (1854-1922). Twelve days after Amsterdam was liberated the park was returned to its original name. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3060.0,3090.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/213","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eWysokie Mazowieckie is in the Bialystok district. Jews lived there from the seventeenth century on. The community maintained an Orthodox character. Most perished in Auschwitz-Birkenau during the Holocaust. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3180.0,3210.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/214","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eTalmud\u003c/em\u003e [Hebrew: study] is the legal code spanning 1,000 years. Based on the teachings of the Bible, the Talmud interprets biblical laws and commandments. It also contains a rich store of historic facts and traditions. It has two divisions: the \u003cem\u003eMishnah\u003c/em\u003e and the \u003cem\u003eGemara\u003c/em\u003e. The \u003cem\u003eMishnah\u003c/em\u003e is the interpretation of Biblical law. The \u003cem\u003eGemara\u003c/em\u003e is a commentary on the \u003cem\u003eMishnah\u003c/em\u003e by a group of later scholars. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3180.0,3210.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/215","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eLitvak refers to Lithuanian Jews or Jews with roots in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: (present-day Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine, and the northeastern Suwalki region of Poland). The term is sometimes used, especially in Israel, to cover all Orthodox Jews who follow a “Lithuanian” (Ashkenazi and non-Hasidic) style of life and learning, whatever their ethnic background.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3240.0,3270.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/216","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The time of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929, when the American stock market crashed, and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s. It was the longest, most widespread, and deepest depression of the twentieth century. The Great Depression is often seen as the major turning point in 20th-century world history. In Europe, World War I had a long-term impact on the economy and financial stability. Postwar inflation spiraled into hyperinflation by the 1920’s and European banks struggled to stay open. Exasperating the situation were skyrocketing unemployment rates. The Great Depression had immediately visible political and social ramifications in Europe, including increased antisemitism and nationalism.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3390.0,3420.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/217","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Yiddish term for town, “\u003cem\u003eshtetl\u003c/em\u003e” commonly refers to small towns or villages in pre–World War II Eastern and Central Europe with a significant Jewish presence that were primarily Yiddish speaking. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4290.0,4320.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/218","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eKosher or \u003cem\u003ekashrut\u003c/em\u003e is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jews are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term \u003cem\u003ekasher\u003c/em\u003e, meaning \"fit\" (in this context, \"fit for consumption\"). In colloquial English, kosher often means \"legitimate,\" \"acceptable,\" \"permissible,\" \"genuine,\" or \"authentic.\" \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4320.0,4350.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/219","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eShabbat\u003c/em\u003e [Hebrew] or \u003cem\u003eShabbos\u003c/em\u003e [Yiddish] is the Jewish Sabbath and is observed on Saturdays. \u003cem\u003eShabbat\u003c/em\u003e observance entails refraining from work activities and engaging in restful activities to honor the day. Shabbat begins at sundown on Friday night and is ushered in by lighting candles and reciting a blessing. It is closed the following evening with the recitation of the \u003cem\u003eHavdalah\u003c/em\u003e blessing. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4320.0,4350.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/220","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTorah\u003c/em\u003e [Hebrew: teaching] is a general term that covers all Jewish law including the vast mass of teachings recorded in the \u003cem\u003eTalmud\u003c/em\u003e and other rabbinical works. “\u003cem\u003eSefer Torah\u003c/em\u003e” refers to the sacred scroll on which the first five books of the Bible (the \u003cem\u003ePentateuch\u003c/em\u003e) are written, but it is often shortened simply to \"\u003cem\u003eTorah\u003c/em\u003e\" in casual speech and writing.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5070.0,5100.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/annotation_set/919/annotation/221","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003e Founded in 1923 and adopted by B'nai B'rith in 1924, Hillel is the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. It is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world, working with thousands of college students globally.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5190.0,5220.0"}]},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Backer, Donald and Meta [Index]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/222","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Introduction","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=0.0,46.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/223","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"This tape is part of the Congregation Children of Israel Legacy Program organized in 2001, the Jewish year 5762","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Partial Transcript"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=0.0,46.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/224","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Congregation Children of Israel","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=0.0,46.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/225","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Arrival in Athens","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=46.0,378.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/226","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I'd like to start by asking you both when did you come to Athens, what brought you here, and what have you done since you've been here? Don, let's start with you.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Partial Transcript"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=46.0,378.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/227","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Amsterdam, the Netherlands","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Athens, Georgia","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Congregation Children of Israel","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=46.0,378.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/228","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Donald's Early Life","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=378.0,838.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/229","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Let's do some exploration about where you came from before you arrived in Athens. Let's get the middle-sized story of your lives on the first half of our tape. Don, where were you raised? Give us an account from as early as you can remember to the time you got to Athens.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Partial Transcript"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=378.0,838.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/230","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Bar Mitzvah","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Fort Dix","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Fort Pickett","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Jewish Education","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Puerto Rico","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"the Bronx, New York","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"the Korean War","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Trieste Troops Command","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=378.0,838.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/231","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Meta's Early Life","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=838.0,2044.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/232","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Meta, let's talk about your life. I'm sure it's quite different.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Partial Transcript"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=838.0,2044.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/233","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Amsterdam, the Netherlands","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Antisemitism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Halakha","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Jewish Education","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mikvah","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Orthodox Judaism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sephardic Jews","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sobibor","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Soetendorp, Jacob (1914-1976)","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"the Holocaust","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"the Hunger Winter","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"the Spanish Inquisition","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"World War II","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=838.0,2044.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/234","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Meta's Brothers","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2044.0,2213.