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Letwin, Bessie (audio interview #3 of 4)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the third of four interviews with Bessie Letwin conducted in her home in Westwood for as part of a student project in a women's oral history class at CSULB. Although Letwin was frank and honest, her unprepossessing manner meant that she did not speak at length on any particular subject. Letwin and the interviewer had known eachother for several years and there references to close friends and relatives are not fully explained. Note: it is sometimes difficult to understand Letwin because of her thick accent. TOPICS - grocery store business; living conditions; childcare; night school; economic support of mother and sister in Latvia; immigration quotas; infant care and child rearing; children's education; socioeconomic status; intellectual interests; family life; family relationships; living arrangements; husband's work history; assimilation; social life; demographics of her customers; meal preparation and storage; life during the Depression; abortions; and neighborhood race relations;son's school experiences in Black school; neighborhood race relations; family history; life during the Depression; voting; garment work; wages and hours; clothing styles; living conditions; visits to USSR; family Holocaust victims; CP activities; effect of CP membership on her business; 1975-10
- Date
- 2020-04-23
- Resource Type
- Creator
- Campus
- Keywords
- Handle
["Submitted by Chloe Pascual (chloe.pascual@csulb.edu) on 2020-04-24T00:28:31Z No. of bitstreams: 2 3489411927506948-refbletwin5.mp3: 10779584 bytes, checksum: de286aa8aeeaf67e6f9eda8092d2d82e (MD5) 9801507076494151-refbletwin6.mp3: 10723577 bytes, checksum: d8a63cbd5de1af1d2f963071aa963ea5 (MD5)", "Made available in DSpace on 2020-04-24T00:28:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 3489411927506948-refbletwin5.mp3: 10779584 bytes, checksum: de286aa8aeeaf67e6f9eda8092d2d82e (MD5) 9801507076494151-refbletwin6.mp3: 10723577 bytes, checksum: d8a63cbd5de1af1d2f963071aa963ea5 (MD5)"]- Language
- Notes
- *** File: refbletwin5.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-6:01)... Soon after Letwin had her first child, she and her husband purchased a grocery store to supplement his income. In addition to struggling to support themselves, they were also sending money to her mother and sister who were stranded in Latvia. The basement site they purchased served as both their grocery store and their living quarters. Letwin ran the store while her husband worked during the day. The store was open from 5:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. She put her son to bed around 6:00 p.m. and went to night school at 7:00 p.m. Her husband ran the store while she was at school. They sold basic food staples at the store. (6:01-10:04)... Like most women of her generation, Letwin nursed her son until he was about six months old. When he began eating solids, she did not purchase canned baby food but prepared all of his meals from scratch. She also began potty training him when he was six months old. When she fell asleep while nursing her son one afternoon, someone came into their grocery store and stole the money from her cash box. Even though she suspected who took the money, she never reported it to the police. (10:04-11:21)... Letwin went to night school to learn English for a couple of years. School was not open on the weekends. She spent her weekends working at her grocery store, which was open all year around excluding Jewish holidays. Even though they closed their doors in observance of Jewish holidays, they were not particularly religious. (11:21-13:50)... Letwin was not politically active during the early 1920s because she was completely immersed in raising her son and running her grocery store. She and her husband struggled to make ends meet and support her mother and sister at the same time. Letwin spent her free time reading. She had a regular customer who brought her books and she also borrowed reading materials from her in-laws. She did not have a library card and they could not afford to buy newspapers or magazines. (13:50-14:19)... Letwin's in-laws all struggled to make a living. Her brother-in-law supported his family fixing umbrellas, a skill he taught her husband. (14:19-15:56)... After three years in Latvia, Letwin's mother and sister were permitted to immigrate. When they arrived in Milwaukee, they moved in with Letwin and her family and conditions were cramped. Letwin and her husband eventually sold their grocery store and purchased a larger store that had more rooms to accommodate her family. (15:56-16:55)... Letwin and her husband did not have a bank account. They only accepted cash from their customers and whatever came in went out just as quickly to pay for their living expenses. (16:55-18:29)... The new grocery store that Letwin and her husband purchased was a street-level facility and its larger size allowed them to carry more products. After they moved into this location, her husband went to work in a bakery shop putting bread into the ovens. He earned more money at this job than fixing umbrellas. They needed a dual income in order to support their children and her mother. Her sister went to work in a factory and also pitched in for their living expenses. (18:29-22:37)... By the time her mother and sister came to the US, Letwin describes herself as "partly Americanized... but I still had most of my European ways." Because she had partially assimilated, she felt superior to her mother and sister. Although she was happy to have them there, she also felt obligated to help them out. She was anxious for them to come to the US because she did not want to borrow anymore money to support them in Latvia. While there were occasions when they disagreed on things, the most common conflicts with her mother revolved around child rearing issues. (22:37-23:32)... Although Letwin was happy in her marriage, she was "missing an intellectual life." After graduating from the gymnasia in Russia