Schedule of Topics used in interviews with the Manchester Jewish Community
INTERVIEWEE
Name
Date of birth
Place of birth
PARENTS
names
Birthplaces
Memories of homeland – trade, social position, religious position
Reasons for migration
Reasons for choice of Manchester
When migrated
Anything brought from homeland.
OCCUPATION
of parent, son, daughter
How was job obtained
How was Work organised i.e. did they work for themselves or for others
If they worked for others - what part did they play
Who was the employer
Hours
Close early Friday in the winter
Wages/Piece work
How paid
Unions
Strikes
Conditions of work
Physical size of the place
Composition and she of workforce
- Jews, non-Jews
- men, women.
- employer’s relations
Who did what
Language spoken
Relationships between workforce - go out with boy/girlfrom work
Atmosphere at work
Slack periods/dead horse
Overtime work, legal or illegal
Perks
Attitude towards Jewish/non Jewish workers if a non-Jewish/Jewish firm
Any diseases associated with the occupation
RELIGION
1. Sabbath observance
a) Work Friday night or Saturday
b) Cook …Sabbath Goy …
c) Travel
d) Carry
e) Synagogue attendance by mother, father, brothers, sisters
2. Dietary laws
a) Separate milk and meat
b) Eat out
c) Kosher meat
3. Festivals
- major and minor
- Tabernacles
4. Sheital worn by Mother?
5. Father
a) beard
b) payers
c) wears Tzitzis
d) davens threetimes a day
6.Mezuzah on doors
7. Ever ask aSheila - to whom?
Moral Virtues Stressed
Moral Vices to Avoid
CHEDER/TALMUD TORAH
Which one
Which Rebbe
Number of Children
Payment
How often attend How long lessonsForm of Tuition Language of Tuition
Zionist Slant
Room of cheder
Discipline – cane
Barmitvah cheder
What else did Rebbe do
CHILDREN
Earliest Memory
Stories told as a child
Games
Jewish games
Gamble as children
Where played and went
Who played with - non Jews
language spoken
Did girls and boys play together
Did girls and boys play the same games
member of a gang
Relationship with the police - names for police
Any Fights
Ever insulted /attacked as a Jew
Visit other homes, Jewish and non Jewish
How were non Jewish homes different
What was read
Who helped mother at home
How family survived and economised
Who controlled the household
Who decided on meaIs
Who disciplined the children
who decided on religious observances of the family
who decided what happened to children after school
FOOD
Regular daily meals
Special Sabbath mea1
HEALTH
illnesses as Children
Doctor
who paid Doctor
Any Jewish Doctors
Adult health
Illnesses of other Jews
SCHOOL
Which one
Teachers - Nicknames - Jewish, non-Jewish
How taught
Discipline - cane
School friends - where from - Did you visit them?
Any children who could not understand English?
Relations between Jews and non-Jews.
Discrimination for or against Jews or non-Jews
Playground activities
Parent involvement
Meals
Clothing
School Clubs
Day trips, Camps
Scholarships - How got on at school
Enjoy School?
Activity at weekends
Activity during school holidays.
What happened after left school
School play any role in finding you a job
How did you obtain your job?
HOUSE
Type of house
Rooms – bathroom, toilet, cellar, attics
Furnishings - floor coverings
ornaments
decorations
Cooking arrangements - utensils
Crockery, tablecloth.
Sleeping arrangements.
Garden
Yard and contents
Steps - stoned
Soundness of house- bugs, rodents
Outward appearance of house – curtains, flowers
Rented or bought
landlord
Who collected rent
maid
Lodgers
Animals
How moved from one house to another
STREET
Length
Cobbled or paved
Number of houses
Physical characteristics
Neighbours - name
occupation children
dependent upon charity
Shops, street traders
Which shops they visited
Street characters
Street entertainers
Which houses they visited in & outside of street
What those houses were like
who visited parents’ house
How family spent evenings
Street communal activities
- money clubs
- street celebrations
- street incidentse. g. deaths, funerals, evictions moonlight flits
- street occasions e.g. weddings, hostilities
ADOLESCENCE
How spend spare time
in street
gambling - why?
