Interview with Evelyn Torton Beck, April 4, 1975, Madison, Wisconsin

Partial Transcript: Evelyn discusses how European Jews typically do not have middle names and how she took her maiden name, Torton, as her middle name. She was born in Vienna, Austria in 1933 and lived there until she was five years old. Her father was arrested by the Gestapo in 1938 and sent to a concentration camp. With a lot of effort and money, Evelyn's family was able to get her father out of the concentration camp and they fled to Italy. They lived in Italy for one year and escaped to America in 1940 on one of the last ships.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn's father was from Poland and her mother was from Czechoslovakia. Her father went to Vienna when he was fifteen and started his own business.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn has very fleeting memories of Europe. She remembers her father being in the hospital in Italy and spending time with her brother.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn's father had an aunt in America with successful sons who procured the Tortons with money and a visa to come to the United States.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn was able to pick up languages very quickly. She learned German, Italian, English, and Yiddish. Her father spoke Yiddish, but her mother did not. The family did not speak Yiddish at home and Evelyn learned the language elsewhere.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn was not allowed to attend school in Europe because she was Jewish. The family was also not allowed into certain stores and could not buy butter.

Partial Transcript: The family went to Brooklyn upon arriving in the United States.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn attended various Jewish schools. She first went to a talmud torah, where she learned Hebrew, but then transferred to other Yiddish schools. She also got involved in Zionism and joined Hashomer Hatzair at the age of ten. This organization was the most formative part of her Jewish education. She quit the movement after a few years when her favorite leader left the organization.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn thinks that her parents always belonged to a temple and that they were most likely conservative Jews. She only attended temple on high holidays.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn does not remember having many interacts with the gentiles in her neighborhood. She remembers that they had a benign relationship. There were thirty-five students in her class at school and only five students were not Jewish. Evelyn did not have any best friends who were gentiles, but her parents had non-Jewish acquaintances.

Partial Transcript: Almost all of her parent's friends were immigrants. Evelyn discusses her family's stereotype of the "real American."

Partial Transcript: Her parents wanted Evelyn to date Jewish boys, attend temple, and belong to a youth group. She discusses an incident where her mother did not like one of Evelyn's past boyfriends because they were the exact same age.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn majored in English and German during her undergrad. She completed her masters at Yale in teaching through the German program.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn's parents openly forbad her from dating non-Jews.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn's maternal grandmother and paternal aunt remained in Germany after the family left Europe, causing the family tremendous worry about their safety. Evelyn does not remember knowing the details of what was going on in Germany until much later.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn does not have any recollection of any efforts on the part of her parents to get people out of Nazi Germany.

Partial Transcript: Her parents strongly disapproved of Jews marrying non-Jews. Two of her mother's closest friends married non-Jews and remained in Vienna and survived the war.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn cannot think of any women she knew growing up who went into a traditionally male occupation, like becoming a doctor. Her mother greatly admired any women with professional accomplishments, because she was not allowed to attend school past the age of sixteen.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn was miserable as a stay at home mom. She faced a lot of disapproval from her husband and others when she went back to school to get her PhD.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn was not aware of any prejudice against her for being a woman while in graduate school. She belonged to the comp-lit department at UW-Madison. Evelyn talks about a professor who did not take her graduate work and dissertation seriously.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn discusses some of the expectations other people had for her while she was going through graduate school. She also talks about a friend who was having trouble getting her dissertation accepted because her male peers did not value the topic of her dissertation.

Partial Transcript: The comp-lit department is not as dominated by men as some other disciplines, but men are all in charge of the department.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn thinks some changes are starting to occur in academia, but it is hard for her to say if the are happening on a nationwide scale.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn initially had trouble finding a job because some universities felt that her focus in Yiddish literature was too specialized. She feels that UW-Madison values her work and her Yiddish classes are popular. She also talks about how the discipline is becoming more accepted and respected in universities across the country.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn describes Singer as charming, a good listener, and an enjoyable writing partner. The first time the pair met, they found a common link between Evelyn's graduate work and a short story that Singer had just written called "A Friend of Kafka." She translated Singer's work.

Partial Transcript: Evelyn has many interests, including Kafka, translation, German, women's literature, and Yiddish literature.