Camera file of a conversation in Warsaw on 17 June 2018 between Kerler and the people he is visiting (the index names Weitzner and Krol; the transcript does not say which voice is which). It is a conversation among colleagues rather than a life-history interview. The talk is about the position of Yiddish in Poland, plans for a Yiddish project with the Polin museum, funding, writers and artists, and mutual acquaintances.
00:00–04:15
The speakers discuss attitudes to Yiddish in Poland: the speaker wanted to set up a school teaching Yiddish, but nearly everyone was against it, from Chabad to other rabbis. Yiddish is officially a minority language in Poland, which could bring state money. Kerler says Yiddish has plenty of texts and many people claim to love it but do nothing. INF2 says she learned it to read texts and mentions her teacher, a non-Jewish university student now in Canada. Kerler then talks about acquaintances on Facebook.
04:15–08:53
The speakers discuss a plan for a Yiddish project at the Polin museum. They stress the spoken word, a workshop with a dozen or so participants, translations, and new Yiddish literature with drama, poems and rhythmic verse. Kerler thinks foreign participants would come. They mention Yiddish as an official language in three countries (Sweden, Poland, Romania (?)) and a UNESCO or EU decision. They look for sources of money, and S3 talks about a German foundation.
08:53–12:33
The conversation turns to Germans, film-making and funding. They discuss Yiddish film and state subsidies for Yiddish theater (Yidishpil (?)), and complain that cultural institutions do not support Yiddish and that nobody in the museums is interested. S3 says the museum has a scientific department, while Kerler is concerned with culture.
12:25–17:55
They discuss a woman scholar and performing-arts figure, Barbara Kirshenblatt (?), who now lives in New York and who they hope might take up the project. Kerler says he missed her at a doctorate celebration. They mention her giving her Yiddish books to the museum, her sentiment for Yiddish, and her liking for events. They also consider showing theater and a reading poet, and bringing in people from abroad.
17:44–21:18
The speakers consider an anniversary or event as a hook for the project, possibly with a book collection or library, and mention a date (2025 (?)). S3 asks whether Kerler is going to Chernovtsy (Tshernaplits (?)). Kerler says he may travel after an invitation. Someone suggests bringing a book to Jerusalem, and they mention Katznelson's poem about the murdered Jewish people in Hebrew and Kerler's publications. A Russian literary scholar who emigrated is also mentioned.
20:28–24:37
Kerler comments on bilingual Yiddish–Hebrew writers and on writers who stopped writing in Yiddish or Hebrew. He mentions a Yiddish writer who published two volumes, and the descendants of writers living in Los Angeles and Hollywood. They then briefly discuss words such as kakhlefl and the interjection 'sha', and Kerler remarks on the letter shin in Russian.
24:20–29:42
The talk turns to a woman who likes to photograph and to a Sufi or Indian-origin tsadik (Gura (?)). The speakers go back over an earlier idea for a gathering of Yiddish writers that was never followed up. They also discuss a performer who no longer comes to the programme, and Kerler recalls an interview made in 2016 in Wrocław (?) with a sharp-minded man from Warsaw who read from a feuilleton.