About This Item

  • Call NumberBJHP_0192
  • Summary(00:40) Born in Brooklyn, February 18, 1945. Mother born in the US, grandfather came from Poland in 1913, brought family to US in 1917, settled in Williamsburg -- (04:30) Mother grew up in Brooklyn on East 5th street. Met Ron’s father at the Jewish Community House on Bay Parkway and 79th street. He was part of a group of young men on their way to play baseball -- (06:20) Family lived in Gravesend. Family traditional Jewish, not religious but observed the holidays. Ron went to Hebrew school. The family went to Temple Beth El, a conservative synagogue on avenue T where he did his bar mitzvah -- (08:10) Went to PS 238 -- (09:25) Growing up in Gravesend in the 50’s, 60’s, a predominantly Jewish neighborhood with some Italian families. Used to play ball games with neighborhood children -- (10:00) Baseball player, fan of Dodgers and Jackie Robinson. Collects memorabilia -- (12:00) Joined Temple Beth Emeth v'ohr Progressive Shaari Zedek in 1984 and served as president from 2004 to 2009 -- (17:30) Became Brooklyn Borough Historian in 2002 -- (21:15) Moved to Flatlands -- (23:05) Dodgers collector -- (26:10) Science teacher at PS 219 from 1970 to 2001, at Yeshiva of Flatbush from 2001 to 2009 -- (27:00) Jewish life in Brooklyn : after WWII, two million Jews in Brooklyn. Population dwindled in 50s and 60s. Many moved to Long Island, New Jersey, Staten Island. The largest concentration of Jews in the US. Many orthodox communities.
  • Date2020-01-20
  • Physical Description1 audio file (35 minutes) : digital, MP3
  • CreatorSchweiger, Ron
  • CollectionBrooklyn Jewish History Project
  • Cite AsBrooklyn Jewish History Project, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
  • Formatsound recording-nonmusical
  • Genreinterviews
  • NoteTitle supplied by cataloger. Audio interview conducted 2020 January 20, by Ariane Loeb at Brooklyn Public Library. Collected through the Brooklyn Collection Jewish History Project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is funded by the David Berg Foundation.
  • SubjectJews--Identity ; Baseball ; Brooklyn Dodgers (Baseball team)
  • PlaceCrown Heights (New York, N.Y.)Flatbush (New York, N.Y.)
  • RightsThis work is covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Users are free to share and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes as long as appropriate credit is given to the source and new material created with this work is shared under the same conditions.
  • TitleThe Schweiger family. Oral history interview with Ron Schweiger conducted on 2020 January 20.