Lillian Faderman: The Emotional Truth of "My Mother's Wars"

Art Works Podcast

We’re celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month by revisiting my interview with LGBT and ethnic scholar and author Lillian Faderman who discusses her book "My Mother's Wars." The book is a reconstructed narrative that explores the life of Faderman's mother, a Jewish immigrant in the United States, navigating the complexities of love, survival, and identity against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the rise of Nazism. Faderman recounts her mother's journey from a Latvian shtetl to New York City in 1914, detailing her struggles with language barriers, cultural acclimation, and the harsh realities of the American Dream. She recounts the grueling working conditions in the garment industry, the significant role of unions in fighting for better working conditions during the 1930s, and her mother’s involvement with strikes. Faderman discusses her mother's tumultuous relationship with Moishe, which results in her giving birth to Lillian in 1940 and raising her as an unmarried mother. Faderman also discusses the increasing dread among Jewish immigrants in the U.S. as Nazism spread across Europe, and her mother’s frantic reactions to the impact on her family. And finally she shares insights into her writing process, revealing how the act of writing the memoir allowed her to understand finally her mother's heroism and strength.