Later expeditions, 2012–2018 › 2013 Expedition

AHEYM-2013-049 · Cluj-Napoca

Cluj-Napoca (Kloyzenburg in the project's index) 2013-05-17 11 min · 5 stretches · 1 questions about words Yiddish 99%

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

Camera file from a longer 2013 session recorded in Kloyzenburg (Cluj), 2013-05-17, with an elderly man (not named in the index) and Kerler. It opens with Kerler talking about Purim plays, then covers the man's two sons, a book on the Jewish lyceum of Kloyzenburg, his earlier interviews, and the composer Harry Mayorovitsh (?). It ends on the origin of the Hatikvah melody.

Stretches

00:00–02:12

Kerler talks about long Purim plays, such as the Sale of Joseph and the Esther story, staged in other regions (northern Ukraine and elsewhere) and remarks that they were not performed in the interviewee's area. The interviewee says he did not know of them. Kerler notes that Jews and non-Jews came to watch.

before the war PurimTheaterStories, humor and sayings · Ukraine

01:46–04:15

Kerler asks about the interviewee's two sons: one lives in Bucharest, the other in another town whose name is unclear. The interviewee says one has no problems while the other, aged fifty-eight (?), cannot find work. Kerler then asks about an expression said to a person whose children turned out well, and the interviewee and a second voice do not know it. A Hungarian line from the recogniser shows Kerler discussing the phrase.

03:40–07:52

Kerler comments on the town of Arade (?) and its changes, and mentions a large monastery under renovation. The interviewee shows a book about the Jewish lyceum of Kloyzenburg. Its author is an Armenian-origin Hungarian-language writer who worked with Brehem (?) and wrote many books on Jews.

07:27–08:41

Kerler asks whether the interviewee was interviewed by Yad Vashem or Spielberg. He says yes, and by others too, in Romanian or Hungarian. His wife, who died five years ago, had also been in Auschwitz.

08:27–10:40

Kerler asks about the composer and music professor Harry Mayorovitsh (?), whom the interviewee knew very well. The composer wrote film music and collected Jewish songs. The interviewee describes the songs as a mixture of cultures. He also mentions an email about the Hatikvah melody, which Kerler traces to Czech and Moldavian sources. Kerler adds that a song called Khaver Ngile (?) comes from a Hasidic tune.

before the warlife today Songs and musicCultural life (general) · Moldova

Questions about words

  • 03:07
    Have you heard an expression, 'you prayed well'? When is it said? — the meaning and use of an expression said to a person whose children turned out well