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  • 2 days ago
An affectionate portrait of the Jewish time and space that was the North Side - a beautiful bridge that carried a community from the shtetls of the Old World to the suburbs of the New World. We Knew Who We Were is a classic example of the American Jewish experience as well as one that relates to the experience of all immigrant communities.
Transcript
00:04The Jews that came to Minneapolis at the turn of the century were immigrants from Russia, Poland, the Russian Empire.
00:12They all came really for the same reason. Economic opportunity, social opportunity, escaping from bad conditions, bad situations.
00:21They came as family units. Not all together at the same time, but once a male immigrant came, established himself
00:30to some degree, he'd call for his family.
00:33It was the process of Landsmannschaft, which is people came and they either had an introduction to somebody who came
00:40from their town or came from their family, and it was only natural.
00:44They all moved in. Some stayed for a while, some stayed forever.
00:48My grandfather was kind of a unique guy. His house became the meeting place for new immigrants, and he helped
00:56new immigrants get jobs and locate it.
00:58But I remember the rule he had with his kids, my dad used to tell me this, they could not
01:02speak anything but English in the house.
01:05Even though when they grew up, they used to speak Yiddish every now and then, but they didn't want me
01:09to understand what they were saying.
01:11But he said, we're in America and we're going to speak English.
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