Disciplines

Jewish Studies

Abstract

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Richard Krain was born in the Bronx and lived there until the mid-1960s. His parents, to his knowledge, also grew up in the Bronx. His mother, before she married and had children, was a secretary; after, she was a housewife. Krain has a brother who was six years his senior, who would recall to him his childhood experiences during World War Two. His father was a salesman and worked with big department stores and, later, with Christmas decorations as a manufacturer’s representative.

Krain lived on the Grand Concourse at 164th Street, across from Joyce Kilmer Park. He would play there with his friends, roller skating on the sidewalks or playing ball. He attended PS 114 and later PS 90 and JHS 22, when they moved to a taller building in the same neighborhood. His parents, being college oriented, decided to send Krain and his brother to Columbia Grammar School in Manhattan for high school, before they both went to the University of Rochester for college.

Krain described the neighborhood as mostly Jewish, with some Catholics who went to parochial schools, though religion did not play a role when he was young. Krain’s 6th grade teacher, Mr. Finkle, stood out as one of the few males, and also because he talked to them about his experience in the army and taught them to dance. Krain’s family belonged to the Young Israel of the Grand Concourse, where he went to Hebrew school and was bar mitzvah. They rarely attended synagogue except the major holidays, but his mother kept a kosher home. Outside of the house, they were less concerned with the laws of kashrut. His parents only spoke Yiddish when they didn’t want Krain and his brother to understand, and his father mentioned not using Yiddish on his business trips to Europe so soon after the Holocaust.

Krain’s family were staunch Democrats and supporters of FDR. He was in the National Guard but never had to serve in the Vietnam War. While they lived in the Bronx, Krain and his brother would often visit Manhattan to go shopping. As there were more Hispanic people moving into their neighborhood, and their apartment was robbed, Krain’s parents decided to move to Manhattan. Krain doesn’t visit the Bronx much now, as none of his family lives there anymore, but he does go to the Botanical Gardens and Bronx Zoo. Krain became an advertising person after receiving his master’s from Columbia Business School, which he worked as his entire career.

Keywords: Bronx General Hospital, Grand Concourse, Joyce Kilmer Park, Fordham Road, World War Two, the Holocaust, sales, Christmas decorations, Yankee Stadium, PS 114, PS 90, JHS 22, Columbia Grammar School, Catholic, education, Young Israel of the Grand Concourse, Yiddish, Democrat, FDR, Eisenhower, Vietnam, Manhattan, crime, advertising

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