Anna Weinstein
Anna was born Anna Kraus in Chicago around 1906, the eldest child of parents who had met working in the factories of New York. Her mother had run away from home in Russia at thirteen, worked her way to London, and saved passage to America; she had survived along with one brother out of twelve children, and she remained fiercely independent all her life. When Anna was five, in 1911, the family followed her father to Dallas, a place he had long wanted to reach. The journey was hard, and shortly before it the family lost a young daughter to diphtheria. Anna had no living relatives on either side of her family.
In Dallas the family lived near downtown, first on South Akard and later in the Live Oak and Pearl area and on McKinney. After her father left for California, Anna's mother supported the family by renting rooms and taking in boarders, later remarrying a shoemaker who kept a small shop on Elm Street. As the eldest, Anna washed diapers, cleaned house, and walked downtown from a young age to pay the family's bills at the light and gas companies and the leather suppliers, borrowing through the Morris Plan Bank to keep things going. She said she had no childhood and never had a doll. She attended Mrs. Walker's private school and later Metropolitan Business School.
Anna did not learn she was Jewish until she was about ten, when children at school called her names and her mother, who was agnostic and never lived in a Jewish neighborhood, confirmed it. Eager to know Jewish life, she sought out other Jewish young people and met her future husband Abe through Bertha Rubenstein. They married when she was sixteen. Determined that her sons receive a Jewish education, she sat through Sunday school and Hebrew lessons with old Mr. Harris. A member of Shearith Israel for over fifty years and its sisterhood since the 1920s, and also active at Temple Emanu-El and in Hadassah, B'nai B'rith, and the Council of Jewish Women, she recalled cooking, serving, and cleaning up for sisterhood functions herself. During World War II she repeatedly went to immigration officials on behalf of her mother, who was watched and faced possible deportation over her socialist beliefs.
Full Transcript
This is Ginger Jacobs. It is March 24th, 1981, and I will be taping Mrs. Anna Goleman. Okay, we're talking to Mrs. Anna Goleman. Weinstein. Weinstein, I'm sorry. I knew you as Mrs. Goleman many years ago. And it's March the 24th, 1981. And how long have you lived in Dallas, New York? Let me see. Can you hear me? Because my voice doesn't carry very good, really. I don't think so. Let's see. Fifty... I'm trying to figure out. I didn't have it. When did your parents come to Dallas? They came to Dallas when I was five years old. Where were you going? Chicago. I didn't know that.
So, uh, five years old and I'll be 75, so it'll be 70 years ago. In 1911 then you came, I guess. What month did you get? 70 years ago. In June, my birthday, it'll be my birthday. Oh, you see. Yeah. Uh, why did they happen to come to Dallas? Well, my father always wanted to come to Texas, and he came first. and at that time I was the eldest and when we left Chicago my mother was pregnant with my baby brother Harry and then the interim right before we came we lost she lost a little girl from the black diphtheria plague so we followed my and it was a long ride we lived on salami I think for two days and two nights in those years.
You remember that. Oh sure. And when we came down here and he met us and he had one room, you know those days everybody was so poor, he met us at the station and he was working for Sears and Roebuck which is now on Lamar, the wholesale place. Then he met us and they found a little larger quarters and at that time where we were living was on Yonge and South Ackerd just a block of store away now from the auditorium Okay Then we found larger quarters and we finally became a little settled He decided he didn't want to live here anymore. He wanted to go to California.
So my mother said she had had it and just told him to go on to California. Well, we were all so poor and had so little that my mother went ahead and this place rented a couple of rooms and fed a couple of people, you know, and then she had my brother Harry, you know, she's pregnant. Well, your father didn't go to California? Yeah, he left, went to California. They separated. Let's see. Anyway, it wasn't easy going, let's put it that way. Were there a lot of people renting rooms at that point in time? This must have been in the early 19th. some people and not only that, my mother had a habit of taking in strangers anyway.
She was very good and she was very smart, too smart for her own good really. And anybody that needed a place to sleep and eat, they managed even if they put them on the floor. You know, you've heard that over the years. Yeah. About what year time was this? Oh, I would say maybe I was then about seven years old. Seven years old? So that was like in 1920? I don't know. Do you remember the war years were setting yet? Yeah. The first world war? Yeah. I think I was about 11 or 12 then. Now, were you first generation? Did your parents come from Europe?
