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1. Interview with Ellen Roitenberg (1938 - ), Urban Exodus: St. Louis Park Oral History Project, Golden Valley, Minnesota
- Creator:
- Roitenberg, Ellen, (1938 - )
- Date Created:
- 2012-06-12
- Description:
- In this interview, Ellen Roitenberg (1938 - ) discusses her Jewish family and their background on the North Side of Minneapolis. She discusses how difficult it was to get jobs, even as a trained professional, if you were Jewish. She talks of her father being a physician and the impact of the founding of Mount Sinai Hospital in Minneapolis. The discussion turns to Jewish life on the North Side and subsequent migration to Saint Louis Park, class distinctions among Jews on the North Side, housing covenants and class distinctions in Saint Louis Park. This interview was conducted by Jeff Norman, oral historian from California. "Urban Exodus: The Saint Louis Park Oral History Project" explores the post-World War II migration of Minneapolis's Jewish community from the city's North Side to the western suburb of Saint Louis Park. The 35 oral history interviews, representing diverse perspectives from within and beyond the Jewish community, tell the complex story of how, from 1945 to 1970, Saint Louis Park became a major center of Jewish life in Minnesota.
- Contributing Institution:
- University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
- Type:
- Sound Recording Nonmusical
- Format:
- Oral histories
2. Interview with Felix Phillips, Judges and Lawyers Oral History Project, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Creator:
- Philips, Felix
- Date Created:
- 2008-08-25
- Description:
- In this interview, Felix Phillips gives an account of his life as a Jewish Minnesotan and legal practitioner. Felix was born in Minneapolis, and raised in both Minneapolis and St. Paul. Giving a brief family history, he explains that his grandparents were from Poland and father was well established in New York City. He describes a bit of his Jewish childhood and raises the issue of anti-Semitism on the south side of Minneapolis where he attended Washburn High School. The conversation moves to his experience at the University of Minnesota School of Law, his experience there, and how he was influenced to pursue a career in law. Phillips recalls how he later joined Maslon law firm, and the two discuss the difficulties of being a Jewish lawyer, how Jewish lawyers were perceived, and draw a distinction between Jews in the Minneapolis Athletic Club versus the St. Paul Athletic Club. This interview was conducted by Helen Rubenstein as a part of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest Judges and Lawyers Oral History Project.
- Contributing Institution:
- University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
- Type:
- Sound Recording Nonmusical
- Format:
- Oral histories
3. Interview with Jerry Sinykin (1925-?), World War II Veterans Oral History Project, Corona del Mar, California
- Creator:
- Sinykin, Jerry, 1925-?
- Date Created:
- 2006-03-06
- Description:
- In this interview, Jerry Sinykin recounts how he witnessed the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp (Dachau) as a Jewish Minnesotan member of the American infantry. He was born in St. Paul, 1925, and gives his family background and connection to Russia and North Dakota homesteading. Sinykin discusses how father was a manufacturer of cosmetics in St. Paul, and goes on to describe his Jewish childhood, answering questions about anti-Semitic hazing in junior high. He explains an attempt to enlist in the Navy Air Corps and that he was denied but was later drafted into the Army, receiving infantry and engineering training. Sinykin remembers how he crossed the Atlantic on a boat with Winston Churchill who addresses the men onboard. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge and Siegfried Line in the rear supplying the front, and recalls many stories illustrating the anxiety of battle. Sinykin describes his participation in the liberation of Dachau and Mauthausen concentration camps, depicting the scene with several anecdotes, all the while affording special attention to his perspective as a Jew and a Minnesotan. This interview was conducted by Linda Schloff as a part of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest World War II Veterans Oral History Project.
- Contributing Institution:
- University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
- Type:
- Sound Recording Nonmusical
- Format:
- Oral histories
4. Interview with Marvin Borman (1923-?), Judges and Lawyers Oral History Project, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Creator:
- Borman, Marvin, 1923-?
- Date Created:
- 2009-09-15
- Description:
- In this interview, recognized leader in the Minneapolis community Marvin Borman gives an account of his life as a Jewish Minnesotan, war veteran, and legal practitioner. He was born in Indianapolis in 1923 and attended the University of Michigan in 1940 as president of the Zeta Beta Tau Jewish Fraternity. Borman describes how his family owned a dry goods business in a poor part of Indianapolis. He recalls how entered the Marine Corps after Pearl Harbor, and how after service he entered Harvard Law School and relocated to Minnesota due to marriage. Borman explains that he worked for various firms as a business litigation lawyer, and that later in his career he became a community leader as president of the Minneapolis Club, head of the Art Institute, the University of Minnesota Foundation and others. Each phase of his life is discussed in the Jewish and anti-Semitic context. This interview was conducted by Helen Rubenstein as a part of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest Jewish Judges and Lawyers History Project.
- Contributing Institution:
- University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
- Type:
- Sound Recording Nonmusical
- Format:
- Oral histories
5. Interview with Mel Burnstein (1933-?), Judges and Lawyers Oral History Project, St. Paul, Minnesota
- Creator:
- Burnstein, Mel, 1933-?
