Later expeditions, 2012–2018 › 2013 Expedition

AHEYM-2013-033 · Cluj-Napoca

Cluj-Napoca (Kloyzenburg in the project's index) 2013-05-17 11 min · 4 stretches · 1 questions about words Yiddish 85% Hungarian 15%

Not online: the recording is held by the project and is not on Media Collections Online, YouTube or archive.org. Everything below is a paraphrase of a machine transcript, the weaker of this site's two transcript layers — see how it was made.

Summary

Part of a longer 2013 session recorded in Kloyzenburg (Cluj). An elderly man, probably born in 1923 and Hungarian-speaking from childhood, talks with Kerler. They chat about the weather, then about a Hungarian song concerning the Messiah and about the languages spoken at home. Kerler explains the project, and the man speaks about meeting Bessarabian Jews in Bucharest and about their languages. The transcript is noisy and the Hungarian passages are partly garbled.

Stretches

00:00–01:56

Opening conversation, partly in Hungarian, about how the man is feeling and about the weather. Summer is coming, and a cold summer is said to be better than a cold winter. Kerler says he came with colleagues from Budapest.

Informal life today · Budapest

01:56–05:33

The man says he knew Yiddish from childhood and that Yiddish was spoken at home, though mostly Hungarian outside. Kerler asks about a Hungarian song on what will happen when the Messiah comes. He replies that it is a Hasidic song and sings or recites a few Hungarian lines, with names of a rebbe and a bride (?). He says he has no voice. He also mentions a little bird that will come and free the Jews, and that Hebrew words were mixed into the speech.

before the war Songs and music Yiddish language and dialect Hasidism and rebbes Stories, humor and sayings Childhood

05:40–07:49

Hebrew words in Hungarian lines about the Temple (?) are discussed, followed by a talk about group size. Kerler explains that the project records interviews, that they have found a safe place for the visit, and that the man's friend wants to learn Yiddish. The man says he is glad to take part. Kerler asks whether he can put questions in Yiddish.

life today Yiddish language and dialect

07:46–10:40

The man says he met few Bessarabian Jews, in Bucharest, and they found his Yiddish interesting. He says Jews in Bessarabia, Romania and Hungary knew different languages. Transylvanian Jews knew German, Yiddish, Romanian and Hungarian, while Bessarabian Jews (Kishinev) knew Moldovan and later Russian. Kerler asks how the Bessarabians said 'father' and 'mother' and about their languages.

after the war Yiddish language and dialect Jewish–non-Jewish relations · Bucharest, Bessarabia, Kishinev (?), Transylvania, Hungary, Romania

Questions about words

08:43
What did the Bessarabians presumably say for father and mother? — the Bessarabian Yiddish words for 'father' and 'mother'

Series: 2013 Expedition
Recorded: 2013-05-17, Cluj-Napoca
Kind: conversational · prompts in Yiddish; Hungarian
Transcript: draft class, 1,317 words

Speakers, as the transcript identifies them

INFinformant
Elderly man who says Yiddish and Hungarian were spoken in his parents' home. He says he is 93 and learned the Hungarian song some 80–90 years ago (the age is heard in Hungarian, 02:38). He met Bessarabian Jews in Bucharest (08:00).
Dov-Ber Kerlerinterviewer
Speaks Yiddish and some Hungarian. He says he came with companions from Budapest and explains what the project is for. At the end he says he is a Moldovan (?) (10:38).
UNKother
A brief interjection (05:52), unidentified.

The interviewer's practice

Kerler chats freely, asks about a Messiah song in Hungarian and explains the project. One brief question about Bessarabian words for father and mother.

Notes on the transcript

The index gives no name for the 2013 files. Noisy transcript with passages in Hungarian. The man's age is heard only in Hungarian (born ~1923?). The place name Kloyzenburg comes from the index.

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