Izrail (Yisruel) Yosifovich Gliazer

Introduction to Gliazer: Kerler records the name Israel ben Yosef Glazer, the date 30 June 2005 and Ternopil'. Gliazer gives his birth year as 1919, and says that he was born in Podgaytse, and explains the name's meaning. His father, Yosef, served in the Austrian army in the First World War and was a glazier who made and fitted windows. His mother Pesye was from Skalat, and she took care of the children and cared for him as a child. Gliazer also speaks well of Emperor Franz Joseph.

Includes the interviewer's introduction, the name's spelling and Gliazer's remarks about Franz Joseph and the Jews.

Gliazer recalls cheder, whose teacher was called Moshe. He began at six or seven, with eighteen boys, learning the alphabet and then Chumash. At Katz's questions he recites the letters and describes the final-form letters. He also describes the synagogue where the cheder met, which had a women's section behind a small window.

Includes Gliazer reciting the Hebrew alphabet and naming the letter forms, which the catalogue does not mention.

Gliazer describes his mother as a housewife who sometimes helped in his father's shop, where he says there were both honest people and thieves. He remembers a mad girl in the town. He names his siblings: an eldest sister who emigrated to Palestine in 1927 and lived on a kibbutz, brothers Velvl and Moshe, and a younger sister Sarah. He then speaks of his maternal grandfather Hersh Levite of Skalat, a merchant regarded as a righteous man, who died about 1939.

Gives the names of his siblings and the shop and thieves, which the catalogue does not list.

Gliazer says he studied in a Polish state school for seven classes. In the late 1920s, he says, he went to learn the printing trade in a printing shop in Podgaytse. He lists the work printed there: documents for merchants, posters and brochures for Polish, Ukrainian and Jewish organizations, and pamphlets for Catholic clergy. The shop also printed some Jewish material, including Hasidic leaflets. He remarks that the community had been rich and lively. Kerler adds a break and a question about reading.

Names the Catholic brochures and Hasidic leaflets he printed.

Gliazer describes his reading as a young person: Yiddish, Hebrew and Polish books, and several libraries in the town, with more Polish than Jewish books. The Jewish library was run by young people from Zionist groups including Hashomer Hatzair and the Revisionists, who wore brown shirts and belts, and books were lent free. He recalls Sholem Aleichem and some secular and Ukrainian writers in Yiddish translation.

Names the Revisionist youth in brown uniforms and the writers whose books were available.

Gliazer names local writers, including Rosenthal and Poliak, who wrote in Yiddish about small-town Jewish life. Katz adds names of regional authors including Abraham Moyshe Fuchs of Ozerna. Gliazer says Bialik was well loved and his books and songs were known. He also recalls the Dybbuk, a book he owned, and gives its meaning as an evil spirit. Kerler asks what a 'good Jew' means, and the passage turns to the Hasidic rebbes his townspeople visited.

Includes the Dybbuk, the meaning of a good Jew, and the names suggested by Katz.

Gliazer says his father was a Hasid of the Husyatyn rebbe. He explains how people went to the rebbes for advice and blessing. The Chortkiv rebbe had more followers than the Husyatyn rebbe. The synagogue in Podgaytse associated with the Chortkiv rebbe was handed over to Jews, and Gliazer mentions candles and customs at Passover. Kerler asks how Gliazer lived with his parents at seven to nine years of age, and the account is cut off.

Does not clearly show the Chortkiv rebbe's visit for Sukkot; it shows a closing question about childhood and the synagogue's handover.

Gliazer talks about the war and the Holocaust years, saying the atrocities were committed not only by Germans but also by local non-Jewish collaborators. He names one local man who helped the Germans search out Jews. Kerler also asks briefly about children's play in Yiddish.

Opens with a question on children playing in Yiddish before turning to collaborators.

Gliazer answers Kerler's questions about the Polish-language school he attended: the subjects taught, such as mathematics, chemistry, physics and Polish language, were all in Polish. He recalls some Polish literature but cannot recite verses, and begins to describe a play.

Gliazer describes Jewish amateur theater in the town, where a club staged plays in Yiddish and Polish in a hall or in the synagogue. Kerler asks about Purim, and Gliazer recalls it as a joyous holiday on which children got new clothes. Kerler recites a Purim begging rhyme, and Gliazer calls it typical of small Jewish towns.

