Subject	Australia–Emigration and immigration—History
	Melbourne (Vic.)
	Jewish families
	Families–History
	Yiddish language
	World War, 1939-1945
	Language and languages
Category	4. World War II
Author	Charak, Danielle
Publisher	Wexler Oral History Project
Keywords	Jewish
	1950s
Creator	Whitney, Christa
Current Holder	Yiddish Book Centre
Period Of Reference	1939/2017
Date	2017-02-09
Access Rights	Digitised
Rights	Wexler Oral History Project/ Yiddish Book Center
Country Of Origin	Australia
Place	Melbourne
Journey	Brussels
Language	Yiddish
Description From Source	Danielle Charak, Melbourne-based Yiddish activist, teacher, and former radio host, was interviewed by Christa Whitney on February 9, 2017, in Melbourne, Australia. Danielle Charak was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1939. Danielle Charak, Melbourne-based Yiddish activist, teacher, and former radio host, talks about Yiddish cultural life in Poland before World War II. Both of her parents grew up very poor and the local Bund gave them opportunities for a better life. Danielle Charak, Melbourne-based Yiddish activist, teacher, and former radio host, remembers some of her teachers from the Yiddish school she attended in Brussels, Belgium, in the years after the Holocaust. One of her teachers was the young Chava Rosenfarb, who became a celebrated Yiddish novelist and short story writer. Danielle Charak, Melbourne-based Yiddish activist, teacher, and former radio host, tells the story of performing Sholem Aleichem’s play “Dos Meserl” in London with her school when she was about seven years old. She talks about her role in the play and what London after WW2 was like. Danielle Charak, Melbourne-based Yiddish activist, teacher, and former radio host, explains what prompted her parents to immigrate to Australia after WW2. She was a child during this time and explains how only with time did she realize her parents’ sorrow at the sense that Europe being a graveyard. Danielle Charak, Melbourne-based Yiddish activist, teacher, and former radio host, remembers her journey to Australia, as well as her early memories there. She immigrated when she was a young child and remembers Port Saed, the Suez Canal and her family’s first apartment in Melbourne. Danielle Charak, Melbourne-based Yiddish activist, teacher, and former radio host, describes some of the Yiddish radio programs that used to be, and some that still are, aired in Melbourne, Australia. She also talks about who was, and is, involved in Yiddish radio.
Physical Format	Video recording