Summary(01:10) Family orignally from Russia, Poland and Germany. Father died at age 35. Mother spoke Yiddish --(05:50) Born and raised in Crown Heights, parents from Brooklyn -- (07:20) Father waiter at a kosher delicatessen "Charlotte and Sid" on Empire Avenue. Family observant but not religious, very poor -- (09:00) Attended synagogue to perpare bar mitzvah, to Brooklyn Jewish Center to socialize. The Center was conservative, famous for its rabbis and cantors -- (11:40) In 1959 moved to Sheepshead-Nostrand houses, a step up at the time. Wingate High School was diverse, African American, Italian, Carribean, traditionalist Jews -- (13:40) Rarely left Brooklyn while growing up, to Manhattan on special occasions. Avoided neighborhoods where Jews were not wanted. Spent summers in Prospect Park, Botanic Garden --(16:40) Worked everyday after school and week ends -- (18:00) Attended Brooklyn College at night, working full time, and took almost ten years to graduate. Always desired to work for public office -- (20:20) Married at 55. State Senator -- (23:20) Talks about history of Brooklyn, its diversity and energy today (24:15) In the 1950s there was a strong Jewish identity. Now there are myriad Jewish identities.
NoteTitle supplied by cataloger. Audio interview conducted 2021 February 28, by Ariane Loeb remotely. Collected through the Brooklyn Collection Jewish History Project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is funded by the David Berg Foundation.
RightsThis work is covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Users are free to share and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes as long as appropriate credit is given to the source and new material created with this work is shared under the same conditions.
TitleThe Markowitz family. Oral history interview with Marty Markowitz conducted on February 28, 2021.