My mother came, yeah. My mother met my father in the factories in New York, and that's how they got together. But see, I have no relatives. I don't have a living relative. What do you mean? Have a job very big time. I don't have one. My mother ran away from home when she was 13 and came to London. She was a great gal. And she worked till she saved up enough money to 60 and then she came to this country. Why did she run away from home? Did she ever tell you? Yes, yes. She came from very fine, fine, wealthy background. And out of 12 children, and this is going to be very interesting, out of 12 children, her older brother and she survived.
She was a baby and he was the older one. From what I could gather there must have been a lot of tuberculosis In what country In Russia where I don know exactly In Russia And she was farmed out in order to survive You know, in those years, they lost some tuberculosis or didn't know how to take care of the babies. You know, they'd lose them. Anyway, her mother passed away. And when her mother passed away, her father married a much younger woman with a child. And she didn't like this woman. She was very unhappy, so she ran away. So she came to London and she worked for enough passage to come to this country.
When she came to this country, she was getting mail from one of his daughters. I don't know how many children there were. And the father, her brother found the letter and he told her he wanted to have nothing to do with my mother again because he thought she was encouraging her to bring the daughter. So we have no relatives. Now my father, I remember when we were in Chicago, there was an uncle that came to see us left his family somewhere to see if he liked the area the country something and he went back so I don't have a relative on my mother's side or father's side and there was some in Clarksburg that I had seen once but I don't know what's happened now your father's name was Kraus and your mother was Kraus and then Levine then that was the second marriage for Levine so she had gone through so much that I could understand why she was so agnostic.
I think whether she lost faith, I don't know what it was. But I've always on the other hand had thought, you know, and I didn't know I was a Jewish until I was 10 years old. Oh, you didn't go to Fernestee? Now, how was it that you said you didn't know you were a Jewish until you were 10? Because my mother never lived in a Jewish area. You know that, even if she lived on McKinney. We never lived in a Jewish area. she always I don't know what it was I could never figure it out but this is the way she was and but how come me to find out that I was a Jewish when I was in public school they kept calling Jew baby Jew baby so I came home I said my mother what's a Jew baby she says you're Jewish now she would have matzah but we had nothing else we didn't know when Purim came around we didn't know when anything else came around you know as I got older why I sort of inquired but she was Wanted no part?
How about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? Like any other day That right You know that Ginger I sure Yeah Okay I not adding to it That the way she felt No that fine You know that fine And I tell you with all that she was a brilliant woman and everything that she said 50 years ago, because we used to fight over it, is coming to pass. You'll agree to that, too? Yes. Right. Mm-hmm. Very independent. Very independent person. Yeah. So, you had absolutely no Jewish education. No Jewish background whatsoever. What about after you were 10 and when your friends were Jewish? Well, as I got older, the first Jewish person I met was Bertha Rubenstein.
That's how I met Abe. And I think she had a birthday party or something like that. I was 12 or 13 years old, and that's how I met Abe, through the Shepsis. And at 15, we were going to get married. And we were dating and going together and everything. How old was Abe at that point? Abe was four and a half years older than I was. And I got married when I was sixteen and he was twenty and a half. Oh, I can write a book. I can write a book, believe me, on the hardships and everything. What was your secular education? I went to high school.
What high school did you go to? We went, my mother had a fuss with the public school, so she put me to private school. Mrs. Walker's. I told you she was some individual. It was a private small school. Now, does Mrs. Walker's school, is it? No, no, it's been gone for many, many, many years. After all, if Abe were alive, I'd be married over 57 years, so it's a long time. It was a small little school off of Peek and Bryan. It was in a home, you know, in those years. I don't know what What you got mad about. I never did. Now did you complete the equivalent of a high school education with Mrs.
Walker? Yeah. And did they? Except it came to John, which was in algebra. So there were private schools then? Yeah, small private schools. Were they accredited? Would they have worked? Yeah, I think so. I really don't remember Ginger because I knew I'd never get to college. I knew that we couldn't afford it, you know. And now with that, I did go to business school. My mother saw that I got to business school. And weren't your sister president here once, years ago? I was president of Sheriff Israel. Now what type of business school was there? It was called Metropolitan Business School. Many years ago. Now, when did you start observing, or did you start observing Jewish holidays and traditions?
