We’re revisiting our Long Island Home Front oral history project! Although most of our interviews foccused on people who experienced the years of World War II on Long Island, we also met a few current Long Island residents who, in the 1940s, were living nearby.
So today we’re bringing you excerpts of our talk with Jo Schenk Eichner. Born in Brooklyn, she was living in the Bronx when war broke out. In her oral history, she discusses her youth in a working class family of German immigrants living among the wealthy residents of Spuyten Duyvil. She also discusses shortages during the war, air raid drills, ships on the Hudson, and more.
Radio notes:
- The Make Believe Ballroom was a musical program that debuted on New York’s WNEW in 1935.
- Gabriel Heater was a Brooklyn-born radio commentator for WOR and the Mutual Network.
Links