Krotsh speaks about prewar Jewish life in Ştefăneşti. He then talks about his life during World War II and family. His father was a cobbler and also born in Ştefăneşti. Krotsh's mother was born in Săveni.
Krotsh answers questions about Communists coming from Bessarabia to Ştefăneşti and the anger at Jews there. He recalls his father not letting his sister go, and his brother leaving for work. He says he did not know his grandfathers or grandmothers. His father was a tailor or cobbler (the transcript shows both), born in Ştefăneşti, while his mother was from Săveni.
Also covers Bessarabian arrivals and a pogrom-like attack in the town, and his sister and brother.
Krotsh tells a story he heard from his father about the Tsarist draft of twenty-five years. Young men were smuggled across the border to Romania. One man, Leyb Gershon, became a rich grain dealer. Years later, on night watch, he met his long-lost brother, and they recognized each other. Kerler asks about the dates.
Mentions the Jewish night watch of the shtetl and gives the story's setting at the Prut border.
Krotsh talks about prewar Jewish life in Ştefăneşti, including the wealthy and his master craftsman. He also speaks about his education at a yeshiva and his family.
Krotsh names the wealthy men of Ştefăneşti and their trades in grain, timber and cloth. He recalls one rich man's fine house, and the Yiddish books and newspapers in his home. He describes his yeshiva study of Talmud and Mishnah, studying with a partner, and his brother, a master tailor who refused to get rich. He also tells about a Romanian thief known by a nickname.
Includes a Romanian thief and his songs, and his brother the master tailor.
Krotsh answers Kerler's questions about the meaning of words he used, such as the watch, Romanian-derived words and a Hebrew-Yiddish phrase. He then talks about Romanian Jews in contrast to Bessarabian Jews, and his trips to Lviv after the war as a tailor. He mentions that there is no one in Kolomyya to speak Yiddish with, and recalls songs he heard in 1946.
Contains elicitation of word meanings and a comparison of Romanian and Bessarabian Jews.
Krotsh recalls Soviet Yiddish songs about drinking. He then remembers postwar Yiddish press and non-Jews who spoke Yiddish before the war. In particular, Krotsh remembers how non-Jewish and Jewish children played and celebrated holidays together.
Krotsh recalls a Soviet song with a toast about the Revolution and the Constitution, and answers questions about the Birobidzhan press. He then discusses non-Jewish Romanians in Ştefăneşti who spoke Yiddish. Jewish and non-Jewish children played football and kept holidays together. He also explains the meaning of the name Maccabi.
Krotsh describes the prewar Maccabi sports and cultural organization, with its football team, concerts and the girls' costumes. He lists other Zionist organizations such as Gordonia. Lemster asks whether any Jewish member of the Romanian parliament came from the area. Krotsh names a rabbi from Kishinev (?) as a deputy, and Kerler turns the talk to Jews' secret language.
Includes the Jewish deputy, the rabbi from Kishinev.
Krotsh describes how Jews inserted Hebrew words in Yiddish so that non-Jews would not understand. He discusses a word for money, and a song about a Iaşi newspaper man that a young man from Iaşi taught him in the army. Kerler and Lemster ask about Mihai Eminescu (?) and the old Moldova. He also mentions that Bialik was known from the school.
Includes the recitation of a song and a discussion of Moldova and Eminescu.
Krotsh names Yiddish writers whose books he read, among them Sholem Aleichem and Mendele Moykher Sforim. Lemster asks about the origin of Yakov Fikhman and Kerler about Leyb Goldin. Krotsh then recites a Hebrew school song of a holiday several times, and Kerler asks to have every word repeated so he can write it down.
Krotsh speaks about his school education at a Romanian Jewish school. He states that pupils studied in Hebrew and Romanian. Krotsh also writes down a song he remembers from school.
Krotsh says that he learned the song in the Jewish school in Romanian, half a day in Hebrew and half in Romanian, and gives the school's name in Romanian. He recites the song again, and Kerler repeats it line by line. Lemster then asks whether Jews made their own wine.
Includes the repeated dictation of the Hebrew song.
Krotsh answers Lemster's question on whether Jews made wine and says the rich man Leyb Gershon had his own vineyards and wine cellars. He tells a song about a drunkard coming home to his wife and children, and recalls that there were few drunks and thieves in the shtetl. Lemster and Kerler ask about water carriers and the fire brigade, which was non-Jewish, and about love songs.
The interviewers thank Krotsh for the interview, and the team plays him recorded Yiddish songs on a device. Kerler says one dates from the time of the war, and Krotsh tries to recall it. A third person (S3) then recites a Yiddish song about longing for home. Krotsh begins to sing a song about a boy he loved.
Concerns the playing of recorded songs and a song about longing for home.
Krotsh sings a Yiddish song about being abandoned by a boy he loved and wandering alone, and then repeats it. Kerler and Lemster ask whether they heard every word. He then sings a Kishinev (?) song about the little streets, which he says is sung with weeping. Kerler praises it, and the talk turns to praying alone on the road.
Gives the songs sung (a love song and a Kishinev song of the streets).
Krotsh talks about contemporary Jewish life in the region. The camera then collects outside footage of the synagogue, while the team walks with Krotsh to Vider's home.
The speakers talk about a woman and her husband, and Lemster asks Krotsh about Romanian and Bessarabian Jews. The talk is then largely garbled, with a recogniser loop and a Russian line, so little can be read. The camera records outside footage of the synagogue and the team walks with Krotsh to Vider's home, but this is not clear in the transcript.
Most of the transcript is garbled, and the walk to Vider's home is not confirmed.