Well, I went to a young, well, I never, I didn't until after I got married, but I did go to the junior, I remember schlepping my sister Fanny at Temple Emanuel in South Dallas, and I went to the junior council, Jewish council, and I went, I think, once, and that was all I was able to go about. because I was the eldest and there was a lot of responsibility. I was washing diapers and cleaning and my mother got a bigger house and I was not so much boarders but roomers and every day I had to come home and wash diapers and clean the house. Alright now what's the difference between the boarder and a roomer?
Well a boarder is one that took meals and roomers are just one that rent the rooms, let you rent rooms out to. Ah, okay. Alright, you know where the Sheraton is now on Live Oak? Yes. Well, right around the corner, south, my mother had a big two-story house, and that was how we survived, with my stepfather, who was a shoemaker. See? And where was his shop? Just on Elm, on Elm Street, several places on Elm Street, all the way from the Majestic Theater to where, which is now Hart Furniture, I think, Hart Furniture. Okay. Blue Shield Blue Cross. Okay that was then between Harwood? It was between, no let's see, you know where Tych is, Joskies is downtown?
Well he was in that area all the way down past the Blue Shield Blue Cross. a block past that. Alright, so that is between St. Paul and Pearl? Let me get this, no, no, it's further down. It was actually, uh, wait a minute, is that Irvey and then, let's see, what's next here? Irvey and then St. Paul and then Harwood. And Harwood all the way down through, um, uh, well, you know where Blue Shield, Blue Cross, Well another block past that. That is... That's now a real... that's now Expressway going through all that area. Yes, that's by the Expressway. I used to walk that when I was a kid all the time.
Now did he have different shops at that time He just had a little shoe shop you know He have thick shoes and he have a few new shoes you know that he would try to get people to come in you know But you can get your heels and soles for a quarter. Now it kills me. It costs you $10, $12. That's right. Yeah. Now, when you... was Abe observant? I think I was more observant than Abe was. Abe came from a very pious and religious family, but I think he had so much of it thrown at him that he didn't want, but I was the one that wanted to be a Jewess.
That's why you did talk in burning. Yeah, I wanted to be a Jewess, and I was determined that my boys would go to Sunday school. I used to sit out there and perspire in the old shul, and then I would take them to, at that time there was an old man, Harris, that taught Hebrew school, and I'd go to his house and sit out there and sweat, and I mean literally sweat for those kids to get a Hebrew education. It's what you, you know, it's not some of my members of my family are not that way. It's what I wanted to be. It's like you were a Gentile who converted.
That's right. Now, to what extent was your Jewish observance? Did you go to synagogues on all the holidays? Oh yeah. You go to the temple. Oh yeah. And to share at Israel. Been a member there over 50 years. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Oh, did you have a Seder in your home or did you... Always have Seders. Mm-hmm. Always. Always observed every holiday. Did you keep kosher? I did the first seven years. Then my husband said one day he was mixing things up and I said, look, we're not going to either. I'm doing this for you and your family. He said, I never asked you to do it to begin with.
So I gave it up. Yeah. I think if there was the most outstanding woman in Dallas. Oh, come on. Now, how long were you a member of Sheriff, or have you been a member of Sheriff as well? Oh, I'll say about, let's see, it must have joined, I guess, about 22, 23, 24 years. I imagine about 55 years, something like that. Or a good 55, I would think, yeah. And then your affiliation has remained the same over the years? Right, right. What about Jewish organizations? Honey, I belong to everything in the city of Dallas. You name it I belong When did you join your first Jewish organization Share at the Israel Sisterhood I think Mm Do you remember what year No I don but I think let see George Let see I would say when I was about 23 or 24 years old.
So if you're good on mathematics, you can kind of . I go, so about 1927. Yeah. I was afraid to do anything I didn't want to say anything. Anyway, so that would be about 1927 that you joined. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, it was my early 20s when I first. What was the sisterhood like then? Nothing like it is today. I'm sure. Nothing like it is today. I may be repeating myself. But what we would have to do, we planned the menu. For what? For luncheons or whatever functions. We'd have to buy the groceries. We would have to set up the tables, set up the chairs, and the linens and the silverware, everything that went with it.
