Here I am; Capturing the Stories of the South Wales Jewish Community

There have been two projects in Cardiff over the last 10 years that have used oral history to capture the stories of the Cardiff Jewish community, as well as preserving written records. The talk will look at how we went about it and some of the advantages of oral history, and will give some fascinating snippets from the stories people had to tell. It will also look at what we learnt about identity and belonging and the diversity of experience of the community, from the last Barmitzvah in a synagogue in Cologne ten days before Kristallnacht to the first Jewish wedding in Kidwelly, a village in West Wales.

Colin Heyman was involved in the Hineni Oral History project which started the work in 2009 and John Minkes of the Jewish History Association of South Wales has continued the work over the last three years. In our other lives, Colin is a trainer and facilitator, John a retired criminologist. Our other joint activity is going to see Cardiff City play