Container
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Title
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
0:35
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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION : Date and place of birth, length of stay in Russia, father's occupation and economic circumstances, description of small town.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
2:10
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PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF SHTETL, : Streets, weather, long trip to grandparents.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
3:30
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SIBLINGS, HOME LIFE, : Number, age, mother's role in the home, servant.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
4:35
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MEMORIES OF CHEDER (HEBREW SCHOOL), : Long hours, definition of cheder, courses.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
5:45
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REASONS FOR LEAVING RUSSIA, : Pogroms and their reputation, mood in the villages.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
6:40
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CONTACTS BETWEEN JEWISH COMMUNITIES,
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
6:50
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THE FLIGHT FROM RUSSIA, : Port of departure, intermediate stops, recollection of arrival in New York, circuitous trip to Marinette, family members accompanying Wicks.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
8:35
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REASONS FOR SETTLING IN MARINETTE : Relatives in Marinette and their reasons for settling.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
9:15
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GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE MARINETTE JEWISH COMMUNITY, : Number of families, countries of origin, community institutions, synagogue (shul), location, description of shul building, size of Marinette (“The Queen City. We Do Things Here!”).
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
11:55
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ECONOMIC LIFE OF MARINETTE, ETC., : Lumbering and paper mills. other businesses, Jews in economic life.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
12:30
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FATHER'S FIRST JOB, : Kosher butchering, qualifications, learning the trade, keeping a kosher home, renting a house.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
14:10
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EDUCATION IN AMERICA : Hiring of a Russian rabbi as tutor, cheder after public school, public school, difficulties in learning English, age differential between PW and first grade classmates, sympathetic fourth grade teacher, using the public library to learn English, mastery of the language, loss of accent.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
18:25
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JEWS IN PW'S CIRCLE OF CHILDHOOD FRIENDS, : Closeness among Jewish children, clubs, close family ties.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
19:40
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INTERLUDE IN GREEN BAY, : Differences between Jewish newcomer community in Marinette and “Americanized” Jewish community in Green Bay, high school in Green Bay, father's job, Norman Abram's father as the first Green Bay schochet, reasons for returning to Marinette, death of father's Green Bay partner.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
22:30
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MARINETTE HIGH SCHOOL, : Size of high school, number of Jewish students.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
23:40
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BEGINNING OF STUDENT LIFE AT MADISON, : Status as one of the first Russian Jews at U.W., Harry Hirsch, engineering, World War I and university life, job in engineering department at Allis Chalmers.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
25:40
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WORLD WAR ONE, : Rejection for military service on physical grounds, work on war projects at Allis Chalmers, service in the National Guard, return to college after the Armistice.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
27:00
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RETURN TO MADISON FOR ENGINEERING DEGREE, : Increase in the number of Eastern European Jews, Menorah Society, early Zionist activity, Zionism in Marinette, Milwaukee friends.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
28:45
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WORK IN MILWAUKEE, : Job with The Milwaukee Electric Railroad and Light Company, limited possibilities for advancement, handicaps for Jews, striking out on his own.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
30:30
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INDEPENDENT BUSINESS, : Went into business with two others, lack of business experience.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
31:05
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END OF SIDE ONE
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
0:25
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INDEPENDENT BUSINESS, CONTINUED : Training of partners in business, manufacturer's representation, initial difficulties, a stroke of luck in the form of a technological innovation in the electrical equipment field, description of the innovation, success in marketing this development, widening of the line into automobile electrical products, jobbing, name of the business.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
4:40
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INITIAL ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES, , SUCCESS, : Buying out one married partner, living on a shoestring with relatives, travelling for the business, economic fortunes seen against personal developments such as marriage (1923) and birth of first child (1924), saving and prudence as defense against the Great Depression.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
7:35
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EARLY CONTACTS WITH THE MILWAUKEE JEWISH COMMUNITY, : Earliest residences in Milwaukee, Jews in the circle of friends, relatives in Milwaukee, Gentile friends, more on locations, birth of children, Zionism (Z.O.A.?), B'nai B'rith Gilead Lodge, business limitation of time for Zionist activity, extent of PW's activities.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
11:30
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KNOWLEDGE OF HAPPENINGS IN NAZI GERMANY, : Overweening interest in Palestinian developments, explanation of lack of consciousness of developing tragedy, intimation of semi-clandestine solicitation of funds for the Haganah and even the Stern Gang by others, increase in Hadassah activity in response to emergency in Germany in the mid to late 1930s, description of Hadassah fund-raising activities, increasing awareness.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
15:45
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EFFECT OF WORLD WAR TWO, : Supply hardships due to war. and effect upon business, expansion into sporting goods field and its cancellation by the war, wartime toys and toy business, other ways of keeping business going during the war, returning to the sporting goods field in 1947, present state of the business, reasons for leaving the automotive supply business.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
20:45
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BEGINNINGS OF INVOLVEMENT WITH REFORM JUDAISM, : Reasons for membership, children's religious training and education at Congregation Emanu-El B'ne Jeshurun, Bar Mitzvah training of son by PW's father, later Hebrew training of son, Rabbi Swarsensky.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
23:10
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DEATH DATES OF PW'S PARENTS : Remarriage of father.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
23:40
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MORE ON ACTIVITIES IN REFORM JUDAISM, : Men's Club and Board of Trustees of congregation, membership of Wisconsin Society for Jewish Learning, activities in the American Jewish Committee (board membership), friendship with the late Rabbi Jos. L. Baron.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
25:05
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RETIREMENT AND AFTERWARD, : Date of retirement, Florida and the rigorous Milwaukee climate, residual involvement with his firm, Central Sales, Inc., poor health.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
27:00
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END OF INTERVIEW
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