Season 3, Episode 2: A Tale of Crime, Community, and Jewish Identity in Depression Era Woodbine, New Jersy

Oral History at Shippensburg University

Taking a detour from our oral histories of COVID in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania, this podcast looks at an oral history about a painful event in the memories of some who lived in Woodbine, New Jersey during the 1930's. Woodbine, created as a Jewish colony in the late 19th century, had a police chief who moonlighted as a bootlegger of liquor. That all ended during a late night raid of his still, an event that cost him his life. Drawing from an archived oral history interview, Lonna Anderson, Kalyn Clites, and Josiah Vieland take a deep dive into this tragic event, connecting it not only to crime, but to issues of policing and identity that are still relevant to this day.