We'd have to do the cooking. We had no dishwashers. We'd have to stay and clean up afterwards and come back and go in the kitchen and wash and dishes and pots and pans. They've got a sense today. They don't know what, that's why they don't want to work like we did. Somebody else would probably tell you the same thing. Anyway, how did you get your volunteers to do all this? Well, I don't know, for some reason it just seemed like it wasn't a social thing. It just seemed like the thing that they really wanted to do, to be a part of, I guess, a part of the sisterhood and the synagogue, you know.
Were these dinners fundraisers or was it part of a program? Well, mostly a lot of them were luncheons and they would be fundraisers or they would be, you know, programs too, like the Heverk Edition. I remember my first joined the Heverk Edition, Abe and I joined, could set that up in those years on Park Avenue, you know. Was the shul already on Park at Leakin then? I don't go back to when it was on Jackson at all. I was a kid then, but you know, mama wasn interested so I it was only after I got married and became an adult you know What Mm What are some of the changes that you seen some of the other changes that you seen at Sheriff Israel over the years Can you kind of block it out as far as periods are concerned?
Well, I think it has grown fantastically. I mean, like, in my days, they didn't have a Hebrew school. Hebrew school. They did have one on Grand Avenue, I think it was, what was the name? Harper. Yeah, but Abe's father should rest in peace, you know, he's very religious, insisted on old man Harris so they'd get their education. I think now that they have the Hebrew schools and the pre-kindergardens, I'm all for it. I mean, because this way a child starts in infancy to inherit the Jewish characteristics, you know. So I think it's gone a long way. What about the services of the synagogue and the setup as far as the- Well, I think that they're very good.
I mean, I enjoy-we don't go very often because of Sam's working hours. He gets up quarter to six, don't come home to six. But I think that they've come a long way and at least they're understandable when I joined they didn't have the lecture okay on Friday night and at that time the prayer books were all Hebrew okay so we did have come a long way in translating was there any English in the service at all very little very little Okay. Now, Sheriff Israel originally had an Orthodox Charter. Right. That's right. This is during the time that they were with that Orthodox Charter? Yeah. Right.
Is that correct? Okay. What about... I didn't realize, you know, Orthodox, conservative, I didn't know one from the other, you know. What about the length of the service? Do you remember as to how long the service was? Well, I would think the services would be just like they are today. Really, I don't remember them being that much different, you know. Except it was very boring when you didn't understand what it was all about, you know. Did the rabbis speak in English or in Yiddish on the behind the other days? Well, of course, Rabbi Gold was sort of a transition to, you know, more of English, and I think that's when the prayer books started getting changed, too.
Around that period before or after, I don't remember, you know. But then, as you said, I don't remember. Of course, but he spoke so above the average layman that I don't think anybody really understood. You know, at that generation, the people, most of the people, didn't understand very much English. You know, they had the old timers, you know, say, 40 years ago, you know. Because I used to hear those complaints from the old timers, you know, that they just read there, you know. Ah, okay. So there was somewhat of a gap between the old timers that they would read. What were some of the things that they felt should have been done?
I don't know. I always felt like that Rabbi Gold at that time. I really don't think, now this is my personal opinion, and I'm the kind of, if I can't say anything good, I don't want to say anything at all. I always felt like that he was here for his own purpose, was to benefit his, further his education. education and I think that he saw that my impression was with exception of the very prominent wealthy people that carried him that he sort of looked down on the average uh layman I mean this is what I usually look for in people ginger maybe because of my background see I'm the kind that goes for what would be the word of everybody calls me Pollyanna let's put it that way okay because I feel for people okay follow me yes I don't I don't look for the social advantages to further my myself that I'll make an inheritance from my mother and a lot of my independence from her too you better believe it yeah she was a very liberal lady as I remember her.
Very liberal, very clever. Yes. Can you tell us something about the organization that she was involved in? Well, all I know is that when she always said, and my mother and I want to believe her, that it was purely socialistic, not communistic. This is what she said. And you know, we had problems because she was going to be deported. Yes. Can you tell us a little bit about that and the time? Yeah, that was very rough for the simple reason that I didn't know and my sisters and brothers didn't know that she was being watched. What year Ah let me see was George missing It was all during World War II Okay When you know um Was this the Arbeiterring, uh, organization?