- Date Created:
- 2008-01-19
- Description:
- In this interview, Mel Burnstein gives an account of his life as a Jewish Minnesotan and legal practitioner. He was born in 1933 and raised in St. Paul by Russian Jewish parents. He discusses some family history related to Russia and St. Paul, growing up in St. Paul in Highland Park, and some details about the West Side of St. Paul. He started in Maddox Elementary, then Central High School, University of Minnesota (accounting, fraternity, R.O.T.C.) United States Navy (supply corps in Athens, GA, world tour), State Public Examiner's Office (accounting), University of Minnesota Law School, various law firms (business, tax and banking law), and banks in Minnesota. Anti-Semitism, the Jewish perspective, and racism are the main themes covered in this interview, especially in the military and law world. This interview was conducted by Helen Rubenstein as a part of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest Jewish Judges and Lawyers History Project.
- Contributing Institution:
- University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
- Type:
- Sound Recording Nonmusical
- Format:
- Oral histories
6. Interview with Mel Orenstein (1926-?), Judges and Lawyers Oral History Project, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Creator:
- Orenstein, Mel, 1926-?
- Date Created:
- 2009-01-04
- Description:
- In this interview, Mel Orenstein gives an account of his life as a Jewish Minnesotan and legal practitioner. He was born in 1926 on the North Side of Minneapolis and moved to the Selby-Dale neighborhood of St. Paul in 1938. He recalls that his father was from Russia and homesteaded in North Dakota. Orenstein gives additional family background, involving farming in northern Wisconsin as well as business in the Twin Cities. Orenstein explains that after Central High School he went into the Navy and then the University of Minnesota--which he quit in order to enter into family business --and then re-enrolled for law school. He discusses law school and practicing law from a Jewish perspective, answering questions about anti-Semitism. Orenstein discusses his involvement in a supreme court case regarding Marathon Oil, which is discussed at length. The conversation ends with a discussion of Jewish values in the practice of law and involvement in the local Jewish community. This interview was conducted by Helen Rubenstein as a part of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest Jewish Judges and Lawyers History Project.
- Contributing Institution:
- University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
- Type:
- Sound Recording Nonmusical
- Format:
- Oral histories
7. Interview with Myron Bright (1919-?), Judges and Lawyers Oral History Project, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Creator:
- Bright, Myron, 1919-?
- Date Created:
- 2010-03-09
- Description:
- Myron Bright was a federal judge in the state of Minnesota. In this interview, he gives an account of his life as a Jewish Minnesotan and legal practitioner. Bright was born in 1919 in Eveleth, Minnesota. He explains how his Jewish Orthodox father was possibly a fisherman in Russia near the Black Sea, who deserted the Russian Army near Germany, fled to London, then Canada, then Duluth where he worked in the shipyards, later becoming a clothing merchant. Judge Bright discusses more family history and moves into Jewish life growing up on the Iron Range in great detail. He recounts how people on the Iron Range valued education. Therefore he went into Junior College in Eveleth. Bright remembers moving on to the University of Minnesota for Pre Law and then onto the law school there. He speaks about the Jewish experience and anti-Semitism in law school and later as a lawyer in Fargo. A contrast is drawn between light anti-Semitism on the Iron Range and North Dakota with the heavier anti-Semitism of Minneapolis. Bright gives details about the Jewish community in Fargo, along with practicing law and politics there in the 1950s. He concludes with how he became a federal judge and his views on race and religion. This interview was conducted by Helen Rubenstein as a part of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest Jewish Judges and Lawyers History Project.
- Contributing Institution:
- University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
- Type:
- Sound Recording Nonmusical
- Format:
- Oral histories
8. Interview with Roberta Levy (1937-?), Judges and Lawyers Oral History Project, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Creator:
- Levy, Roberta, 1937-?
- Date Created:
- 2008-11-25
- Description:
- In this interview, Roberta Levy gives an account of her life as a Jewish Minnesotan and legal practitioner. She was born in 1937 in Philadelphia to Russian immigrant parents who were persecuted abroad. Recalling her early life, she describes how her father had a store in Philadelphia and was a committed Socialist/Zionist. She gives a description of her childhood as a Jew in North Philadelphia, and mentions attending Gratz College and Temple University. Levy explains how her husband taught law school and took a job teaching at the University of Minnesota School of Law, causing her some anxiety due to rumors of Anti-Semitism in Minneapolis. She recalls enrolling in law school while her husband was on the faculty, how was the only woman, and describes the difficulty of finding a firm because she was both Jewish and female. Levy continues by describing her later career in a Jewish law firm and public defender, and how she was nearly appointed to the state supreme court by Rudy Perpich. Levy concludes her life story with how she became a district court judge functioning in that capacity between 1978 and 2002, including many stories from the period. The conversation closes with a discussion about the relationship between Judaism and the study of law. This interview was conducted by Helen Rubenstein as a part of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest Jewish Judges and Lawyers History Project.
- Contributing Institution:
- University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
- Type:
- Sound Recording Nonmusical
- Format:
- Oral histories
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