Gliazer talks about the town's bathhouse and mikve, which men used on Friday before the Sabbath; his father or older brother took him. He lists the large synagogue and several small prayer houses (kloyzn), including a Hasidic one and a Chortkiv kloyz. He also answers whether there was a beis-medresh and whether yeshiva students ate days at members' homes.

Gliazer recites the first of the Four Questions and recalls the Passover seder at home with his father. Kerler and Katz ask him to repeat it. The interviewers then discuss with Gliazer a visit to Podgaytse the next morning at about ten, to see the Jewish sites, and agree to see how he feels. Gliazer notes his age and his health.

Includes planning of a visit to Podgaytse and his age.

Gliazer tells of the Jewish uprising in the Kremenets camp or ghetto, in which he says his mother's family came from; Jews attacked the guards en masse, many died and few survived. He heard of it from a participant but declines to name him, and says the uprising is recorded in the Ternopil' historical museum.

Gliazer mentions that his parents were hidden in Skalat, and that Jews from America, Israel and Poland set up a memorial there. Kerler asks about the language of the inscription, which is in Hebrew. They also note that Podgaytse has a synagogue and talk about driving there.

Adds the hiding of his parents and the inscription's language.

Gliazer answers Kerler's questions about his military service, which he began a year before the war as a radio operator (signalman). He spent the war far from the western front, in Siberia, and finished it against the Japanese, near Korea, opposite the Americans. The talk touches on kamikaze pilots, a Japanese general, and Japanese who speak Yiddish.

Over tea, Gliazer says young people must understand how many peoples once lived together in harmony before the war, and recalls how Jews and non-Jewish neighbors helped each other. He speaks of his father's service in the Austrian army and the Emperor Franz Joseph's keeping order, blaming Hitler and the Germans for the change. Much of this stretch is in Russian and garbled.

Adds a tea break and reflections on interethnic relations.

Gliazer gives his views on Bandera and the Ukrainian nationalist organization, which he calls terrorist, and on the assassination of the Polish minister Pieracki. He says Bandera's brothers were communists who were imprisoned with his own brother and killed, probably by the Russians.

Asked by Katz about 1939, Gliazer describes how Soviet rule hurt Jewish small merchants, artisans and traders, who could no longer earn a living. He traces antisemitism to German influence, saying it grew among Poles from the mid-1930s after Pilsudski's death, with press propaganda against Jews.

Answering Katz, Gliazer describes the Soviet entry in September 1939. Poor Jewish workers welcomed it, wealthy Jews and non-Jews were later deported to Siberia, and Jewish theater, schools and cultural groups were closed, with only one rabbi left open. He also discusses the Yiddish newspaper Eynikayt, which was read, and the earlier German propaganda. Much of the stretch is garbled.

Adds the Jewish theater, the Soviet press and the arrival of the Soviets.

Gliazer answers Katz's questions about the rebbes of Husyatyn and Chortkiv. The Husyatyn rebbe came in summer from Vienna once a year, which was a great holiday for his Hasidim. The Chortkiv rebbe had more Hasidim, and in Ternopil' his followers took the horses off his carriage and pulled it themselves.

Gliazer continues on 1939–41, describing German officers visiting before the invasion, German spies on the border, and the Soviet failure to expect an attack. He reflects on the war as a whole, citing the six million Jewish victims and comparing Hitler and Stalin. Katz asks whether he believes in God.

Gliazer answers questions about life today in Ternopil' and the region, noting few Jews remain and that a community exists in Chortkiv. He thanks the visitors, while other voices speak in Russian about few Yiddish speakers left among the young.

Gliazer lists the trades and professions in the prewar shtetl: porter, shoemaker, tailor, doctor, lawyer, engineer, and four or five Jewish doctors. Kerler asks about the water-carrier and his yoke, buckets and barrels, and about Polish-influenced words for the vessels. Gliazer does not remember the term for the water-carrier.

Mostly a terminology exchange about the water-carrier's yoke and buckets.

Gliazer recalls kheyder learning: Khumesh, siddur and Gemara, and being taught about tefillin by his father before his bar mitzvah at thirteen. Kerler and Katz ask whether he remembers Bible stories, the binding of Isaac, or passages of Gemara and Mishnah, and he remembers very little. A Russian-speaking visitor interrupts.

