Israel

Berman discusses how and why his parents came to the United States from Poland; his father's work as a peddler and in other businesses; the early Orthodox Jewish community in Louisville; the effects of the Depression on this father's business; his decision to attend the University of Louisville School of Law, from which he graduated in 1928; his early law practice; and activities in Keneseth Israel congregation. Berman concludes with reflections on changes in the local Jewish community during his memory.

Alex Berman talks about Jewish young people joining professions, the effect of the Great Depression on small businesses, investing in real estate in the early 20th century, his generation choosing to enter the professions rather than going into business, working as a lawyer defending bootleggers for a brief period, his opinion about the Masons not doing enough to resist nazism, his reflections on a recent reports of swastikas posted in Louisville and the Constitutional right to free speech. He also reflects on the changes in the Jewish community over time, his involvement in the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.

Mrs. Byck discusses Adath Israel congregation, the League of Women Voters, Louisville Collegiate School, the Standard Club, the Pendennis Club, Banbergen-Bloom Company, the Adler Piano Company, and the National Council of Jewish Women.

Ten press releases from Vietnam, Israel, etc. June 1970.

Louise Flarsheim discusses local Jewish organizations, individuals, and neighborhoods. Topics include the Jewish Hospital, the Byck family, Adath Israel congregation, the Young Men's Hebrew Association, recollections of World Wars I and II, the Standard Club, the Council of Jewish Women, antisemitism, Jewish assimilation, and the Jewish Debutante's Ball.

Hammel discusses the genealogy of the Grabfelder, Sachs, Levi, and Bamburger families; the liquor business; Adath Israel congregation and the Jewish Ladies Benevolent Society; and the German-Jewish immigration of the 1840s.

The narrator discusses her parents, Stella Leon and Julius Shapinsky; the wholesale dry goods business which her father operated on Main Street in Louisville until 1921; early life at 11 West Burnett and in the Weissinger-Gaulbert Apartments; the building of the Brown Hotel; street cars in Louisville; childhood recollections of Louisville Central Park; childhood recollections of Louisville's Fourth Street business district; the Kentucky Home School, the Quorum Club, and the Standard Club; Louisville Marine Hospital (later called Louisville Memorial Hospital); the Council of Jewish Women and the resettlement of German Jews in Louisville; congregation Adath Israel; and the origins of Kentucky Jewish Post and Opinion.

Switow discusses his father, a Russian immigrant who owned movie theaters in Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia; his father's work in Louisville's Adath Jeshurun congregation; his childhood and education in Louisville at Cochran Elementary School, the Louisville Hebrew School, and Louisville Male High School; service in the United States Navy during World War I; engineering education at the University of Kentucky; Louisville during the 1937 flood; work with World War II bond drives; and views on the creation of Israel following the war. Switow concludes by discussing Jewish assimilation and changes in the local Jewish community.

Mrs. Leo Wolkow discusses her childhood in New York City; her parents, who were Polish immigrants; her husband's work with F. Wolkow and Sons; recollections of the Depression of the 1930s and World War II; the creation of Israel following the War; and changes in the Jewish community in Louisville.