Cinema, theatre, music halls
Lewis’s
cafes
visit town
Ice palace
Roller skating rink
drink
boxing booths
Clubs - Jewish, non-Jewish Societies, Jewish, non-Jewish
Dances, Tea time dances
Monkey runs
DANCE Halls
Who go with
Who dance with? Jew or Gentile
Degree sexual freedom
Did parents know going out with Gentile? How keep it from them?
Courting customs.
How meet wife, How long courted
How asked to marry, Parents’ consent
Wheremarried
Dowry, Where live
Did wife continue to work
1st. WORLD WAR
Do you remember beginning 1st. World War? Did
Did you/father fight in 1st. world war?
or were you/father an enemy alien - internment, identity card
If fought - what regiment?
Where fought? Relationship with Gentile soldiers
Rememberair raids
Any gangs 1st. World War?
Any anti German feeling?
Any anti-Jewish feeling?
Any Jewish gangs?
Food shortages - Black market
What happened to wife during war.
How did 1st. World War affect your outlook and wayof life (religious beliefs).
Did (all) Jewish boys join the army?
If not, what did they do?
How did the war affect Jewish businesses?
End of 1st. World War.
Attitude of family towards family deaths in the War.
ADULT LIFE
Clubs - Societies
How conducted for what purpose,
Where meet, Members
How often meet
leaders
Ritual
POLITICS
Who vote for
meetings
ZIONISM
Meetings, Regular subscriptions
members of the Society
Blue box- who put it there, how often collected.
Follow events in Palestine?
Zionist activities in Manchester?Wizo.
OCCUPATION
How trade changed over the years.
What were you when retired?
When retired.Wife work.
COMMUNITY
Communal leaders, Did you meet them
Any streets poorer than own?
Any streets richer than own? Which ones?
Difference between Hightown, Redbank and Strangeways.
Visit non Jewish districts
Disreputable people in the community
What did you think of the Reformers?
Anti-Semitism - ever experience hostility?
30's - Blackshirt activities?Anti-fascist activities?
Where? when?
Refugees from Hitler's Germany.
OCCUPATIONS
How did you become a …….
How did you learn the skills involved?
PICTURE FAKING
Details of operation
Methods of approach
Where went, town/district/street.
How went, Lodgings, food
How long away - Sabbath? Organiser/ middle man.
Canvassers.
Artist/painter Photographer
Costs of - enlargement
artist moulding mount frame
Prices charged, Full or part time
How long a picture faker?
When finished picture faking?
KLAPPERS
When?
First item he collected then others
Where go
Agent or self employed
Money made - how much paid for thugs? Carry
How picked districts, towns and streets. Patter at door.
Reception at door/trouble/anti sem.
Disposal of items - where to
how much received, keep any
Meeting places
Clubs
Nicknames
Words, phrases used.
Trouble with police
Law on entering houses
Hours of work
Where ate and stayed
How long away
Did klappers divide territory between them
Good times of year.
Differences between WIC/MIC/UIC/areas
Attitude towards different areas and people.
MARKET STALL HOLDERS
Where went
Days - Sabbath? Food
licence for stall -where hired stall
Union or Association
Resistance & competition from stall holders where got goods
How made goods marketable
Methods of sale
How got goods to market
How many others were Jewish?
Part played by others in the family or others
SCOTCH DRAPERS/HAWKERS/PEDLARS/STREETTRADERS
How built up connections
When went, Where went
What sort of house deal with Relationship with clients
What sold
Weekly payments
Non-payment
where obtained goods
How they paid for goods
Where stored goods - base of operations.
Howcarried goods
Any assistance
Income - profits
Was territory divided
Hours
Language difficulties
Anti-semitism
MONEY LENDING
Where
Licence/law - rates of interest
How big - loans
% charge per week, per annum.
Clients - Jews or non-Jews?
Common amounts for loan.
Credentials of clients.
Bad debts, Hours
How many worked with you?
How regarded by other Jews?
Did you set up on yourown?
Did you do anything else?
Did you teach your child the trade?
Did you want your child to follow you?
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