Speaking Yiddish to Chickens: Holocaust Survivors on South Jersey Poultry Farms

Speaking Yiddish to Chickens is a groundbreaking book that sheds light on an untold chapter in American Jewish history.

Through interviews with Holocaust survivors and their children, as well as oral histories and archival records, the author chronicles how these refugees found an unlikely refuge and gateway to new lives in the US on poultry farms in southern New Jersey.

Despite facing unimaginable grief, they learned to farm and built small synagogues within walking distance of their farms, hosting Yiddish cultural events that enriched the community where they settled.

However, falling egg prices and industrial-scale agriculture drove almost all of these novice poultry farmers out of business within a decade, forcing many into bankruptcy.

While some hated every minute of their time on the farms, others remembered it as their best years in America.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in American history, Jewish culture, or the immigrant experience.