Oh, no, this was way past, way past the Arbeiterring. The Arbeiterring was more prominent than I remember singing there when I was around 12, 13 years old. years old. This was, they may have been watching her all those years. I don't know Ginger, but this was, I would say, during World War II. What was the organization then? I really don't know. I really don't know. She claimed that there was no such organization, that this is, people would come over and they would talk and so on and so forth, because we had many fights over it, you know. Sure. I was very upset about it, because not so much, like I said, love has come to pass.
it's for my children's sake. Right. You see, I was trying very hard to make a pleasant surroundings for them and I didn't want them to be, you know. In fact, Alvin, the youngest boy, had asked when he was in the service to be, he wanted to be sent across. And because of mama, they didn't, they didn't send him except in the United States. Well, you started to say something about her being watched and the problems that she had. Yes, she was being watched and she was being going to be deported and I went to the immigration by myself several times and cried on their shoulders and told them that we were all very responsible and very good Americans and so was she.
That this was her way of thinking and she was a free speaker and a free speaker and we didn't want her deported and I said you can look into my background, my husband's background, his family's background, my sisters and brothers, and you'll find out that none of us have those, we don't think the way that she does, you know, and I think because of her background, mama, they let her stay, but she was watched a long time. When did they finally stop watching her? I really don't know, because she was so secretive about everything that I really don't know. She would never say anything unless I'd fuss with.
I'd say, look what you're doing to your grandchildren, you know, think of them, you know. All right, you watch and see everything I'm saying is coming to... Did it have anything to do with McCarthy? Does McCarthy ever I think McCarthy must have started it This is my feeling She never said it She never said it And I would try to get a mental block on the whole thing you see Because I could see I was getting no where with her But I think that the whole time that when it started I feel like it. Years later, that's when I, you know. Now, what are some of the other Jewish organizations that you belong to?
I think you belong to AMC, Hadassah. AMC is American Medical? Yeah. I belong to, let's say so many, I belong to B'nai B'riff, I belong to a Council of Jewish Women, you name it. I mean almost everything except Orit and Ms. Rocky. Mm-hmm. Can you, on an overall basis, comment on some of the changes that have taken place within those organizations? No, because I'll tell you why. As busy as I am, Ginger, the only ones that I can really do for is Hadassah and Sheriff Israel, you know. I can divide myself so many ways, but I believe in all these organizations. I believe in what they're doing, so I pay my dues because I feel like without dues they can't.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Can't work. Well, all right, let's go back to Sheriff Israel's sisterhood that you're active in. What are some of the changes that you've seen over the period? Well, I find that some of the changes that the younger people are far more brilliant due to education, which most of my generation did not have. But I, and I think that their, their points of view are good, but I don't think that they are as diligent about working and, and they'll make all these remarks and they'll bring them up, but they don't put the effort there. Thank you. This is all I see when I go to the board meeting.
Do you see a change in some of the activities of the sisterhood? Yeah, which I think are very good. I think furthermore, I mean, all we had was a Sunday school. Now, I know my children lost out from Rabbi Gold. They really lost out because he was not interested in Sunday school. When I see these young women, the interests that they're taking, which to me is for the future of the youth, which I believe in. So I think it a very good change for the better Do you see a broader education Yes oh yes much more much more Does it seem to be as intense This I wouldn know because as I said the boys only went through Sunday school and that was all you know and their Hebrew was taken into another area So I don know but from what I can see now I can see from Sam grandchildren you know Joni that from what I see that what they getting is something my children never had a chance to get so I think it's much much more broader than a real let's go back about the Temple Emanuel and Sheriff Israel when I found out a couple of years after that I was actually a Jewish.
I was anxious to meet Jewish kids. So I'd heard about the Junior Council which was at Temple Emanuel. I found directions and I took my sister Fanny next to me and we slept on the streetcar and we went to this Temple Emanuel and to get in on this Junior Council but I never could go but one time because I had so many duties to do that I didn't get a chance to get back. Now where were you coming from? Where did you live at that point in time? At that time we lived where I'm talking about now around the Sheraton, off of Live Oak and Pearl.
