Interview
Sweet has long been a subject of interest to the Wisconsin Jewish Archives, but would not consent to an interview, We were alerted to him through our connections in the Madison Jewish community and also by articles in the local newspapers. Unexpectedly on July 26, 1979, I [interviewer Sara Leuchter] received a call from Mrs. Katz, informing me that she and Sweet were in town for a few days and that Sweet was available for taping the following day.
I arranged to meet with Sweet on July 27, 1979, at the home of his son Norman in Madison. The interview lasted for two and one-half hours, and Sweet showed few signs of tiring. His daughters were present for the beginning of the session, and their conversation in the adjacent room caused a few minor taping problems, until they consented to retire to the basement. Sweet's memory was selective; he was able to recall in great detail several Yiddish plays he had seen in London, but he was unable to remember either the name of his second son or the maiden name of his wife. His recollections of Jewish life in Madison are spotty, but he does a remarkable job in conveying the anti-Semitic feelings of some of his fellow-workers. Sweet provides an interesting account of the life of Jews in his Russian village, and of the cunning involved in his escape to London.
Abstract to the Interview
The tapes for this interview have two tracks: a voice track containing the discussion and a time track containing time announcements at intervals of approximately five seconds. The abstract below lists, in order of discussion, the topics covered on each tape, and indicates the time-marking at which point the beginning of the particular discussion appears.
Thus, the researcher, by using a tape recorder's fast-forward button, may find expeditiously and listen to discrete segments without listening to all of the taped discussion. For instance, the user who wishes to listen to the topic on “TRAVELING RABBIS” should locate the place on the second track of side one, tape one, where the voice announces the 09:10 time-marking (the voice says at this point, “nine minutes, ten seconds”), and at this point switch to the first track to hear the discussion. The discussion on “TRAVELING RABBIS” continues to approximately 11:15 at which point discussion of the next topic (“MORE ON HEBREW EDUCATION”) begins.
Notice that in most cases sentences beneath each headline explain more about the contents of the topic. For example, the sentences under “TRAVELING RABBIS” give further details on what appears on the tape between 09:10 and 11:15.
The abstract is designed to provide only a brief outline of the content of the tapes and cannot serve as a substitute for listening to them. However, the abstract will help the researcher easily locate distinct topics and discussions among the many minutes of commentary.
