In the early 1900s, thousands of Eastern European Jews and Italians settled in a Portland, Oregon neighborhood known as South Portland. Since first writing "A Walking Tour of Historic Jewish Portland" author Polina Olsen has conducted numerous tape-recorded interviews with people who grew up in the community. Now, Olsen has collected and edited their memories in a new book, "The Immigrants' Children, an Oral History of Portland, Oregon's Early Jewish & Italian Neighborhood. An organized effort to disperse Eastern European ...
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In the early 1900s, thousands of Eastern European Jews and Italians settled in a Portland, Oregon neighborhood known as South Portland. Since first writing "A Walking Tour of Historic Jewish Portland" author Polina Olsen has conducted numerous tape-recorded interviews with people who grew up in the community. Now, Olsen has collected and edited their memories in a new book, "The Immigrants' Children, an Oral History of Portland, Oregon's Early Jewish & Italian Neighborhood. An organized effort to disperse Eastern European Jews around the country, the end of the railroad line and failed homesteading attempts were among the reasons immigrants ended up in Portland. In Olsen's book, people describe how their parents and grandparents left or often fled Europe and their day-to-day life once they settled. They recall seven synagogues within walking distance, the neighborhood Roma (Gypsies), Yiddish movie theaters, boarding houses and ethnic markets. In the Working chapter, people reminisce about junk peddlers, shopkeepers, and wine making during Prohibition. Several people remembered political organizations such as the local branch of ICOR, a Soviet attempt to create a Jewish homeland in Siberia. Although a 1960's urban renewal project destroyed much of the neighborhood, those who lived there remember it fondly. "The Immigrants' Children, An Oral History of Portland, Oregon's Early Jewish & Italian Neighborhood", tells their story in their own words.
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