Okay, about what year was that now? 12 and 75 would be what? I keep going by years. We need a pencil. All right now this was about what year? 1918. Okay. You were coming from the downtown area Right. To South Dallas. That's right. Downtown had only homes. Actually off of Elm Street. There was nothing but homes there. Okay. Off of Elm, you know, all around. In fact, at one time we lived where Medical Arts is, which was St. Paul. At one time we lived there, too. In Pacific. Yeah. And there was nothing but homes there before Medical Arts was ever there. Where did the downtown area start then?
It started where Sanger Brothers, oh, now where this college is now. El Centro. El Centro College. Okay. And it went down to like where Blue Shield, Blue Cross is there. And then on the north part, then that's like past Pearl. Yeah, that's it. Now, you were north of Elm Street then. About how much north were you on? Oh, just a couple of blocks, two or three blocks. So then you actually could walk to the downtown shopping? I walked all the time. I was the eldest. and on Saturday night when there was a little money they would put it in a little paper sack and I would walk up the railroad they had a railroad where now the expressway is and I was six seven eight years old because nobody ever attacked you in those days you were safe mm-hmm I used to pay all of my mother's six years old I was the oldest I'd go down pay all the bills downtown.
I've always had nothing but responsible. You were brilliant. Nothing but responsible. Now wait a minute. You went downtown and you paid the bills at which offices? What like? Oh, the light company and the gas company and then my stepfather would buy leather and he didn have any money so they give it to him on credit and I would go down there and when he have a little money I would pay what was the name of that I can remember the name of the leather company And in order to survive there was a Morris Plan Bank in those years so if he had material coming in he would borrow money from the Morris Plan Bank and I would take the money Did they give you a lollipop for all that?
I was a regular business manager. You are a witness. Now, did they have a passbook and you take your passbook to the life plan? Well, what I would do, he'd give us some money and he had this book and they would, you know, he would pay for what he had borrowed. That was the way they got by in those years. From the, what is it, there's no saying on that. What's the saying from hand to mouth? From hand to mouth. Are you helping her write her book? So then you would actually pay your daddy's bills and that gave him a chance not to worry about being pulled away from the work?
Well he had to work. He had to work. And also in those years, you know, he couldn't get away, so if it was during the summer I would take him hot food or either my mother would take him hot food you know couldn afford restaurants and they didn go in for restaurants in those days you know No You know the town was small you know Right before he went to town It was hot food I mean no sandwiches It was hot food You just slept with little pails and pots and pans. Right before he went to town. Now, this was the second... I stepped up.
This is where you said... Then your mother remarried within, what, a year or so after your father died? Oh, I really don't remember. Or left... I really don't remember. I was so unhappy at that time. children's memories, you can remember way back if they're sad, you know, things that happen much more sometimes than joy, you know, because I was the oldest now I have with responsibilities. Now did your mother also work in the home or, I mean, you know? Yeah, she would go down and help him on like, you know, sometimes in the evening or something. Now did she still take in boarders at that time?
My mother took in roomers even after I was married. Not boarders. You remember on McKinney? She was always running out of room. We were always sleeping on porches. She had two porches. She had two sleeping porches and beds in each one and we all slept on the porch. So there would be enough income coming into hell. My baby brother was seven years younger than me And I come home and there was diapers in the tub every day to wash I didn know what it was to play I never had a doll Would you believe me Well you making up for it now Well now you washed the diapers from your younger brothers and sisters That's right.
That's right. But you're making up for it today. And I never had a doll, believe me. When my birthday, I never got a present. They couldn't afford it. And not only Hanukkah, but when it was Christmas, my mother when it was Christmas. Did you hang a stocking? My mother put stockings with little nuts and little fruit, but that was Christmas. Yeah, it's interesting. I hung for Christmas. Were there, what are some of the things, what were some of the other things you did? For instance, what? When you were growing up, I mean other than paying bills and helping your wife get. I really had no childhood, Jane.
I had no childhood. And that was one reason I wanted to get married. I thought, maybe this can't go on forever. So what do I do? I step in with another family, but that's a different story. I was a kid. I was a kid. I was a kid. I was a kid. I was a kid. I was a kid. I was a kid. I was a kid. I was a kid. I was a kid. I was a kid. I was a kid.