Summary(00:30) Born in 1953, raised in Borough Park then Sheepshead Bay. Howard and brother Martin went to yeshiva school. His Jewish life consisted of family and school -- (1:50) Father from Ukraine, mother from Poland, outside Lodz ghetto. Family arrived in America, 1947. Father opened haberdashery store. Died when Howard was 6 -- (3:25) Maternal grandfather a well known rabbi. Familywas observant and kept kosher. Sister went to public school -- (4:30) Played football on Saturdays with other kids. Attended yeshiva until end of high school, then Brooklyn College, then toured Israel -- (7:35) "I left Brooklyn as soon as I possibly could ... nothing tied me with Brooklyn ... it's just a place ... no ties to Brooklyn other than family." -- (9:00) In 30 years he only returned once to Brooklyn for family funeral, out of respect for mother.
NoteTitle supplied by cataloger. Audio interview conducted on December 16, 2019. Collected through the Brooklyn Collection Jewish History Project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is funded by the David Berg Foundation.
SubjectAshkenazim ; Orthodox Judaism ; Jewish day schools ; Jews--Identity
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TitleThe Gottlieb family. Oral history interview with Howard Gottlieb conducted on 2019 December 16.
Biographical NoteAlexander and Regina (Rivka, nee Kanner) Gottlieb, originally from Poland, survived the concentration camps, respectively Dachau and Auschwitz. They met in a displaced persons camp in Naples, Italy where their eldest child Madeline was born in 1946. In 1947 they emigrated to the United States to join family who had arrived before World War II. They first settled on the Lower East Side where Alexander opened a haberdashery store. Soon after the birth of their son Martin in 1948 they moved to Brooklyn, where their youngest child Howard was born in 1953.