My Thoughts Were on America: The Immigration of Isadore Flaschner

When Grandpa Flaschner retired in the 1960s, his daughter, thinking of ways to keep him busy, came up with the idea that he should write out the stories he told about his childhood. She typed his handwritten stories, and his grandson wove the stories into a semblance of order. Grandpa Flaschner's stories, translated from Yiddish, provide a colorful history of life in a small town in Galicia. Being thoughtful of other generations, he left these memories for their sharing. His voice speaks out to you in his declarative and straightforward way, with a mild Yiddish accent. If you listen well, you also hear a gentle and lyrical, sometimes sardonic, soul.

"We have here an authentic voice, telling in detail what life in a Galician shtetl (Mikulince) was like around the turn of the 19th to 20th century. Every detail feels important, from the description of mud to the tailors who sewed clothes for a young married woman to last her lifetime." Joan Moscovitch Webb