The Bakery Born in a Kitchen Oven – Freund Baking Company

Story provided by Gladis Barker
Back in the 1850’s when Mrs. Moritz Freund baked Bohemian rye bread for her South St. Louis neighbors, she had no inkling she was starting an institution that was to become a lasting part of St. Louis tradition. Freund Olde Tyme Rye Bread – baked according to Mrs. Freund’s Old World [...]

Harry Sabol

The story of Harry Sabol, as told by his son Allen
Harry was born in Russia and came to the United States in 1904 after escaping from the Czar’s army. A tailor by trade, Harry set up shop in St. Louis at 321 North Jefferson Ave. with a sign, “Who Does Your Tailoring? Try Harry Sable.”
He [...]

Hilda Lebedun: Part II

Story was recorded at the Covenant House on May 20, 2008, by Michael Naclerio.
Six months later we were told to get our blankets and our bowls. We marched about six Kilometers past the guard towers with the men with machine guns pointed at us. That’s how I met Mengele. Dr. Mengele was tall, but not [...]

Hilda Lebedun: Part I

Story was recorded at the Covenant House on May 20, 2008, by Michael Naclerio.
I was born and raised in Czechoslovakia, in the Slovakia part. I had a beautiful family, one brother and two sisters. My father was a government employee. In the smallish city where I was born and raised, we were the only Jews, [...]

Jerry Baum

Story was recorded at the Covenant House on May 20, 2008, by Michael Naclerio.
I grew up in St. Louis, and my father was one of the men who built Beth Israel.  He also helped bring in Rabbi Eichenstein, the Head Rabbi of St. Louis at that time. We had a fight, the Rabbi and I. [...]

Alicia Rosenfeld

Story was recorded at the Covenant House on May 20, 2008, by Michael Naclerio.
When World War II started, the Army drafted my father. WWII ended in 1945, and I was 7 years old. One day, I was riding my tricycle, and, all of the sudden, people started yelling, “The War is over! The War is [...]

Sam Fox

Story was recorded at the Covenant House on May 20, 2008, by Michael Naclerio.
My father moved here from Russia when we was only 17 years old, and then he brought my mother and her family over when he had raised enough money to pay for their trip. They started raising me and my brothers and [...]