Interview with Saul Kasdin, June 9, 1955, Madison, Wisconsin

Partial Transcript: Saul thinks he came to Madison, Wisconsin in 1891. He talks about the politics of Madison, Wisconsin at the time. He also discusses the liquor business and saloons in the city.

Partial Transcript: The city of Madison had a local prohibition, but Saul does not know the years that it was in effect. He talks about the German immigrants coming to Madison.

Partial Transcript: Saul was a cigar maker and he fell on hard times and could not make any money as a cigar maker. He came to Madison and started a business with his brother.

Partial Transcript: Saul is from a small town outside of Minsk, where his parents owned a store. The town in Europe had a small Jewish community. The town had three Jewish stores and two Jewish congregations.

Partial Transcript: Saul was sixteen years old when he left Europe and he made the journey alone. He had to be smuggled out of Russia because he did not have a passport. Saul does not remember what year he left Europe or how much it cost.

Partial Transcript: Saul arrived in New York, where he had cousins. He went to New Haven, where he worked as a peddler. He moved to St. Paul because his brother had a friend there. He was offered a job as a teacher in a small Jewish community, but he did not take the job. He eventually got a job in a cigar factory and moved to Chicago. After working as a cigar maker in Chicago, he came to Madison, Wisconsin.

Partial Transcript: Saul talks about the Jewish families who came to Madison and their occupations. He says the Jewish community did not take off in Madison until World War I.

Partial Transcript: Madison did not have a congregation when Saul arrived in the city. The Jewish community held services once or twice a year. He talks about the original members of the Madison Jewish community.

Partial Transcript: The Madison reformed congregation was dying out when Saul arrived in Madison.

Partial Transcript: Madison used to be a center for the grain business, before railroads took the grain directly to Milwaukee.

Partial Transcript: There was no Jewish congregation when Saul first arrived in Madison. After he came to Madison, other Jewish families started settling in the city and they decided that Madison needed an orthodox congregation.

Partial Transcript: Madison was a small city of about thirteen thousand when Saul first arrived. Most of the Jews settled in Madison's greenbush neighborhood.

Partial Transcript: Saul does not know any Jews in the areas surrounding Madison.

Partial Transcript: Saul cannot say if one thing in particular attracted Jews to Madison.

Partial Transcript: Saul talks about the formation of B'nai B'rith in Madison for non-German Jews. He also discusses the establishment of the Madison Talmud Torah.

Partial Transcript: Madison's first Jewish congregation was comprised of orthodox Russian Jews.

Partial Transcript: Saul owned a food store in Madison, but he is now retired.

Partial Transcript: Saul talks about specific Jewish families in Madison.

Partial Transcript: Saul was on the school board in South Madison for nine years.

Partial Transcript: Saul talks about the formation of the Jewish Lady's Society.

Partial Transcript: Saul was a charter member of the Madison B'nai B'rith.

Partial Transcript: Saul met his wife in Chicago.

Partial Transcript: Saul does not know how long he was a member of the Madison congregation.

Partial Transcript: Saul talks about the community of South Madison.

Partial Transcript: The Zionist organization in Madison was started by eastern European Jews in the greenbush neighborhood. The organization was established three or four years after Saul came to Madison and it worked to raise money for people going to Palestine.

Partial Transcript: Saul has traveled to Israel.

Partial Transcript: Saul discusses the history of Madison's fluctuating Jewish population.

Partial Transcript: Saul discusses the Beth Jacob conservation congregation.

Partial Transcript: Saul thinks the establishment of the department of Hebrew studies at UW-Madison is wonderful.

Partial Transcript: Saul thinks that many of the Madison Jews eventually became merchants. He also compares Jewish life in Madison and Europe.