Un récit de vie en yiddish alsacien : Henry Schwab de Gerstheim, Bas-Rhin

Abstract

This article presents the “Memoirs” of Henri Schwab (born in 1890), a Yiddish speaker from the Alsatian village of Gerstheim, in the Bas-Rhin. His testimony, recorded in the 1960s, will be published separately, as well as other life stories (Marcel Sulzer, Arthur Zivy about Durmenach) published since 1995 by Les Cahiers du CREDYO (Mulhouse).The interview is composed both of prewritten texts read by Henri Schwab during the discussion and of spontaneous dialogues between the writer, the interviewer and other informants.The presentation highlights the most significant points of the interview (family memories, education, tradition and customs of Alsatian Jews) as well as some linguistic aspects, like the place of Yiddish language in Alsace in the decades preceding the Great War and the characteristics of Western Yiddish, as spoken by Henri Schwab.