and going to night school in the US, she felt socially isolated. (23:32-24:14)... The only Jewish organization in her neighborhood of which she was aware was a reading club to which her husband belonged. She was unable to participate in this club because she had to take care of her children. (24:14-26:08)... Many of Letwin's customers spoke to her in their native languages of either Polish, Russian or Yiddish. However, most of her conversations were in English, which was why she felt like she had to learn English as quickly as possible. Her sons learned Yiddish first and then English. (26:08-27:09)... Letwin's oldest son started kindergarten when he was four years old. She talks about the types of lessons and activities he was involved in at this level of education. (27:09-29:49)... Letwin and her family ate three meals a day: bread and coffee for breakfast; cheese, sausage or eggs for lunch; and varied meat and fish dishes for dinner. She cooked their meals on a coal burning, iron stove. They stored their perishable foods in a wood ice box to keep them from spoiling. The ice in the box was replenished every two or three days by a service that delivered large blocks of ice. (29:49-36:33)... Letwin's sons Bill and Leon were born in 1922 and 1929. She and her husband were not concerned about having another child during the Depression because "as far as we were concerned we always were in a depression." Like her first child, the second one was also planned. In fact, when she got pregnant when her first child was a year old, she and she and her husband decided to terminate the pregnancy. When Letwin discussed her desire to get an abortion with her physician, he referred her to a doctor in the suburbs. The abortion was performed in the doctor's home and she paid him $100 for the procedure. Her husband did not accompany her because he had to stay at the grocery store so that her mother would not suspect anything. (36:33-41:37)... During her pregnancies, Letwin wore maternity clothes that seemed to conceal the fact that she was pregnant from most people. During her second pregnancy, she again sought medical treatment and childcare advice at the Welfare House. After having her baby, her son Bill became a very protective older brother. (41:37-44:02)... Letwin's social life involved entertaining at home or going to the homes of friends. During these social gatherings, they typically listened to the radio. She also went to the five-cent movie theater across the street from her grocery store/home. (44:02-44:32)... Letwin lived in a racially mixed neighborhood. The Jews owned the stores in the neighborhood and Blacks had no choice but to patronize those stores. Even though the schools in the neighborhood were segregated, her sons went to a Black school. End of tape. *** File: refbletwin6.mp3 (0:00-1:57)... The principal at her son's school was also her teacher in night school. He tried to convince her to place her son in a White school because he thought he would do better there. However, she argued that his Black classmates would probably benefit having him in their classes. Her sons were frequently discriminated against in school because they were in the minority. Her son Leon experienced this firsthand when a student tore up his examination because the other students did not want him to do better than them. (1:57-3:31)... The Jews in the community welcomed Blacks into their stores because "we made a living from them." On a social level, however, Jews did not associate with the Blacks in the neighborhood. (3:31-5:17)... Letwin's sons attended a Black school until they graduated junior high and then they went to a high school in a White neighborhood. Both her sons did well in school. (5:17-6:32)... Letwin's sister married in the late 1920s. When she and her husband moved to Chicago, their mother moved there because she felt that the Jewish neighborhood where they planned to live was more in line with her cultural and religious beliefs. (6:32-7:19)... Other than visiting her sister in Chicago and traveling to the Soviet Union in 1936, Letwin rarely took vacations. (7:19-8:49)... Letwin and her family did not experience the Depression the same way the middle class did because they were poor to begin with. Although her family did not accept government assistance, many of her friends got their meals from bread lines. (8:49-9:24)... Letwin did not follow any of the fads that were popular in the 1920s. She and her husband were very aware of Prohibition and did not sell alcohol in their store at any time. (9:24-15:26)... Letwin voted in all the presidential elections of her day. She revered FDR for the programs he instituted during the Depression. When he established a minimum wage law, she went to work in a dress factory for $12/week and her husband left his job fixing umbrellas to run their grocery store. The shop she worked in was not unionized. There were approximately twenty employees in the shop. She stayed in this line of work for a year or two and left when her husband went to work in a bakery (15:26-17:14)... Letwin's typical attire was a short-sleeved, calf-length dress over which she wore an apron. During the winter, she wore dresses with long sleeves. She did not wear any make-up because her mother told her she would attract too many men. She cut her hair short during the 1920s because it took too long to fix in the morning when it was long. (17:14-18:36)... When Letwin moved into a larger apartment/grocery store, they had a bathtub with warm, running water. They also had electricity and their home was heated by a coal-burning fireplace located in the basement. Their home was appointed modestly with only the necessary furnishings. (18:36-23:57)... In 1936, Letwin went to the Soviet Union with a group of friends. While there, she visited her sister in Moscow. Her husband and children stayed behind to run their grocery store. She saved for several months to pay for her travel package. She took a passenger ship to Leningrad and spent most of the trip in her cabin because she was seasick. (23:57-25:54)... The