Oral history interview with Morris David Rosen, Dorothy (Dutch) Idalin Gelson Cohen and Mordecai (Mortie) Cohen, 1995.

ArchivalResource

Rosengarten, Dale, 1948-. Oral history interview with Morris David Rosen, Dorothy (Dutch) Idalin Gelson Cohen and Mordecai (Mortie) Cohen, 1995.

Oral history interview with Morris David Rosen, Dorothy (Dutch) Idalin Gelson Cohen and Mordecai (Mortie) Cohen, 1995.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50406899

In the interview, first cousins Morris David Rosen and Dorothy (Dutch) Gelson Cohen, along with her husband Mordecai (Mortie) Cohen, speak of their lives growing up in Charleston, South Carolina, and elsewhere. Dutch Cohen was born in Poughkeepsie, NY, in 1919 to Louis Gelson (originally Getchen) and Zelda Rosen (originally Rahelly), both from shtetls near Moscow. Members of both families, including Morris Rosen's father, Sol (b. ca. 1905) immigrated, in various stages, to the Poughkeepsie area in the early 1900s. Sol Rosen left Poughkeepsie for the Charleston area, ca 1912. He and his wife, American-born Annie Blatt, opened a general merchandise store in the Awendaw area and invited his sister Zelda and brother-in-law Louis down to join them in the business; they came in 1919, soon after their daughter Dutch's birth in Poughkeepsie; Morris, her first cousin, was born soon after. After only one year, Louis died. Zelda ran a store, mostly in Charleston, by herself and raised three children, keeping kosher. Sol and his wife Annie, more religious and observant than he, owned a series of stores in Meggett, Charleston, and then again in Meggett and back to Charleston and were very successful. The cousins, Morris and Dutch, discuss their growing up on the fringe of the Charleston Jewish community, their minimal Jewish educations, and the fact that they experienced no anti-Semitism. Morris's son, Robert, one of the interviewers, reflects on the irony of his Jewish knowledge and identity being greater than previous generations. Mordecai (Mortie) Cohen speaks of his growing up in St. Matthew's, SC, the lack of anti-Semitism there, his experiences with children of other religions and his being jokingly baptized by a minister. Morris Rosen discusses his experiences in World War II; none of the interviewees was aware of the Holocaust until after the war.

Sound recording : 2 sound cassettes : digital.Video recording : 1 videocassette.Transcript : 64 p. ; 28 cm.

College of Charleston, Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library