Jewish History

Gabriel Weinstein, Tamar Shachaf Schneider, and Aaron Hersh interviewed Donald and Fran Putnoi in Massachusetts, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Fran and Dr. Donald Putnoi share their involvement with Action for Soviet Jewry, discussing their experiences with Rabbi Mehlman, missions to the USSR, treating patients, and their efforts in supporting Soviet Jews resettling in the United States.

Gabriel Weinstein Tamar interviewed Anna Charny in Massachusetts as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Charny shares her experiences growing up in Moscow, encountering antisemitism, becoming a refusenik, and eventually immigrating to the United States, highlighting her family's Jewish identity, her activism, and the challenges of assimilating into a new country.

Alla Aberson was interviewed in Framingham, Massachusetts, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Aberson discusses her parents' "refusenik" jobs, life under KGB surveillance, participation in hunger strikes, antisemitism in the FSU, and their path to leaving the Soviet Union.

Julie Johnson interviewed Judith Wolf on February 23, 2005, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Wolf reflects on her Jewish upbringing, volunteer work, religious schooling, and efforts to establish educational resources for disabled children in Ukraine, emphasizing the role of women and Jewish values in her life.

Roz Bornstein interviewed Sara Kaplan on December 4, 2002, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Kaplan discusses her Jewish upbringing, experiences as the only Jewish kid in her town, involvement in debate and Hillel, meeting her husband, moving to Seattle, working in the Democratic Party, fighting antisemitism, teaching, and support for Israel.

Deborah Ross interviewed Naomi Harris Rosenblatt on December 31, 2010, in Washington, D.C. as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Rosenblatt details her personal journey from witnessing the birth of Israel to her career in Washington, D.C., discussing her deep connection to Jewish identity, the intertwining of the Bible and psychotherapy, and her concern for the future of the Jewish people.

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Galina Nizhnikov in Peabody, Massachusetts on January 12, 2003, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Nizhnikov talks about her upbringing in Russia, her family's Jewish pride, experiences with workplace antisemitism, involvement with refuseniks, the decision to leave Russia, and the struggles they faced to secure their departure.

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Marillyn Tallman on February 2, 2005, in Chicago, Illinois for the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Tallman talks about her childhood, activism work, involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, and her Jewish life and Zionist beliefs.

Roz Bornstein interviewed Magda Altham Schaloum, on June 5, 2001, in Mercer Island, Washington, for the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Schaloum shares her experiences growing up in Hungary, including enduring antisemitism, the impact of anti-Jewish laws, her family's separation and deportation to Auschwitz, her survival through slave labor camps, and her life after the war, including immigrating to Seattle and building a new life with her husband and children.