Nazi-Soviet pact had not yet been signed when Letwin went to the Soviet Union. Although she believes that people feared Joseph Stalin, she did not experience any problems under his leadership during her travels. After spending time in Leningrad, she traveled to Kiev and then Moscow. Editor's note: former members of the CP most often refer to it as the Nazi-Soviet Pact. The actual pact was called the "German-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Pact."] (25:54-28:09)... When she arrived in Moscow to visit her sister, Letwin discovered that she was in the hospital getting an abortion. Following the revolution, abortion was legalized and women were permitted ten a year. The revolution also brought about educational opportunities for Jewish children. Her sister's family was comfortable living in the Soviet Union under Stalin's leadership. (28:09-31:11)... Letwin was not harassed for traveling without her husband and she never felt insecure because she was alone on her vacation. She spent six weeks in the Soviet Union and was not happy to return to her busy life in America. (31:11-33:00)... Letwin's sister and her family were living in the Ukraine near the capital of Kiev when she and her son were taken to a concentration camp and killed in 1938. She was informed of their deaths by the Red Cross. She learned more details about the circumstances when she visited her brother-in-law's family in the Ukraine. (33:00-35:13)... Letwin thought WWII was a "just war," especially after her sister and nephew were killed in a concentration camp. While giving a speech during one of her trips to the Soviet Union, Letwin talked about the number of Jews killed during the war, at which time a woman in the audience reminded her that they were not the only victims of the war. (35:13-38:56)... Letwin joined the CP shortly after she arrived in Milwaukee. Although she occasionally went to meetings, she was not active in the party. At that time, the main issues concerning the CP were fascism and defending civil liberties and freedom of speech. (38:56-40:08)... Letwin cannot recall there being any notable demonstrations in Milwaukee. Most of the major political events took place in larger cities. At the time, Milwaukee was considered a socialist city because their mayor was a socialist. (40:08-44:30)... Letwin lost customers after she joined the CP and began selling communist and socialist literature in her store. Some of the Jews in her neighborhood disagreed with the CP's views on the Soviet Union and Stalin's leadership. A Zionist group in her synagogue even threatened to break her store windows because she was a communist. End of tape.
- SUBJECT BIO - Bessie Letwin's radicalism developed during her younger days in Russia before the revolution and continued even after she left the Communist party during the height of McCarthyism in the 1950s. Born in the Ukraine, Letwin had to leave school after two years to help support the family and went to work in a shop selling dress trims. She learned to read and write Yiddish from three students who roomed in her home, and later convinced a cousin to support her attending school in Odessa. While attending a gymnasium there, she was a witness to and participated in some of the activities leading up to the Russian revolution. She met her fiance during WWI and emigrated to the US with him and his family. In Milwaukee, where they joined other members of his family, she went to work in a garment shop, and after her son was born did home work. Some time during this period, she joined the Communist party. Letwin and her husband opened a grocery store and shared responsibility for running the store. Because of the long hours she kept there, she was not active in the CP, but did carry party literature in the store, which earned her the enmity and loss of some customers. In the 1950s, during the height of McCarthyism, Letwin left the CP and notes that she suddenly regained friends who had kept their distance from her. She moved to California in the 1960s after her husband's death, and although she is not very specific about her activities, did remain involved in radical politics. The interview with Bessie Letwin was conducted as a project in a women's oral history class by Susie Bright, who had been involved with one of Letwin's grandchildren in high school radical politics, publishing the University High School alternative paper, The Red Tide. INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the third of four interviews with Bessie Letwin conducted in her home in Westwood for as part of a student project in a women's oral history class at CSULB. Although Letwin was frank and honest, her unprepossessing manner meant that she did not speak at length on any particular subject. Letwin and the interviewer had known eachother for several years and there references to close friends and relatives are not fully explained. Note: it is sometimes difficult to understand Letwin because of her thick accent. TOPICS - grocery store business; living conditions; childcare; night school; economic support of mother and sister in Latvia; immigration quotas; infant care and child rearing; children's education; socioeconomic status; intellectual interests; family life; family relationships; living arrangements; husband's work history; assimilation; social life; demographics of her customers; meal preparation and storage; life during the Depression; abortions; and neighborhood race relations;son's school experiences in Black school; neighborhood race relations; family history; life during the Depression; voting; garment work; wages and hours; clothing styles; living conditions; visits to USSR; family Holocaust victims; CP activities; effect of CP membership on her business;
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Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Visibility | Actions |
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3489411927506948-refbletwin5.mp3 | 2023-10-20 | Public | Download | |
9801507076494151-refbletwin6.mp3 | 2023-10-20 | Public | Download |