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/235","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tell us what happened to your brothers.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Partial Transcript"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2044.0,2213.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/236","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Donald and Meta's Children","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2213.0,2752.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/237","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Don, I’ll ask you (so Meta can take a break) to tell us about your kids. Who are they? Where are they? What do they do?","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Partial Transcript"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2213.0,2752.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/238","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aliyah","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Amsterdam, the Netherlands","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Bateman, David","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Jerusalem, Israel","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"New Jersey","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2213.0,2752.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/239","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Family History","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2752.0,3448.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/240","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I know [that] because we talked a little bit about it before we started the tape your roots go way back, Meta. Tell us what you know of them.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Partial Transcript"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2752.0,3448.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/241","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Immigration","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Litvak","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Paleis van Volksvlijt","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sarphati, Samuel (1813-1866)","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sarphatipark","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Spinoza, Baruch (1632-1677)","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"The Great Depression","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"The Netherlands","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Wysokie Mazowieckie, Poland","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=2752.0,3448.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/242","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Concerns about and Reflections on American Life","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3448.0,3868.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/243","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I'm going to change the subject now, and get away from things Jewish and ask you something about your feelings of life in America today. Are there some concerns you have about trends in America or about things happening in this country, both for the better or the worse, that you'd like to put on tape so that people many, many years in the future can know what we think about things current (contemporary)?","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Partial Transcript"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3448.0,3868.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/244","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Education","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Globalism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Immigration","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Israel","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Melting Pot","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Racism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"The United States","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3448.0,3868.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/245","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Jewish Pride","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3868.0,4093.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/246","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Is there something that you’ve done which makes you particularly proud of your Jewish heritage?","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Partial Transcript"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3868.0,4093.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/247","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Conservative Judaism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Jewish Education","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Reform Judaism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=3868.0,4093.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/248","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Thoughts on Intermarriage and Assimilation in the Jewish Community","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4093.0,4427.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/249","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Do you agree with many Americans who feel that because of the high degree of intermarriage between Jews and gentiles that there's a crisis occurring in this country?","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Partial Transcript"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4093.0,4427.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/250","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Antisemitism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Assimilation","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Christianity","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Conservative Judaism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Intermarriage","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Judaism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kosher","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Orthodox Judaism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Reform Judaism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Shabbat","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Shtetl","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4093.0,4427.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/251","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Thoughts on Peace and Conflict in Israel","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4427.0,4524.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/252","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Do you think that Israel will achieve peace in our time with our Arab neighbors?","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Partial Transcript"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4427.0,4524.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/253","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Israel","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Palestine","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Prophecies","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"The Bible","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4427.0,4524.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/254","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Influential People and Events","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4524.0,4915.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/255","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I want to know if there was a person or persons who were very influential in shaping the course of your life in the direction that you’ve taken or, as well as people, perhaps events.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Partial Transcript"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4524.0,4915.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/256","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"the Holocaust","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4524.0,4915.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/257","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Experiences in Different Temples","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4915.0,5358.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/258","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I'd like to bring up the subject of temple affiliations. I know that we’ve talked before we started this taping about some of the various temples that you’ve belonged to while your children were being raised, in Europe as well as elsewhere . . . in Puerto Rico. You were very active at that time of your life as participants, for your children as well as yourself. Let's pick up the thread of your story and sort of look into things as they were in New Jersey and then here. Reflect on that with us for a while.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Partial Transcript"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4915.0,5358.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/259","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Bateman, David","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Congregation Children of Israel","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Orthodox Judaism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Reform Judaism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Spirituality","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=4915.0,5358.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/260","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"One Hundred Years from Now","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5358.0,5452.64327"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879/index/51920/annotation/261","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"You're sitting at the table 100 years from now and a dozen people have just finished listening to your tape—in Athens—and you have a chance to ask them something or to tell them something. What would you say to them?","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Partial Transcript"]}}],"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/82574/file/170879#t=5358.0,5452.64327"}]}]}]}