Disciplines

Jewish Studies

Abstract

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Ruth Sandler, born 1940, grew up in the East Bronx near the Bronx Zoo, where she would go with her parents. Her mother came to the United States in 1921, and her father came in 1938, though his family unfortunately remained in what was then Poland, his sisters dying in the Holocaust. Her father became a children’s clothing presser in the garment district, despite owning a business back in Europe. Sandler remembers being told her first language was Yiddish, not speaking English until entering school. She attended PS 57, participating in school plays there. Education was important, and though she loved to read, she cared more about doing well in school than the learning.

Attending Bronx High School of Science, Sandler felt she didn’t belong there because other people came from wealthier and more educated backgrounds, almost like a private school. She went on to be a psychology major at City College and work for the government. Sandler remembers “synagogue hopping” on the holidays with her friends, seeing various synagogues in the Bronx, and her family keeping kosher. She describes her neighborhood as primarily Italian Catholic, with some fighting between the kids, particularly on holidays.

Sandler left the Bronx to move to Queens at the time of her marriage in 1961. Returning to the Bronx for a tour, her apartment building is now gone, replaced with a single family home. She says the North and East Bronx were less touched by the fires and deterioration, though things were different and her parents had moved out to Queens as well because of that. Though she says her parents were not worldly enough to be involved in European culture, Sandler describes the difference between her parents and American born parents as that her parents were constantly concerned for their safety as Jews, as is she because of that environment. There were some antisemitic acts she remembers, fires set at Jewish buildings. Overall, she remembers the people important to her during that time, keeping a scrap book of old pictures with family and friends.

Keywords: East Bronx, Bronx Zoo, antisemitism, the Holocaust, Poland, immigration, marriage, education, PS 57, Bronx High School of Science, City College, Queens, safety, white flight, suburbs

Download

Share

COinS