Tillie (Antonia) Eisenberg Berger, lovingly called Baba by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, 93 years old, endured a tragic morning on February 24, 1976. It was the funeral of my father Samuel Berger, her first-born child. Late that afternoon, more than an hour before shiva visitors would arrive, the family sat in what had been my father's living room in Brooklyn, near Prospect Park. We began to talk about the history of the family. Though tired and her voice hoarse, Baba joined in the conversation.

Here was a time to learn more about the family story. Luckily, a great-grandchild had a cassette recorder. With it set to "record", her daughters Lillie Connor and Esther Reimer, my sister Myra Shays and I asked Baba about the old days. She did her best to answer. Lillie and Esther, who remembered the Lower East Side and the early years on West 8th Street in Brooklyn, told much of the story. We talked (and cross-talked) until the 60-minute tape was full.

Back in Cleveland I had copies of the tape made and gave one to each cousin the next time we met.  Sadly, it was after Baba's funeral, only ten months later.

When tapes became obsolete, the recording was copied to a compact disk. This week it was converted again, to two digital (mp3) files which I have uploaded to this page.

You can now hear these long-silent voices speaking about life more than a century ago. Memories of living in a crowded Lower East Side tenement apartment with no bathroom, living in an apartment behind the butcher store, do-it-yourself weddings, the poultry business in Brooklyn, and more. 

Arnie Berger 
Cleveland, Ohio   January 27, 2022
 

Part One
(30 minutes)

Baba in 1973

Part Two
(30 minutes)