Gliazer describes Purim in the shtetl: masks, collecting Purim money, and plays, with Christians coming to watch. He says the Subbotniki took a strong interest in the Jews and even rescued some during the war. Asked about the Purim play, he recounts the Esther and Mordecai story with Haman hanged.

Gives the Purim story and the Subbotniki's help to Jews during the war.

Gliazer describes the Subbotniki as a group who kept to themselves with their own traditions and lived in about three nearby villages. They were tolerant of Jews, believed in God and held that one should be good and help others.

Gliazer says the Husyatyn rebbe came once a year to the town to visit his ancestors' graves and pray in the fine synagogue, and that neighbouring Christians, and even the Germans and Communists, did not touch it. He does not know where the tsadikim are buried. Katz then suggests a future visit to his town when Gliazer is well enough.

Includes talk of a possible later visit to the town.

Gliazer says his mother's brothers emigrated to America after the First World War. They wrote to his father but not to his sister, and he heard nothing of them after the Second World War.

Gliazer says he lived in Chortkiv and moved to Ternopil' in the 1960s. He estimates 150 to 200 Jews in Ternopil' and fewer in Chortkiv, and says the synagogue in his hometown stands empty and unharmed. He recalls the wooden synagogue in Chortkiv, torn down by non-Jews for building wood after the war.

Includes the fate of the synagogues and Jewish population numbers.

Asked about the town's synagogues and prayer houses, Gliazer distinguishes Hasidim from the less observant. He says that after 1939 the Soviets did not close the synagogues but restricted prayer to Sabbath. He then describes how the economy changed: no factories, small trade, and taxes on artisans.

Also covers the Soviet economic changes and taxation of artisans.

Katz asks how Jews and non-Jews who had lived peacefully came to turn against each other. Gliazer describes antisemitic literature and caricature spreading from Germany from the 1930s, boycott calls and attacks on Jews. He recalls Hitler Youth slogans and his own puzzlement before leaving for the army in 1941.

Covers the 1930s propaganda and the Jewish reaction to Nazi Germany.

Gliazer describes relations between Jews and non-Jews in the Red Army. He recounts a Muscovite comrade who praised Hitler for attacking Jews, and says that officially there was no discrimination in a multi-ethnic army. Part of the passage is in Russian and badly garbled.

Asked about Ilya Ehrenburg and Shloyme Mikhoels, Gliazer identifies Ehrenburg as a Soviet writer and Mikhoels as the Yiddish theatre director who led Jewish wartime contacts and was later killed by Stalinists. Kerler asks about Yiddish newspapers and Soviet Yiddish writers; Gliazer remembers the newspaper Der emes and the name Fefer.

Gliazer says he served another year after the war, in the Far East. He says officially Jews were treated well but that some individuals showed antisemitism, and tells of a Jew who was decorated while others complained.

Gliazer sings a few words of a Yiddish song, "Lomir zikh iberbeytn", and says there were many Jewish amateur performers in the town. Asked about plays, he mentions Land of Israel themes and Sholem Aleichem.

Gliazer describes Passover: the seder, matzo and the four questions, with his father's response, and the door opened for Elijah (or the Messiah). He describes Simchat Torah as a joyful day of dancing with Torah scrolls and calling up all to the Torah. Kerler asks about a custom of calling up the children, which Gliazer does not remember.

Gliazer describes the town's fire brigade, which had a paid core and Jewish volunteers, and its orchestra. He mentions sport, mainly football, with a Jewish team whose name he forgets, and says he lacks a clear memory of the details.

Includes the Jewish football team and the brigade's orchestra.

Gliazer names the Polish and Yiddish papers read before the war, including Heynt, and says prayer books came from Lviv. A traveling Jewish book dealer sold religious books, probably bringing them from Warsaw, and sold ritual items. Kerler also asks about tallit and the dealer's name.

Adds the Yiddish and Polish newspapers read, and the book dealer.

Asked about the future of world Jewry, Gliazer says Israel is the one good thing and that without it Jewish life elsewhere would disappear through assimilation. He says Jews should help one another. He gets the American Yiddish Forverts and shows his back issues, and the interviewers thank him and discuss sending him materials.

Includes the closing thanks and talk of sending materials.

The camera cuts to outside the building where Gliazer lives; the few audible words are unclear.